Daviess County stayed hot against McCracken County, as senior quarterback Joe Humphreys added another strong performance to his resume this season.
It was the man under center who put the Panthers on the board first, as Humphreys used a four-yard rush to find the endzone. Following a two-point conversion, they led 8-0 with 8:23 left in the first quarter.
McCracken County responded swiftly, scoring near the end of the first quarter thanks to a 30-yard run to cut its deficit to 8-7 going into the second quarter.
The second quarter started the same as the first, with Humphreys rushing to the endzone for another four-yard touchdown. Add another two-point conversion and Daviess County took a 16-7 lead with 11:55 left in the second quarter.
Humphreys kept the offense chugging as the first half continued, as Humphreys connected with junior Cole Burch for an 11-yard touchdown to make it a 23-7 game.
The Mustangs bounced back with a touchdown to make it 23-13 with 7:07 left in the second quarter. The game went into a bit of a stalemate for the remainder of the first half, but Daviess County’s offense struck two more times before going into the locker room.
Another rushing touchdown for Humphreys did the trick to kickstart the offense once again, as the 14-yard run made it 30-13 with 3:16 left in the first half.
The Panthers struck again minutes later as Humphreys connected with senior Carter Hamilton for a 17-yard touchdown pass to make it 37-13 going into halftime.
Daviess County got off to a slow start in the second half, but Humphreys connected with junior Decker Renfrow for a 73-yard touchdown to make it a 44-13 yard touchdown with 3:19 left in the third quarter.
Humphreys continued his strong game through the air late, as he found senior Max Dees for a 67-yard touchdown pass late to make it a 51-13 lead with the running clock going.
McCracken County was able to score once more before time expired, but the Panthers lead was more than insurmountable, walking away with a 51-20 road win.
Humphreys had his fingerprints all over the game, throwing for 332 yards on 24-30 passing attempt, as well as four touchdowns. He also finished with a solid ground game, rushing for 32 yards on nine carries.
Head Coach Matt Brannon said that teams are finding hard to pick how they defend Humprheys, making their offense extremely potent.
“I think that they’re in sync, him and his receivers,” Brannon said. “I believe that he is in sync with our play-calling. He trusts the offense, he trusts coach Leach and his ability to put him in the right positions and I think it’s gotten to the point where he’s seeing things himself and he’s able to come to us with suggestions and play off of that.”
Humphreys stellar play as of late has him as one of the top quarterbacks in the state, as he leads the Commonwealth in passing yards, touchdowns, yards per game and completion percentage.
Senior running back Gunnar Evans helped open up things through the air as well, running for 125 yards on 20 carries.
On top of their strong offensive performance, their defense limited the Mustangs offensively to help them improve the Panthers winning streak to four games.
“They’re a difficult offense to defend because of the multiple formations they run,” Brannon said. “They do have a talented quarterback as well… All in all, we just played great team defense. Special teams executed well on our kickoffs and got them deep most of the night. They had a long field to work with and we just put a lot of pressure on them.”
Brannon said they’ve also had plenty of players step up as of late to help create some depth, helping bolster their roster as the regular season is nearing its end.
Sitting at 6-1 overall on the season, Daviess County now has a week and a half off to rest up and prepare before taking on Henderson County.
They will look to extend their winning streak to five games when they host the Colonels at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 15.
