Despite holding Frederick Douglass to its lowest point total of the 2022 campaign on Friday night, Owensboro couldn’t find a rhythm offensively against a tough Broncos defense and fell 14-2 in the Class 5A state semi-finals.
The Red Devils received to open up the night, but couldn’t get going on their first drive. Following the three-and-out senior Jeremiah Goodwin had a nice punt, but a solid return put Frederick Douglass at the 46 to start their opening drive offensively.
Despite a false start at the beginning of the series, a third down conversion and a 26-yard completion down the sideline from junior Cole Carpenter to senior Thomas Howard quickly put the Broncos at the six for first and goal. A few plays later Davaun Hart capped off the drive with a two-yard carry, bullying his way into the endzone for a 7-0 lead with 7:43 to go in the first quarter.
Owensboro tried some trickery to get going offensively on its ensuing drive, as Goodwin took off on a fake punt but was short of the first down. This gave Frederick Douglass the ball at the 23 with 6:26 left in the first quarter, setting them up with an opportunity to take control of momentum early.
The Red Devils defense stood up to the challenge though, forcing third and goal at the four later in the drive. Owensboro then stuffed the Broncos play action attempt, as multiple defenders bobbled the pass from Carpenter until sophomore Dereon Crowe came up with the interception.
This put the Red Devils at the 11 with just under three minutes left in the quarter. Senior Kenyatta Carbon was able to get going with back-to-back carries for first downs, but Owensboro wasn’t able to sustain much success offensively and ended up punting.
Owensboro’s defense came up big when they needed it again though to start the second quarter, forcing third down and sending Frederick Douglass back to the five with a holding call. The Red Devils continued to keep up the intensity on the following play, breaking through the Broncos offensive line for a safety to make it a 7-2 game with 10:41 left in the second quarter.
Owensboro looked to continue to pull momentum it’s way on the ensuing drive, starting at the 48 thanks to the second unsportsmanlike conduct call on the night against the Broncos. The Red Devils eventually moved to the 28 following a pass interference call on third down, but sophomore Deion Winstead was just shy of the first on fourth and eight later in the drive for a turnover on downs.
Neither team was able to get much going offensively, even with Frederick Douglass reclaiming possession on a fumble recovery at the 45 with two minutes to go in the first half. The Broncos had one last shot to score with 3.7 seconds to go, but the pass toward the sideline fell incomplete and sent Frederick Douglass into halftime with a 7-2 lead.
Owensboro’s defense picked up right where it left off coming out of the locker room, as senior Ethan Pendleton earned a sack on the first play of the second half. Another sack a couple plays later led to the Broncos punting, giving the Red Devils the ball at the 21 for their first offensive drive of the half.
Carbon grabbed a 25-yard run shortly after, but Owensboro was unable to pick up any steam from the carry and Goodwin proceeded to punt it and down Frederick Douglass at the five with 7:40 left in the third quarter. The Red Devils were able to earn a quick three-and-out, but senior Khalil Rogers muffed the ensuing punt and the Broncos recovered to take over at the 37 with 6:10 to go in the quarter.
Frederick Douglass was able to put together a good drive to close out the third quarter, using a third down conversion to get to the 18. Before the quarter came to a close Owensboro was able to keep the Broncos off the board, forcing fourth and seven at the 15 heading into the fourth.
The Red Devils’ special teams came up with a huge play as Frederick Douglass lined up for the field goal, blocking it and recovering the ball to take over at the 22 down 7-2 with 11:52 to play. The very next play senior quarterback Kasey Boone nearly threw an interception after scrambling out to his right, but Owensboro caught a break as the untouched Broncos defender couldn’t hang on to the pass.
The drive didn’t turn around either, as Goodwin proceeded to take off for a fake punt—which seemed like it wasn’t what was asked to run on the Red Devils sideline—and he was stopped short of the first. The turnover on downs gave the ball to the Broncos on the 23, set up for a chance at a huge momentum swing up a 7-2 with 11:06 on the clock.
Owensboro’s defense was able to force fourth and three on the ensuing series, but an 11-yard carry by senior Ty Bryant gave Frederick Douglass first and goal at the five with 9:19 to play. The Broncos scored on the very next play, but a holding call brought them back to the 11 for second down.
