Owensboro Catholic cruised to a 49-7 win against Crittenden County to advance to state quarterfinals. They will host Green County next week in hopes of advancing to the semifinals.
Crittenden opened the game by recovering their own onside kick to give them the first possession of the game. The Aces shut them down however, and they put their first points on the board after Atwell made a pass to Noah Rhinerson who completed the 23-yard touchdown.
OCHS nearly extended their lead late in the first quarter, but Atwell’s pass was intercepted inside the endzone and prevented them from doing so. Despite this setback, The Aces had a stronghold on the game offensively. Head coach Jason Morris said Atwell and the rest of the offensive spread the ball out well throughout the game.
“Everyone played well tonight on offense,” he said. “We spread the ball around very well to all our receivers and running backs. Our offense line played tremendous and Brady Atwell was very good once again.”
Rhinerson scored again from a 44-yard touchdown from a pass from Atwell to take their lead to 13, and the extra point attempt that followed was blocked. Immediately on the next drive, Carson Lewis intercepted a pass and took it to the house for a 35-yard touchdown. Atwell’s pass to Tutt Carrico for the two-point conversion extended the Aces lead 21-0.
On defense, OCHS gave Crittenden no room to maneuver on offense and prevented them from scoring any points in the first half. Barrett Evans made another big pay on defense after he forced a fumble and returned it the full 45 yards for a touchdown. Morris credited his defensive staff for the performance on defense.
“Our defensive staff, led by coordinators Lincoln Latham and Koert Morris, are doing a great job of game planning,” he said. “Our players are executing and tackling well. Barter Evans and Carson Lewis scoring those touchdowns were the nails in the coffin tonight.”
Atwell completed two more touchdown passes to Eli Blair and Carrico, who completed a long 45-yard touchdown, to take the Aces into halftime with a 43-0 lead.
Owensboro Catholic scored one more touchdown in the second with another pass from Atwell that found the hands of Waryn Ebelhar. Ebelhar completed the 13-yard TD for their final touchdown. They took a knee on the two-point conversion.
Crittenden put their first points on the board to end the third quarter. With a 7-yard touchdown pass, Crittenden scored and put the final score at 49-7.
Looking ahead to next week, Morris said the team will be locked while preparing for the next round against Green County.
“We will get ready for Green and put together thorough game plans in all three phases of the game,” he said. “Our players are locked in. This is just a special group of boys!”
