When Daviess County and Owensboro walked off the field at halftime Monday at Apollo High School in the first semifinal of the 9th District Tournament, it was the Red Devils that looked to have to upper hand but the Panthers were just lying in wait.
DC used a big second half to down Owensboro 3-1 advance to Thursday’s final against the winner of tonight’s match between Apollo and Owensboro Catholic.
Monday’s game was scoreless in the first half as the Panthers couldn’t seem to find their footing.
DC coach Doug Sandifer said he gives all the credit to the Red Devils.
“Owensboro played a heck of a game and made things very, very difficult,” he said. “They had nothing to lose coming into this and we tried to tell our boys that but we’re dealing with high school kids.”
The Panthers beat Owensboro 1-0 earlier this season and Sandifer said he wanted his players to realize how dangerous the Red Devils could be.
“We were passive, we were predictable, we were slow,” he said “Usually that’s the sign of a team that came in thinking it was going to be a cake walk.”
Owensboro’s Tser Thaw stepped up to a free kick early in the second half and buried in the back of the net to give his team a 1-0 lead over the No. 6 team in the lastest Maher Rankings.
“It didn’t surprise me at all, the goal they scored,” Sandifer said. “May have been the best thing to happen to us, was them to score and to score early. We had plenty of time. That may have been the punch to the guy we needed to pick up our play.”
Hunter Clark tied the match then Hayden Glover gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead with 19:09 left. Carson Thomas gave DC a late brace with 6:50 remaining, which would be all they would need.
“I am proud of our guys,” Sandifer said. “The goal, it didn’t really shake us. We kept playing.”
Daviess County has been a fixture in the district, region and state tournament the past several years but Sandifer said playoff soccer is different.
“Somebody that can convince high school kids that previous results don’t matter, year to year doesn’t matter, if they could write a book, they’d make a million dollars,” he said. “It’s impossible to convince kids. Tournament time, everything’s brand new, everything’s off the table.”
OHS coach Ryan Haley and the Red Devils end the season at 1-9-5 as it’ll be a season Haley won’t forget.
“We haven’t had the season that ideally we want,” he said. “In each and every game, our guys have really fought hard. We didn’t fall victim to having the ball roll in an unlucky way like we have in the past. We’ve had some crossbar shenanigans, some offsides missed called, some unfortunate things, but this game was legit. I thought it was called both ways and as disappointed as we are, I’m extremely proud of my guys.
“They taught me more this season than I probably taught them. That’s the first losing experience that I’ve had on a season collectively I’ve had as a middle school or varsity coach in 10 total years. It doesn’t come without headaches but this group of kids every day showed up and believed in themselves after time and time again of struggling. This game, they thought they could win.”
DC plays the winner of Apollo/Catholic at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the tournament final.
Daviess County 3, Owensboro 1
OHS 0 1–1
DCHS 0 3–3
OHS: Tser Thaw (goal)
DCHS: Hunter Clark (goal, assist), Hayden Glover (goal), Carson Thomas (goal, assist)
