After back-to-back strong road wins, Daviess County will look to extend its winning streak to three games in front of its home crowd against Marshall County.
The Panthers are coming off a 49-22 victory over Madisonville-North Hopkins, in which they scored 21 unanswered points in the second half.
Senior quarterback Joe Humphreys struggled a little through the air, throwing two interceptions despite throwing for two touchdowns and 106 yards, but it was his rushing game that allowed the Daviess County offense to excel.
Humphreys had 151 rushing yards on only five carries, with four of those carries turning into rushing touchdowns.
To further their ground game’s success, senior running back Gunnar Evans turned 13 carries into 121 yards to go along with his lone rushing touchdown.
If the Panthers can keep this up and limit unforced turnovers, it will open things up for Humphreys through the air.
Defensively Daviess County will be tasked with tackling an array of running backs who combine for an average of 188 rushing yards per game.
Juniors Landon Utley and Kameron Bowerman lead the way, averaging 71.8 and 54.4 rushing yards per game.
Senior quarterback Quinn Smith is the man under center for the Marshals, averaging just under 100 passing yards per game.
Marshall County has struggled offensively in its three previous matchups, falling in all three and failing to score more than 20 points in any of them.
However, the Marshals have shown some offensive explosiveness, scoring 62 points in their season opener and 46 points in its second game of the season.
Brannon said that this Marshall County is much improved from last season and that they are a program that’s trending upward.
“Marshall County seems to be much improved from last year,” Brannon said. “They are well coached and play hard. Coach Etheridge is in his second year and you can see the progress that has been made.”
With this in mind, Brannon said he and his staff focused on the mental aspect of the game in practice throughout the week.
“I reminded the team on Sunday of what we consider a true definition of success,” Brannon said. “It’s not in wins or losses, but in what you do to reach your goal. Football is all about the process and preparation. We have had an excellent week of practice, and that needs to be the expectation no matter who our opponent is.”
In order for the Panthers to extend its winning streak in front of their home crowd, Brannon said they must stay true to their game with aggressive defense and meticulous offense.
‘The keys for us remain the same, physical and sound defense,” Brannon said. “Ball security and limit mental mistakes and penalties.”
They will look to do so when they battle under the friday night lights at 7 p.m.
