Daviess County came out on top 2-0 against the Eagles to advance to the 9th District Championship once again, but have much to be sought after going forward with a performance the Panthers and Head Coach Doug Sandifer weren’t impressed with.
The Panthers were able to set the tone for the match by taking control of the possession battle early, but it took some time before the first goal of the game found the back of the net. Daviess County had gotten a number of corners in the half, but it wasn’t until a corner kick from senior Sean Higgs in the 22nd minute found senior Jack Quisenberry who headed it in just before Apollo senior keeper Steven Teran could bat it away.
The Panthers were able to find the net again just before halftime, as YEAR Davian Clark hit senior Ahmed Abdullahi in the box in the 36th minute to score and give them a 2-0 lead to close out the first half. The Eagles were able to create some chances in the second half, with them earning their first corner kick of the game in the 58th minute.
It didn’t fall however, leaving Apollo still trailing 2-0 with the second half winding down. Daviess County still had control of the possession battle as the game progressed, with the Eagles not getting more chances until the final five minutes in regulation.
The biggest chance of the game for Apollo came in the form of a penalty kick for YEAR Hsa Than in the 77th minute, but it clanged off of the crossbar and sailed over the net. This would all but wrap it up for the Panthers, as they were unable to slip away with a 2-0 shutout victory to advance to the 9th District Championship.
Despite the end result on Tuesday, Sandifer was not pleased with the Panther’s play. He stated that they did not execute well and will need to improve before Thursday to come away victorious.
“You win and advance, but I don’t think anybody on our sideline can be happy with our performance tonight,” Sandifer said. “You can say what you want and say when they went a man down, maybe that changed our mentality, our approach to things. But we just did not execute. Up to that point and after that point we didn’t execute the things we want to do on a consistent basis well.”
Sandifer said in his opinion because they didn’t knock down a third goal Apollo won the second half 1-0 and if they weren’t a man down that it could’ve changed the game. A lack of communication seemed to be at the core of the Panthers struggles, something they’ll need to straighten out to come away with a 9th District Championship.
“We went dead silent the entire second half,” Sandifer said. “Couldn’t hear anybody say anything, giving commands to anybody, so yeah. Thursday whoever we face, it’s going to have to be a different team that shows up for us to have an opportunity to win that game. That’s on the 22 players. It’s on them now. It’s a senior-heavy team and it should be senior-led and I’m waiting for that to happen.”
Meanwhile the Eagles season comes to a close, as they were unable to muster up enough offense on the day. And while the loss isn’t what they wanted on Tuesday, Head Coach Ryan Poirer is proud of how his team battled against adversity.
“I thought we played really well…” Poirer said. “They battled. They really did, but it’s hard to play a man down for that long because you’ve gotta give away something. Awhile it was give up the offense and another time it was the midfield. I’m really proud. They were so tired and exhausted, because we just had to go with who he had and cover more ground and have more responsibilities.”
Apollo finishes the 2022 campaign at 9-13 overall and 2-5 in district play, with Poirer and company happy with how their season went despite some challenges along the way.
“This season was a rollercoaster, but I had a lot of fun coaching these kids,” Poirer said. “They’re great kids. It was tough at times, but because there’s great kids it stays fun.”
