Daviess County is looking to carry its momentum from an overtime win over Floyd Central when they look for a second straight road win against Madisonville-North Hopkins.
The Panthers are coming off a strong performance in which a rushing touchdown from senior running back Gunnar Evans in overtime to give them a 21-14 victory.
The offense was led by senior quarterback Joe Humphreys last Friday, despite having thrown four interceptions on the night.
Humphreys threw for 344 passing yards on 30-50 attempts and two touchdowns against Floyd Central.
The high-profile quarterback has established himself as one of the premier quarterbacks in the state, leading all players in passing yards per game at 344 per game.
However, turning over the ball like they did last game has been a key emphasis in practice according to Head Coach Matt Brannon.
“We again have to continue to protect the football,” Brannon said. ‘We turned the ball over five times and fortunately were able to create three ourselves. We must clean that up. Penalties have also hampered us. These are things we can somewhat control and we have to do better.”
Evans leads the team in rushing yards with around 75.5 per game, thus opening up the field for Humphreys to find targets like seniors Isaiah Tomes, Max Dees, Carter Hamilton, junior Decker Renfrow and sophomore Luke Floyd.
Renfrow narrowly leads the team’s wide receivers in yards per game with 82.2, while Dees follows closely behind at 81.5. Floyd, Hamilton and Tomes all average over 50 yards per game as well.
Defensively, the Panthers will be dealing with a Maroons team that has averaged over 30 points a game in two of its four games this season.
With starting quarterback junior Wyatt Coleman averaging just around 100 passing yards per game, Madisonville-North Hopkins relies on a heavy ground game to succeed offensively.
Junior running back Lajuan McAdoo leads the way in the backfield, averaging 125 rushing yards per game. Senior running back Chris Price also helps solidify their ground game as he averages 67.5 rushing yards per game as well.
Madisonville-North Hopkins is coming off a game in which it allowed its lowest total of the season at 14 points, but the Maroons have allowed over 20 points per game in the remainder of its schedule.
Brannon said the Maroons are athletic and have a lot of size in their offensive and defensive line that they’ll have to battle with. Coming off a two-game win streak, he expects Madisonville-North Hopkins to come prepared for a battle to the very end.
All in all, Brannnon expects the Panthers to continue their winning ways from their matchup with Floyd Central with attention to detail on Friday night.
“We look to continue our momentum with the last game before district play,” Brannon said. “High levels of offensive execution and tough physical defense are our expectations for this week.”
