The Aces were out to prove their mettle Friday night, and they did so with an emphatic 47-0 win over Hancock County at Steele Stadium. After suffering five losses to high-quality teams to start the year, Owensboro Catholic is looking at the second half of the season with fresh eyes and plenty of confidence.
“We’re 1-0. That’s our mindset,” Head Coach Jason Morris said. “Our schedule starts now as far as what we’re counting.”
Catholic’s first five opponents — two in Class 3A, one in 5A, and two in 6A — have gone a combined 24-6 to start the year. Morris knew it would be tough sledding.
“What we faced those first five weeks, the speed of that game was just, it was like a gauntlet,” he said. “We get into a regular 2A schedule now. We knew we were a pretty good football team, but we just can’t get ahead of ourselves.”
The Aces (1-5) breezed through their first 2A game of the year and took the first step in securing a home playoff game with Friday’s dominant shutout of Hancock County (4-2).
They got on the board on the opening drive, then quarterback Lincoln Clancy hit Braden Mundy for a touchdown for a 14-0 lead that held through the first quarter.
After a 1-yard push into the end zone from Hunter Monroe, Mundy found paydirt twice more in the second quarter — once through the air, and once on the ground as time expired in the half. A failed 2-point conversion left the Aces with a 34-0 lead at the break.
William Carrico added a touchdown in the third quarter to start the running clock, and a drive featuring big runs by Brice Boarman ended with him falling over the goal line late in the fourth to push the lead to 47-0.
Unofficially, Clancy went 16-23 with nearly 300 yards, Monroe had 10 carries for about 100 yards, and Mundy caught eight passes for more than 110 yards.
“It’s just one of those nights that we came out firing on all cylinders,” Morris said. “We brought it to them really well. It was just good all the way around. I’m really proud of my football team.”
Morris said even when the losses kept coming, his team knew what they were capable of.
“It’s about the kids and the kind of work they put in and the grind,” he said. “We have not had a bad week of practice through this entire season. It could have been easy through a tough schedule to lay our heads down and just give up on the season, but our kids didn’t. They knew what the challenge was ahead of them, and continued to work.”
The Aces now turn their focus to Todd County Central (2-3, one win due to COVID-19 policy). Morris said they will celebrate their first win but won’t let it derail their ultimate goal of making a deep playoff run.
“We have to move on to Todd County and give the same kind of focus and intensity on Todd County as we gave Hancock County this week,” Morris said.
Braden was a different kid all week in practice. He knows what kind of athlete he is. He’s a confident kid, and he wanted the football tonight and it showed.
- Aces off to a quick start. Six plays into the game, Catholic scores to go up 7-0 against Hancock County.
- Lincoln Clancy tosses a screen to Braden Mundy, who races through the defense for a 31yd TD. Aces lead 14-0, 5:29 1st Q.
- Hunter Monroe punches in a 1yd TD run to give Aces a 21-0 lead over Hornets, midway through 2nd Q.
- Clancy connects with Mundy for 31yd TD and Aces go up 28-0, 1:44 2nd Q.
- A 45yd completion from Clancy to Sims sets up a 1yd TD run by Mundy with no time left in 1st half.
- Tutt Carrico runs in a 1yd TD set up by Clancy’s 22yd pass to Munsey. Catholic leads Hancock County 40-0, 8:11 3rd Q.
- Brice Boarman punches in a 3yd TD to give Aces a 47-0 lead over Hornets, 4:29 to go.