Senior Kanye Johnson nearly intercepted a pass to the endzone on third down, but senior Xander Early picked up the slack with a huge sack that forced fourth and goal from the 20 for Frederick Douglass. The Red Devils defense continued to give them a chance to win, blocking the punt again to take over at the 20 down 7-2 with 7:42 to go.
But Owensboro’s offense still couldn’t catch a break, as a holding call on a catch by Pendelton that would’ve put them on the 35 was brought back to the 18 for third and long thanks to a holding call. Boone scrambled to his right and heaved one toward the sideline on the next play, but it was intercepted and the Broncos got it at the 42 with 6:38 left in the game.
A false start set Frederick Douglass back to start the following drive, but shortly they were finally able to find the endzone for the second time on the night. It was Kentucky commit Bryant who got the job done, breaking to the outside and using a 51-yard carry to give the Broncos a 14-2 lead with 5:45 left to play.
The Red Devils were able to get a first down early in the drive on a pass play from Boone to Pendleton, but they couldn’t sustain the offensive success and Frederick Douglass took over at the 39 with 4:03 to go following a punt. But Owensboro was able to earn one more opportunity offensively, getting a three-and-out to force a Broncos punt that gave them the ball at 19 with 2:04 remaining.
Frederick Douglass’s defense stayed hot though, as a fourth down pass from Boone was battered around before it was intercepted. This was the proverbial dagger, as the Broncos went on to go into victory formation and cut the Red Devils short of a state championship appearance with a 14-2 loss.
Owensboro was limited to 72 rushing yards on the night, with Carbon’s 11 carries accounting for 68 of them. The Red Devils didn’t have much better luck through the air, as Boone threw two interceptions while tallying 51 yards on 6-25 passing in the contest.
They were able to hold Frederick Douglass to less than 21 points for the first time this season defensively though, holding them to 101 passing yards and 98 rushing yards—56 and 42 yards shy of their game average. Head Coach Jay Fallin and company felt like they could battle with the Broncos defensively coming into the game, but just fell short of connecting the way they needed to on the offensive end.
“They’re historically good on defense,” Fallin said. “From a statistical standpoint and from a points allowed standpoint, they’re just really, really good and we knew that it was going to be really hard to come by points. We knew that we were going to have to try to get some first downs, move the chains and give the defense some rest, but we just knew that we were going to have to hold them to seven and try to find some way to score 10 or eight… We just couldn’t get through to score the points we needed to get through.”
Following the game Fallin said that he didn’t want to criticize Carpenter by any means, but said that within such a strong offense they wanted to force Frederick Douglass to pass consistently. The Red Devils were able to do so by limiting their ground game, but ultimately ran out of gas in the end with multiple players playing both ways.
“We knew that if they had a weakness in their offense it was in their passing game,” Fallin said. “We just felt like we were going to put eight people on the line of scrimmage and make them throw the ball. They didn’t look like it tonight, but historically they are good at running the ball too… I’m proud of the job that we did really taking that part of their game away and making them throw the ball. They had some big completions at timely points that extended series’ and kept them on the field, [but] like I said we just wore down defensively by the end of the game.”
Offensively Owensboro struggled to string together big plays throughout the game, as Fallin said that the Broncos have an immense amount of talent and athleticism defensively. They knew they would have to battle in order to come out on top, but just were unable to give themselves a chance to win within the final minute of the night like they wanted.
“They’re just great everywhere,” Fallin said. “They’re big, strong, athletic, fast, aggressive, tough, talented everywhere on defense. They don’t have a real weakness. We just knew that no matter what we were going to try to do, it was going to be very difficult to accomplish. We were gonna have to make the most of our opportunities and we hoped that if we could get inside the 30 we could throw the ball in the endzone and give ourselves a 50-50 ball, but it just didn’t work out.”
Despite the end result Fallin couldn’t be more proud of the way his team continued to fight through adversity all night long, never losing focus with their backs against the wall. This mental determination is something that Owensboro tries to make a staple in the program and Fallin said that his current senior class was a prime example of that tonight.
“That’s something we really try to drill into our players and these seniors have always been that way,” Fallin said. “They’re not going to wave the white flag til it’s over and they didn’t tonight either. Very proud of them for that.”
Fallin continued to brag on his seniors following the game, noting that they’ve won more games than any senior class in OHS history—to go along with being the first group to compete in four straight state semi-finals games. They wrap up their Red Devil careers with an 11-3 senior season, making their career records 65-8 while winning four straight regional titles.
