Owensboro’s defense made big stops when it needed to on Friday night, coming out on top in a defensive showdown with the Colonels 14-8 to close out the regular season.
Neither team was able to get much of a rhythm offensively in the first few possessions, but the Red Devils were able to score first and take advantage of a turnover on downs by Henderson County halfway through the opening quarter. It was a 23-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Kasey Boone to senior Ethan Pendleton that did the trick, making it a 7-0 game with 5:47 left in the first following senior Andrew Lanz’s good PAT.
The Colonels went into the second quarter trailing Owensboro, starting out with second and eight on the 38. Henderson County was able to convert on fourth and inches later in the drive, before a targeting call on the Red Devils on third down plays later set the Colonels up with first and goal.
This led to a one-yard touchdown from senior Jordan Wright, with a fake on the extra point leading to a two-point conversion and an 8-7 lead for Henderson County with 7:32 left in the first half. The Colonels tried to take complete momentum of the game there, trying an onside kick that Owensboro recovered to put them at the 47.
The Red Devils were forced to punt on the ensuing drive, as they were unable to capitalize on their field position. This became a common thing for both sides throughout the rest of first half, as Henderson County and Owensboro’s defense continued to make big stands when needed and sent the game into halftime tied at 7-7
The defensive bout carried into the third quarter, with sophomore Deion Winstead and Pendleton both getting interceptions in the period. Henderson County was just as sharp, picking off for the second time in the third quarter to find themselves at the 30 with 3:28 until the fourth. The Colonels were able to keep the drive going by converting on fourth down at the eight-yard line, but the Red Devils continued to fight and made it third and goal from the one to start the fourth.
Henderson County proceeded to run just short on the following two downs for a turnover, as senior Kenyatta Carbon got Owensboro out of the endzone quickly with a 35-yard run to try and start a big drive. Another big play by Carbon followed up by a 30-yard screen pass to senior Khalil Rogers put the Red Devils at the goal line, with Carbon punching it home to give Owensboro a 14-8 lead with 8:11 to play.
Senior Jeremiah Goodwin then sparked some energy on the defensive side of the ball once again, getting his second sack of the game to make it third and 29 for Henderson County before they were unable to convert on fourth and long to give the Red Devils the ball back.
The Colonels got right back to work defensively to give themselves some more scoring opportunities in the fourth, but Winstead spoiled one of them with a diving interception at the 40 with 2:17 left to play. Owensboro would be forced to punt with 42 seconds left to play, but Henderson County wasn’t able to move downfield well and had its final efforts fall short as time expired and gave the Red Devils the 14-8 win in a defensive showdown.
Owensboro was able to cut the Colonel’s average rushing yards per game in half at 133 on Friday, while also picking off sophomore quarterback Trajdon Davis three times and limiting him to 7-16 passing for 105 yards. Head Coach Jay Fallin tipped his cap to Winstead following the game, noting that the young safety made big plays when they needed it—something they expected to eventually show after he battled some adversity early in the 2022 campaign.
“This young man has been getting the reps that he needed to get to where he needed to be to make some plays that we needed him to make,” Fallin said. “A lot of times if you’re playing somebody young earlier in the season and you maybe have a more experienced guy on the other side of the ball and the young guy makes a mistake, all the experts in the crowd say ‘put the older guy out there and go both ways.’ But it’s our job to have the perspective to say we’re getting ready for late season and postseason and we can’t hit the panic button and just quit on people.”
Winstead was just thrilled to be able to help his team make one big play after another defensively, staying locked in mentally in order to battle and make big plays like his acrobatic interception in the fourth.
“I flipped my hips and I saw the ball and I knew if I didn’t dive I wouldn’t make it,” Winstead said. “So I had to make a play on the ball and dive… This is a huge win. We needed this.”
Fallin went on to say that Winstead was just one of many players that had to face some growing pains for Owensboro at the beginning of the year, but said that they have gotten it figured out and were clicking at the right time in a game that showed the Red Devils how tough they can be.
“We have a bunch of young guys who were learning at the beginning of the year and now they’re playing well,” Fallin said. “We knew that, but that only comes with experience and sometimes that comes with taking your lumps. Then getting healthy [has been big]. We didn’t have Jeremiah and we didn’t have Kanye for a huge stretch of the season. We needed to tonight. We needed tonight. We needed to battle.”
Defeating a strong 6A opponent like Henderson County could give Owensboro a boost in RPI, setting them up for more favorable situations in the postseason. Along with that in the outcome, Fallin and company were thrilled to grind out a tough win and know that it can help them going into their first round district matchup with Christian County at home at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 3.
“It’s huge,” Fallin said. “It’s no secret that when we’re within our district we have a lot of non-competitive games and we get in a situation where we play a lot of games that aren’t particularly competitive. We needed this badly. We needed to have to fight and play a four-quarter ballgame and dig and overcome adversity. They’re really really good. We knew it was going to be a war.”
