It took the Owensboro Catholic offense a while to get going Friday night at Steele Stadium, but once quarterback Drew Hartz started rolling, the Aces couldn’t be stopped.
Trailing by six after the first quarter, Catholic reversed course to pick up a 45-6 victory over Hancock County that moved them into sole possession of first place in the district.
“I’m really proud of the way our guys didn’t panic tonight,” said Aces head coach Jason Morris. “We have to come out of the gates better than we did tonight, but thankfully our guys stuck to the game plan we put together and eventually we were able to get a win.”
————————
For a full photo gallery from the game, click here.
————————
Hartz recorded more than 300 passing yards and connected on 22 of his 26 attempts. The senior playmaker finished with four touchdown passes — bringing his season total to 39.
Hancock County remained competitive until the halftime but couldn’t add to their early touchdown. With 2:58 to go in the first quarter, freshman quarterback Cole Dixon rushed for a 17-yard score on a drive set up by a fumble recovery.
The Aces came alive midway through the second quarter.
With just 5:29 to go in the half, Dre Thruston broke off a 22-yard touchdown run, and a successful extra point attempt by Luke Payne gave Catholic the lead for good. A 39-yard Hagan Edge touchdown reception with 2:49 left in the second quarter allowed the Aces to take a 14-6 advantage into the break.
After halftime, the Hartz-Edge connection remained strong, as the two linked up for a pair of touchdowns in quick succession. The first was a 53-yard bomb at the 7:49 mark, while the second was a beautifully finessed 24-yard toss with 3:21 left in the third quarter.
Catholic tacked on a second Thruston touchdown on a 75-yard run, and the Aces took a 34-6 lead heading into the final period.
Hartz finished his night by connecting with Aaron Logsdon on a 2-yard screen pass, while Payne’s 33-yard field goal with just under two minutes remaining capped off the scoring.
Though they won by another large margin, Morris acknowledged the need for more consistent play from his team. Three touchdowns were nullified by holding penalties — something that’s plagued Catholic at times this year.
“We need to clean up the fundamentals of the game,” he said. “We can’t continue to have touchdowns being called back if we want to keep winning football games. The plan moving forward will be to continuously improve at the basics of the game, like tackling, defense and cleaning up the holding penalties that shot us in the foot tonight.”
Catholic closes out district play at home next week when they host Butler County, and a win would lock up home field advantage for the first two rounds of the postseason.
Stay up to date on all your local sports coverage by following @OwensboroSports on Twitter and by liking us on Facebook.
__________
2019 football coverage is presented in part by Drew Cunningham, agent at State Farm.
