Owensboro Catholic weathered a determined Apollo squad Friday night at Steele Stadium, pulling away in the third quarter before holding on for a 28-21 victory.
Jude Evans opened the scoring with an early touchdown run up the middle, and Miles Edge added a 3-yard score in the second quarter to put Catholic ahead 14-0.
Apollo responded when quarterback John Edge connected with Ehmadji Bader for a touchdown, then hit Landen Bratcher late in the half to even the game at 14-all.
Catholic regained momentum in the third quarter behind quarterback Dremail Carothers, who threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Luke Thomas to make it 21-14. Minutes later, Carothers found Hudson Ebelhar in the end zone to extend the lead to 28-14.
Apollo clawed back in the fourth with a 3-yard scoring pass to cut the margin to 28-21 with 8:57 left, but the Aces’ defense came up with stops down the stretch to secure the win.
Owensboro Catholic coach Jason Morris said turnovers kept Apollo in the game, but his team responded when it mattered.
“We had pretty good control of the game and got a turnover, and their offense got clicking,” Morris said. “We played really well in the third quarter and got back up by a couple of scores. Then, they put a long drive together and scored. That made it a one-touchdown game, and we got a stop and put it away at the end.”
Morris said he wasn’t surprised Apollo gave his team trouble.
“We set the standard really high at Owensboro Catholic, and we’re going to get everybody’s best shot,” he said. “When you turn the football over and don’t play consistently, teams start gaining confidence, and all of a sudden you’re in a four-quarter battle. Hats off to Apollo — they played us a really close game; it was a good game.”
Apollo head coach John Edge, whose team fell to 0-3, praised his quarterback’s play and said the Eagles are improving despite their record.
“I thought JT played a great game for a kid that didn’t get a lot of reps in the summer at quarterback,” Edge said. “We kind of shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times, and you can’t do that against Catholic. But our kids played well.”
Edge added that the Eagles’ early-season slate has been challenging, with matchups against Murray, Heritage Hills, and Owensboro Catholic already behind them.
“We’re 0-3, but look who we’ve played,” Edge said. “Murray’s going to go to the state championship if they stay away from CAL, and Catholic is always tough. We’ve got Hancock next week, and we’ve got to carry this effort forward.”
