For a fourth straight year, Owensboro and Daviess County have punched their tickets to the 3rd Region Tournament and have a date with each other in the 9th District Championship. The Red Devils rode two late goals to take down Apollo 2-0, while Daviess County jumped out to a 3-0 lead in their 4-1 win over Owensboro Catholic.
The first game of the night and battling a consistent downpour, the Red Devils had to stay patient and wait for their chances to strike – finally breaking free in the 61st minute thanks to Jackson Sigler. Valor Smith scored off a penalty kick in the 75th minute for the exclamation point.
Entering the game, Owensboro Head Coach Ryan Haley was worried about the weather conditions, acknowledging that he believes it helped level the playing field a bit.
“One of the worries I had going into the game was the ball skipping around and getting behind our defense,” Haley said. “But the conditions are the same for both teams. Our guys really stepped up, and I couldn’t be happier with the way they played. We were patient, we weren’t just kicking them the ball all night, and we took what the game gave us.”
For the majority of the game, the Red Devils had no answer for Apollo’s freshman goalie Nolan Perkins, who finished with over 15 saves.
“It is hard to catch balls that are skipping around and being in position,” Apollo Head Coach Nikos Agisilaou said. “I thought he did a great job keeping the ball in front of him and distributing. The ball is wet, and it makes your job harder. I thought he did a heck of a job. Even just communicating. I am proud of him and glad he’s on my team.”
Awaiting Owensboro in the championship game is their longtime rival, Daviess County. The Panthers survived an early onslaught by the Aces that included a goal that was waived off by an offside call.
“They came out similar to how they did last time we played them, and they had a couple of good looks early,” Daviess County Head Coach Dale Armistead said. “Fortunately, those didn’t go in, so when we finally scored, it definitely took the pressure off the game. I think the guys were relaxed a little bit and started to play better.”
Waiting for their moment to strike, Silas Goebel found Saw Mu in the 26th minute to break the scoreless tie. Nine minutes later the Panthers broke the game open, scoring twice in 60 seconds on goals by Taylor Hoak and Ethan Dailey.
In the 55th minute, the Aces cut the lead to 3-1 thanks to Isaac Self scoring off an assist from Luke Pfeifer.
“We talked about having to fight in the second half, and we got one back,” Owensboro Head Coach Andy Donohoe said. “That was the plan to get one and see where the game took us.”
Owensboro Catholic was unable to build off their momentum and 12 minutes later, the Panthers iced the game on a Gabe Sandefur goal.
Entering the night, Daviess County expected the Aces to sit back a bit and and attempt to catch them on the counter attack.
“We knew both keepers were going to be susceptible to balls and not being able to grab balls,” Armistead said. “So, we were trying to drop balls into the top of the box and create shots from there.”
Despite the loss, Donohoe
“We have a really young group,” Donohoe said. “We’re graduating eight seniors, but I think it was 13 freshmen that are coming through and had a lot of playing time throughout the year. It’s just getting them ready for varsity and getting the experience from this year that the younger guys are getting.”
The District Championship game is scheduled for Wednesday evening at Owensboro Catholic High School. Owensboro swept the season series, winning the first game 5-4 in penalty kicks and shutting out the Panthers 5-0 the second time.
“The mindset is to get the guys recovered tomorrow, watch some film, and gameplan for Wednesday night,” Armistead said. “…It is always a dog fight, so it’s going to be another great game on Wednesday.”
