Owensboro Catholic will look to continue their historical dominance of McLean County in the second round of the KHSAA playoffs on Friday night. The Aces come off a dominating performance from last Friday night, defeating Fort Campbell 54-8 in the first round.
Owensboro Catholic hosted the McLean County Cougars just three weeks ago. Sophomore quarterback Brady Atwell tallied 243 passing yards and four touchdowns, leading the Aces to a 40-6 win to complete their district slate undefeated.
This is nothing new, as the Aces have continued to have their way with the Cougars. These two programs have met 16 times on the gridiron since 2009, with the Aces winning all but one of the matchups. Head coach Jason Morris knows his squad must execute at Steele Stadium on Friday night to continue this trend.
“We executed on offense very well last time and tackled fairly well,” Morris said. “We will look to be even better in this matchup because we know we will have to be. We cannot let McLean County dictate the pace and tempo of the game. We need to execute and score every time we get the ball because McLean is going to try to play keep away.”
The McLean County Cougars have had an impressive season, currently sitting at 9-2 as their only other loss on the season came to district opponent Butler County. Although the Cougars style of play is well-known by opposing coaches, they stick to it and force their opponents to stop them, which isn’t always an easy task.
“McLean County runs their Hybrid single and double wing offense very well,” Morris said. “They like to control the ball for the majority of the game. [Zach Clayton] is a great fifth-year senior running back who does a great job at getting yards after contact.”
