Owensboro Catholic opened up the postseason with an absolutely dominant first quarter against Fort Campbell, putting up 40 points in just 19 offensive snaps. The Aces cruised the rest of the way, eventually posting an easy 54-8 victory Friday night at Steele Stadium.
“We expected to play well,” Catholic head coach Jason Morris said. “We’ve had a great season of preparation, not just a week of preparation. We feel like our kids are overly prepared for the playoff run that we’re hoping to go on. So we expected to come out and play well.”
Catholic set the tone on the first play, returning the opening kickoff to the Falcons’ 38-yard line. Three plays later, Tutt Carrico caught a short pass and weaved through the defense for a 33-yard score, though the extra point was wide left.
Fort Campbell was pinned deep on the ensuing drive, and a high snap on the punt attempt ended with the Aces taking over on downs on the Falcons’ 2-yard line. Atwell found Waryn Ebelhar wide open in the end zone on the next play. Another missed extra point left the score at 12-0.
The Falcons again turned the ball over on downs, and a quick drive ended with Jack Terry powering up the middle on a 1-yard touchdown run.
Carrico then intercepted a pass to set up the Aces with another short field, and it took just four plays before Noah Rhinerson — playing in his first game for Catholic after leaving Apollo earlier this year — scored on a 5-yard reception.
Carrico came up big again a minute later. He fielded a punt at the Falcons’ 43-yard line, broke tackles on the left side, and cut all the way across the field to beat the defense and reach the end zone for the second time.
In the closing seconds of the first quarter, Michael Hyland caught a short pass and streaked up field for a 34-yard score. That pushed the lead to 40-0, starting a running clock for the rest of the game.
Atwell finished 10-for-14 with 128 yards and four touchdown tosses in the first quarter.
“We’ve got a lot of talent to spread it around, and good offensive lineman giving Brady plenty of time to go through his progressions and spread the ball around,” Morris said. “We were just clicking.”
Lucas Gorman took over at quarterback at the start of the second quarter. He went 3-for-3 on his first drive, finding Ebelhar for a 30-yard score. The Aces took a 47-0 lead into the half.
The lone score for Fort Campbell came early in the third quarter. A fumble by the Aces set the Falcons up on the Catholic 21-yard line. They scored on the next play and the 2-point conversion was good.
The Aces scored one last time late in the third quarter when Gorman connected with Hudson Ebelhar for a 27-yard yard touchdown pass.
“There’s not very many high schools in his state that wouldn’t love to have Lucas Gorman as their quarterback,” Morris said. “We’re really excited about having Lucas as a kid who can come in and we don’t have to change a thing, we just keep our offense flowing.”
The Aces will now turn their attention to a rematch with McLean County, who beat Caldwell County 15-7 Friday night. Catholic topped the Cougars 40-6 on October 21.
