Owensboro Catholic was firing on all cylinders on Friday, using a big second half and a dominant performance on both sides of the ball from junior Tutt Carrico to defeat the Hornets 48-12 for their first district win of the 2022 campaign.
The Aces took their time on their opening drive, even converting on fourth down at one point to move the chains. However, they weren’t as lucky the second time around on fourth and long and turned it over.
But, Owensboro Catholic’s defense held strong and was the first team to get on the board. A tipped punt put them in good field position, with sophomore quarterback Brady Atwell getting them to the nine before hitting Tutt Carrico for the touchdown.
After the two-point conversion, the Aces held an 8-0 lead with 3:18 left in the first quarter. Owensboro Catholic’s defense helped them carry the lead into the second quarter, before a seven-yard touchdown reception by Tutt gave them a 14-0 lead with 10:33 left in the half.
Hancock County wasn’t lying down though, getting a big pick for a touchback as Atwell tried to find Tutt in the endzone once again. Junior Landen Garrison then put the Hornets at the 15 a few plays later with a 50-yard catch, before an 11-yard rush by senior Cole Dixon had them at the four.
The very next play senior Logan Willis ran it in, making it a 14-6 game after failing the two-point conversion. The Aces tried to get one back on the ensuing drive, but a 40-yard pick six by senior Austin Volocko quickly made it 14-12 with 58 seconds left in the first half after another failed two-point conversion.
Owensboro Catholic was still nearly able to work themselves downfield and score just before halftime, finding themselves at the 17 after a questionable pass interference call on Hancock County with .6 seconds on the clock. But nothing came of some trickery by the Aces, as Atwell caught a pass for a change and was taken down to send them into halftime with a 14-12 lead.
Hancock County nearly came out of halftime and got about a 40-yard pass completed, but holding brought it back. A few plays later Tutt got a big interception, bringing them to the 45 after an unsportsmanlike conduct on the Hornets.
His brother sophomore Vince Carrico returned the favor, capping off the Aces drive with a one-yard rushing touchdown to take a 21-12 lead with 7:23 left in the third. Tutt came through again for Owensboro Catholic shortly into the fourth, ending a long drive with a three-yard rushing touchdown to make it 27-12 with 11:47 left to play after a failed two-point conversion.
Hancock County mishandled the kickoff on the following play, allowing the Aces to recover and score again. This time it was Atwell bullying his way into the endzone himself, giving them a 34-12 lead with 10:02 to play after the PAT from senior Doninic Ranallo.
After a pick by Blair, Tutt continued to deliver, getting his third touchdown of the day via four-yard carry to make it a 41-12 game with 5:02 to go. He wasn’t done there though, getting a 30-yard pick six on the ensuing drive with 3:14 to play to start the running clock up 48-12.
Tutt finished the game with two rushing touchdowns, a receiving touchdown and two picks—including the latter being the pick six—to account for a large part of the Aces success on both sides of the ball.
Head Coach Jason Morris spoke after the game about one their virtues they focused on this week being alliance, meaning to count on each other, to pick each other up when something goes wrong and play for one another. On Friday night as the Aces grabbed a 48-12 road win, Tutt Carrico did just that.
“Tutt was a different person all week in practice,” Morris said. “You could tell he was really motivated to come out and get our team going in the right direction now that we’re in a ‘new season.’ That’s what we’re calling it (district play) and we’re 1-0 now. He was going to do everything he could to make sure we were 1-0 when we left here tonight.”
Morris acknowledged his team’s efforts as a whole following the win, noting that his guys kept fighting in a tough road environment to start the district portion of the schedule off right.
“Just really proud of our boys,” Morris said. “We knew we were coming into a hostile environment and didn’t finish the first half the way we wanted to. But I’m really proud of our boys because we came out in the second half and did what a really good football team is supposed to do. We just took it play by play, kept our composure and did really well.”
Owensboro Catholic were dynamic all night long defensively allowing the lone rushing touchdown in the contest. In the second half they were able to put the offense together, but the defense stood tall and shut the Hornets out.
“One of their scores in the first half was just a pick six and besides that, we played great defense the entire game,” Morris said. “It really wasn’t anything different in the second half, besides us not self-destructing on offense. Our defense was lights out all night.”
Now sitting at 3-3 overall and 1-0 in district play, Morris just wants his team to clean up the little things that way when it gets to postseason time that one or two plays won’t cost them their season.
“The main thing I wanna see is obviously doing things right on a daily basis that will come over on Friday night and relay to the game,” Morris said. “We had some discipline type issues tonight that we gotta get cleaned up and we’ll get them cleaned up in practice next week… Just gotta clean up the silly little mistakes, especially the ones that make us go backwards in the redzone.”
