Daviess County 10, Muhlenberg County 0
The Daviess County Panthers made short work of Muhlenberg County Monday in their 10-0 win during the first round of the 3rd Region Boys’ Soccer Tournament, and the match will be one to remember for DC coach Doug Sandifer.
With the victory, Sandifer now has 400 wins as the head coach of the Panthers.
“I’ve been doing this a long time,” he said. “I always say this, I’ve been blessed with very dedicated, very good kids. Kids want to do what the team before them did and maybe even exceed that.
“Even as old as I am, I’m constantly trying to be a better coach. The game evolves and I want to evolve with it. I enjoy that part of it. I hope I’m not stuck in my ways and as the game has changed, I’ve tried to adapt and change with it. I guess fortunately the combination of those things, the players, and me trying to stay current with the game changes has helped us be successful.”
While Monday is a big moment for Sandifer, it’s also been a big year for the Panthers as well.
“It’s kind of been a milestone year for the program,” he said. “We reached 800 games, 500 wins as a program and if you throw in my 400 personally then it’s been kind of a milestone in one of the strangest seasons we’ve had to deal with, if not, the strangest season we’ve had to deal with. You wish it had come in normal circumstances but that’s just not what we’re dealing with this year and that’s okay.”
The Panthers didn’t waste any time in getting on the board in the match as Hunter Clark scored inside of the first 10:00 to get the ball rolling.
Clark finished with three goals in the win as Tanner Andersen (2 goals), Sean Higgs (2 goals), Declan Armistead ( 1 goal), Carter Hoagland (1 goal) and Nate Dailey (1 goal) also scored in the Panthers’ win.
Sandifer said his guys knew they’d be going in and out a little more than usual as Monday was just the first leg for the Panthers.
“We’re on a three-game mission this week to win a region title and in order to do that in three nights, we’ve got to have legs,” he said. “Only way we maintain our legs is to get everybody rotated off. I think the boys understand that and once again have bought in. This is a three-game plan. They understood that and we approached it in a very business-like fashion tonight and fortunately were able to shorten the game a little bit.”
Daviess County now advances to take on Grayson County in tonight’s second semifinal at 7:30 p.m.
The Cougars are 7-6 this season and are led by Matthew Haycraft (13 goals) and Josh Stevenson (10 goals).
Daviess County 10, Muhlenberg County 0
Goals: Hunter Clark 3, Tanner Andersen 2, Sean Higgs 2, Declan Armistead 1, Carter Hoagland 1, Nate Dailey 1
Apollo 3, Meade County 1
The Apollo Eagles are making their first appearance in the region tournament since 2008, but just being there isn’t good enough for them.
Apollo made the most of their first trip in more than a decade as they took down Meade County 3-1 to advance to today’s semifinal against Ohio County in the 3rd Region Tournament at Muhlenberg County.
Eagle coach Ryan Poirier said he and his team wanted to make the most of their trip.
“We talked about the fact that we wanted to get out of the district and be in that championship game, make it to region, but it’s not enough to just be like okay we made it,” he said. “We’re here. Let’s do something about it, let’s take advantage of the moment. Especially because it doesn’t obviously come along all the time. The kids were ready, they were excited. They did a great job tonight. They played really, really well.”
The Eagles didn’t waste any time in getting on the board as senior Harrison Bowman scored his first of two goals in the first 10:00 of the game.
Poirier said a fast start was a focus as he knew the Green Wave could be a little bus-lagged after their trip.
“We talked about coming out fast if we can. We talked about the fact that they had a two-hour bus ride,” he said. “That’s hard to overcome, it’s hard to get off that bus and warmup … I told the kids, that first 20-25 minutes of the game, it might be their most prone to having a sluggish start.”
Bowman added another in the first half just before the break to his give team a 2-0 lead.
Apollo’s Eh Wah made it 3-0 with about 32:00 left, which led to a dilemma for Poirier.
“It was tough,” he said. “I was trying to get some kids in, give some guys some rest that hadn’t had much in that game. We did a good job for a long time of guys coming in and playing well off the bench. Then we gave up one … I got a couple of guys back in there, let’s make sure we hold it. It’s tough … You’ve got to find that balance of we want to attack but at the same time, we’re up three, let’s not get caught with too many guys up.”
Wah also added an assist in the game, and Houston Collins finished with two assists in the victory.
The win now sets up a rematch with Ohio County at 5:30 p.m. as the Eagles will have their second-leading scorer and assist man back in the lineup after two yellow cards in the district tournament opener handed Teranse Twihenya a red card, forcing the Apollo sophomore to miss the last two games.
“That’ll be a huge shot in the arm,” Poirier said. “He’s just chomping at the bit and ready to go. He’s fresh. I expect him to come out and really have a game, I think he’s fired up to come out with a lot of rest, a lot of energy, something to prove.”
The Eagles fell to Ohio County 1-0 in their third game of the season but Poirier said that was a long time ago and his team is ready for redemption.
“A lot of kids, after that game and even when we talked about the possibility of playing them, they were pretty unhappy about the way they played that game,” he said. “They were not happy that they were able to get that win. We played okay that game but we really didn’t have our best game and we really thought we let one slip away. I know the kids are pretty motivated by that to make sure they come out this time and put forth their best effort.”
Apollo 3, Meade County 1
MC 0 1–1
AHS 2 1–3
Goals: Harrison Bowman (2), Eh Wah
Assists: Houston Collins (2), Eh Wah
