Owensboro Catholic was looking for a little bit of revenge on Thursday night at Independence Field as the Daviess County Panthers came calling in a district matchup.
However, much like the first game between the cross-town foes, a winning effort proved elusive. The Panthers (6-1-1, 4-0) defeat the Aces (1-4-1, 0-4) by a final score of 5-0 thanks to a decisive first half.
In the game, the home team threatened to score on two primary occasions, with a few half-chances peppered throughout. First, Caleb Ward forced a diving save from goalkeeper Cody Clark in the fifth minute, followed by a lofted free-kick that hit the top of the net as it crossed out of play from the boots of Austin Martin on the stroke of halftime.
A free-kick goal from 40 yards out would have meant two in two tries for the Aces, whose lone goal in the reverse fixture was a long-range effort from nearly an identical spot by Aaron Self.
On the other sideline, there was much more to celebrate for Daviess County, including a second-half strike from Neh Reh to complement four first-half scores. Reh was able to convert a shot from the center of the box after a smooth pass from Wyatt Pierce in the 70th minute.
For the Panthers, it was nearly a dream start when Nick Vincent converted a pass from Hayden Boswell just over two minutes after kickoff. Unfortunately for the visitors, the senior forward had a leg up on his defender that contributed to an offside call, ruling out the would-be opener.
Seven minutes later it was instead Braden Dant’s pristine cross to the aforementioned Boswell that set the Panthers off to the races at 1-0. Next, it was super-sub Ahmed Abdullahi’s assist to Tanner Andersen in the 23rd minute that doubled the Daviess County lead.
Goals three and four followed in quick succession and featured Tyler Wilkerson and Abdullahi on the scoresheet. Abdullahi scored by way of a header on a crisp cross from Andrew Alexander, while Wilkerson found the back of the net by being in the right place at the right time on a broken play.
All in all, while not the result he hoped for, Owensboro Catholic head coach Andy Donohoe was proud of his team’s work rate and effort in defeat.
“Quite great work rate in tonight’s game, as is typical with our group,” Donohoe said. “In the first half we had a really good chance and that gave us a bit of momentum to create some more opportunity to score, but we just weren’t able to convert. The first half really left us with two big emotions. One was disappointment at the scoreline, and two was encouragement for how we played. They have so much quality that we weren’t able to break through, but overall I thought we did a pretty good job.”
For Daviess County, head coach Doug Sandifer was encouraged by the response from his boys after a sluggish start.
“After the first 10 or 15 minutes we looked pretty good I thought,” Sandifer said. “Catholic’s intensity was something we failed to match a little bit at the start, but after the first goal, I felt like we were effective at getting in behind the defense, which provided us some really good chances.”
Sandifer continued on to comment about the solid play off the bench from Ahmed Abdullahi.
“Ahmed came to play tonight,” Sandifer said. “The other boys noticed that and made sure to get him the ball. He offers a nice change of pace for us in attack, and his creativity will make it hard to keep him off the field for us as we carry on.”
Abdullahi proved very effective in the game from a substitute role, providing some solid footwork and passing while also scoring a goal in the winning effort.
Up next for Owensboro Catholic is a road matchup against Apollo next Thursday at 7 PM. Their previously scheduled home matchup with Todd County Central at 11 AM this Saturday has been canceled. Daviess County will be doubling up on Saturday, with bouts against Ryle and Central Hardin at 1 PM and 7 PM respectively. Both games will be played in Bowling Green as part of the annual Purples Classic.
