After a bye week to rest up Owensboro football will look to defeat a tough opponent in Graves County, having not lost to them since 2017.
Both teams are coming off of a week of rest and own a six-game winning streak after losing their respective season openers.
The Red Devils took on Muhlenberg County in its most recent game, grabbing a whopping victory by a score of 65-13.
Defense was the x-factor in their game, forcing an array of turnovers to take an early lead in the game.
Their offense followed, using a balanced attack on the ground and through the air in order to grab the dominant victory.
Junior quarterback Kasey Boone went 6-10 with two touchdowns and 68 yards, while freshman Trevor Delacey went 2-2 with 50 yards and a touchdown.
Senior Tramel Barksdale led the way in the backfield, rushing for 112 yards and a touchdown on six carries.
The Red Devils have won all of their games this season by double figures, recently by at least 40 in their last three games.
This is something that Head Coach Jay Fallin has taken notice of and they’ve emphasized being mentally prepared in practice this week.
“Renewed focus and concentration,” Fallin said. “We haven’t been in a competitive game since the first half of our game against Catholic over a month ago. We had to find a way to simulate competition and full-game effort in practice. The guys have responded to the challenge.”
They will have to be especially focused on the defensive end, as Graves County is one of the more potent offenses in western kentucky.
The Eagles have scored at least 40 points in six out of their seven games, most recently defeating Ohio County 64-6.
They’ll be focusing on containing senior running back Clint McKee who gives them around 139 yards and three touchdowns per game.
They also have a dynamic sophomore quarterback in Drake Defreitas who throws for 205 yards and two touchdowns a game.
“Graves is a well-coached, disciplined team who will play hard,” Fallin said. “They have a very balanced offensive attack featuring one of the best backs we will see this year and a talented WR corps with a young quarterback who does a good job spreading the ball around and attacking downfield.”
Offensively Owensboro will have to be sharp as well, limiting mistakes in order to come away victorious against a defense that will come ready to cause chaos.
“Defensively they are assignment sound, tough, and physical,” Fallin said. “We need to be ready to concentrate and execute every play… The team who wins Friday will be the one who makes the fewest mistakes and can most effectively put a premium on concentration and effort for 48 minutes.”
Fallin said that they are determined to come away with a key road win to help them in regards to playoff seeding and that as long as they play a complete game on both sides fo the ball, they’ll be able to do so.
“Week to week our expectations are pretty consistent,” Fallin said. “We want to control what we can control: maintain drives on offense and not kill drives with penalties or negative plays and avoid turnovers. On defense, we expect to communicate pre-snap and set the front and coverage based on our game plan, and then play with great execution and effort once the ball is snapped. We want to try to take advantage of opportunities and field position through special teams. We feel if we can accomplish those goals we give ourselves an opportunity to win every game.”
The two teams will hit the gridiron under some Friday night lights when the Eagles host Owensboro at 7 p.m.
