The Eagles scored 22 unanswered in the second half on Friday to pull off a comeback win on the road against the Green Wave.
Meade County came out of the gates looking to make an impact on their first drive of the game, setting the tone by grabbing a quick lead.
It was a 50-yard touchdown pass that found the hands of senior Nolah Whobrey to take an early 7-0 lead with nine minutes left in the first quarter.
The game went scoreless for the next six minutes, until the Green Wave charged downfield and senior Conner Geise earned a one-yard rushing touchdown.
This gave Meade County a 14-0 lead with 3:09 left in the first quarter. Neither team would find the endzone once again, as the Green Wave carried this lead into the second quarter.
Meade County kept the outpouring of offense going to start the second quarter, as a 45-yard touchdown pass gave them a 20-0 lead after the extra point with 7:25 left.
Apollo was able to break the offensive dry spell minutes later as junior quarterback Christian Combs found senior Jon-Hunter Vance for a 12-yard touchdown pass to make it a 20-7 game going into halftime.
This touchdown was huge, giving Apollo a chance to come out of the locker room and swing momentum their way and make it a one-touchdown game.
Head Coach John Edge said the message in the locker room was to not beat themselves and take things play-by-play to work their way back into the game.
“[We just] told the kids we are our own worst enemy and we just gotta settle down,” Edge said. “We [told them] we haven’t gotten off the bus yet it doesn’t seem like. We had to keep going and finally just relax and keep our composure.”
They did just that, as the Eagles continued to climb their way back in the game late in the third quarter with a 15-yard rushing touchdown from sophomore Noah Rhinerson to cut it to a 20-14 game with 3:37 left in the quarter.
At the end of three Meade County still narrowly held onto the 20-14 lead, but Apollo continued to carry its momentum into the fourth.
It was junior Donte Dixon who took a handoff four yards into the endzone, giving the Eagles a 21-20 lead with 11:49 left in the fourth quarter.
Apollo’s defense backed up their offensive momentum minutes later, as senior Evan Miller picked off the Green Wave with 10:06 left in the fourth.
Dixon struck again following the interception, using a six-yard rushing touchdown to give the Eagles a 29-20 lead with a two-point conversion and 6:13 left to play.
Dixon and Rhinerson were having their number called all night, as the two combined for 305 rushing yards and three touchdowns.
Dixon was called upon twice late in the game and while it may have seemed schematic, Edge said it was just him and his team trusting that either of their running backs could get the job done when they were called upon.
“Both running backs are really good,” Edge said. “He was just in the game and we just kept feeding him just like we did Noah. When those two are healthy we’re going to be really good.”
This would be all Apollo needed as they held Meade County scoreless for the remainder of the game, walking away with a 29-20 victory.
Edge said offensively, his team just needed to execute the gameplan and tactics they had practiced all week, which they did in the second half.
“We did the little things,” Edge said. “We weren’t doing the little things right at the very beginning of the game. We’ve gotta do the little things right the whole game… They were very minute adjustments. They weren’t doing everything we showed them in practice and in the second they did everything we showed them in practice.”
Edge said the same regarding his defense, stating that the lapse defensively just came down to them not following through on what they worked on in practice until the second half.
They did and then some, holding the Green Wave scoreless in the second half en route to their first two-game winning streak of the season.
Apollo now sits at 3-2 overall on the season and will look to keep rolling when they host McCracken County at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 24.
