After losing three of their first four games of the season, Owensboro has turned the season around and will be traveling to Bowling Green in search of a spot in the Class 5A Football State Championship. This game marks the fifth consecutive year that the Red Devils have made it to the semifinal round of the playoffs. Last year they were eliminated by Frederick Douglass in a game that ended 14-2. Frederick Douglass went on to play Bowling Green in the championship and won 28-7.
OHS will have to beat Bowling Green if they want to make it back to the state championship match for the first time in three years. The Purples have outscored their opponents 150-23 so far in the playoffs. Their star quarterback Deuce Bailey has accumulated a little over 3,000 passing yards so far this season. Their wide receiver Trevy Barber will also be a big threat as he has about 1,000 total receiving yards this season.
The Red Devils faced Bowling Green early in the season and suffered a 42-28 defeat. This time around OHS head coach Jay Fallin said that neither of the teams are the same as they were back then.
“Like everybody they’re a different team then they were in week two,” he said. “They are still schematically very similar. Deuce is still the straw that stirs the drink for them. He’s a very good quarterback. They’re talented at receiver, and he’s good at getting the ball into the right guy’s hands. He’s mobile and very difficult to get to. Defensively, from a schematic standpoint they do what they’ve done for a long time. Mark [Spader] coaches the defense and does a nice job. Like us, they’ve had some injuries and had guys that have gone out with injuries for other guys to step up.”
Although the team has been used to being in the late stages of the playoffs in recent years, Fallin said they have tried to press upon the players that being in this position is special and that they should treat it as such. The Red Devils easily could have laid down early in the season after their rough start, but Fallin used their losses to fuel the teams’ grit and determination that got them where they are today.
“The kids realized that when you win as much as we’ve won over the last several years, sometimes kids think it’s just going to happen,” he said. “They can get complacent, and I think it was good for the kids and the organization to be reminded that you have to work for it. We know what losing feels like and we don’t want to feel like that anymore, so we’re working to find ways to win.”
“It’s just your job as a head coach,” he continued. “Whatever happens, you have to make the best of it for your team. Nobody wants to lose, but when you’re losing early you have to try and make that a positive for your team. When you lose, you’re humbled, and you’re willing to be coached and corrected. As a coach you have to use those opportunities to make strides and get better. After we started 1-3, we started winning and thought we had kind of turned a corner and we’re getting better. Then we had that loss to Madisonville and that was pretty deflating, but also an eye opener. I don’t think we would’ve played as well in these last four weeks if we hadn’t had that humbling experience.”
Owensboro will travel to play Bowling Green with kickoff at 7 p.m.
