Lincoln Clancy threw for six touchdowns — with three going to William Carrico — as Owensboro Catholic was firing on all cylinders Friday night, rolling past Butler County 41-16 to kick off the postseason at Steele Stadium.
The Aces built up a 41-2 lead before giving up a pair of late touchdowns. Head Coach Jason Morris was happy with the performance on both sides of the ball.
“I think we’re really playing good hard, Owensboro Catholic football,” said Head Coach Jason Morris. “We’re flying around the football playing really good defense. We had way too many penalties in the first half. It’s always good to have something in a blowout win like this to go back and try to clean up, keep our kids more focused to make sure that we’re ready to go for the next round. Right now it’s survive and advance, and we feel like we’re 1-0 when it matters most. All our focus is on the next game.”
Catholic got on the board early when Clancy connected with Braden Mundy for a 35-yard touchdown less than 2 minutes in. Clancy hit Carrico for a 40-yard score later in the quarter. In the final minute of the quarter, a bad snap to the Catholic punter turned into a safety for Butler County to make it 14-2.
The only score of the second quarter was an 18-yard pass to Everett Munsey for a 21-2 Catholic lead.
Butler drained almost 7 minutes off the clock to start the second half but turned it over on downs. On the ensuing possession, Catholic got one big gain from running back Hunter Monroe and another with a reception by Mundy. Carrico then caught a short pass and carried a pair of defenders into the endzone for a 21-yard score.
“All of our receivers were doing a good job blocking on our screens and those types of things,” Morris said. “I like how we spread the football around tonight. Monroe is just a very good running back and we put the ball in his hands a lot.
After the Aces forced a fumble, Reid Clark caught a pass out wide then broke a handful of tackles to find paydirt from 20 yards out. A 6-yard touchdown pass to Carrico pushed Catholic’s lead to 41-2 with 10:38 left in the game, starting a running clock.
Butler County added touchdowns on a 15-yard reception and an 80-yard fumble recovery.
Even after allowing the late scores, Morris said his defense played well.
“We talk about alignment, assignment, and effort,” he said. “When those three things are perfect, or as close to perfect as possible, we’re a really good defense. When everybody just does their job and we play good physical football, we’re really good on defense.”
The Aces extended their win streak to six games after starting 0-5 due to stiff competition in a front-loaded schedule.
“We’ve talked from day one about how we want to take this thing to the next level,” Morris said. “We feel like on our side of the state if you can win that third-round game, which is where we were at last year, that you’re good enough to win at all. If we’re gonna take it to the next level, we have to play next-level talent. That’s what we did with those first five games, and we won six in a row since.”
Catholic now advances to play Hancock County, who edged past Todd County Central 14-7 Friday night. The Aces rolled past the Hornets 47-0 earlier this year.
Catholic will host the game at 7 p.m. Friday.
