The Daviess County Panthers hit the road Friday looking for their first win since they beat Marshall County Sept. 25, but Henderson County and Ben Dalton had other plans.
Dalton rushed for a school-record 302 yards to help the Colonels grab a 63-44 win over the Panthers.
DC coach Matt Brannon said his team played well offensively, as the Panthers were led by Bryson Parm and Joe Humphreys.
Down 6-0, Parm exploded for a 45-yard touchdown run and after a two-point conversion from Humphreys, the Panthers held an 8-6 lead.
“Bryson Parm ran the ball like he did against Owensboro,” Brannon said. “He had been struggling a little bit to get going.”
Humphreys found Isaiah Tomes for the 49-yard score to go up 16-14 but Dalton scored late in the first half to make it 21-16 going into halftime as the Colonels wouldn’t trail for the rest of the game.
Both teams exploded offensively in the third, as Henderson County led 49-31 going into the final frame before putting up two more scores in the final 12:00 to seal the victory.
“There were some situations where we knew our defense was struggling and offensively we were explosive but we’ve got to learn to be complementary and help our defense,” he said. “Let the coaches have some time to make adjustments, sustain some drives. We had some three and outs, some stalled drives.”
Despite the loss, Brannon said he and his staff felt good about their plan going into the game.
“I know we had a good gameplan, we just have to execute,” he said. “The lesson to be learned is you have to trust the schemes, you have to trust your coaching. The kids, it’s not an effort thing by any means, it’s just putting yourself in positions to be successful.
“I challenged our staff and I challenged the kids in the postgame that we’ve just got to figure it out. You’ve got to look in the mirror and figure out what is it I can do differently this week to change the outcome. I think that’s what any adversity is, how you respond to it. We’ll see how we bounce back.”
Humphreys finished with three touchdown passes (2 to Decker Renfrow, 1 to Isaiah Tomes) and added a 25-yard touchdown run. Parm finished with two scores on the ground.
The Panthers now look to next week as they return home for their final regular-season game at Reid Stadium, as they spend the last two weeks at Warren East and Owensboro Catholic.
The Eagles are coming off of a win over Marshall County. Apollo is the Panthers’ final district foe this season.
“We play in a very competitive district so every game should be a challenge for us going into every week,” Brannon said.
