After grabbing a narrow victory in the final minute weeks ago, Owensboro football will look to put away Graves County early en route to a Class 5A District Championship.
The Red Devils are coming off a dominant performance against Grayson County, winning 42-7 thanks to a strong ground game.
Senior Tramel Barksdale led the way in the backfield with 76 yards and a touchdown on six carries, while junior Kenyatta Carbon and senior Javius Taylor finished with a pair of touchdowns each.
Junior quarterback Kasey Boone was efficient in his limited reps, throwing for 63 yards and a touchdown on 4-5 passing.
Meanwhile Graves County is coming off of a monstrous win against Breckinridge County, defeating them 51-6 in order to set up the rematch with the Red Devils.
In their regular season matchup it was Barksdale that secured the 35-28 win over the Eagles, grabbing the game-winning touchdown while rushing for two more touchdowns and earning 161 yards on 28 carries.
They’ll look to halt Graves County’s dynamic senior running back in Clint McKee, who ran for 208 yards and three touchdowns on 35 carries in their previous matchup.
Owensboro’s defense was able to create multiple turnovers defensively, intercepting sophomore quarterback Drake Defreitas three times. But they had their own issue with turnovers, as Boone threw two interceptions and a fumble from Barksdale cost them as well.
Head Coach Jay Fallin said the Red Devils will look to limit these mistakes on both sides of the ball in order to be successful in all three facets of the game Friday night.
“It’s tough to win on the road, and particularly so at Graves County,” Fallin said. “It’s a 2.5 hour trip via bus, and on that particular night it was pouring rain with 20 mph wind. Our guys had to overcome those circumstances and find a way to win. Despite the score, I thought it was our best overall defensive performance of the year and we will need to keep that momentum going. We need to touch up some of the mistakes we made on offense, particularly turnovers and penalties that prevented us from scoring more.”
You can expect Owensboro to utilize a heavy run offense in order to open things up through the air for Boone and control possession. Defensively they will look to limit McKee in the backfield and put pressure on Defreitas in the pocket.
In a game where the Eagles are going to want to come in and upset Owensboro in front of their home crowd, Fallin said they have to stay even-keeled mentally.
“One play at a time,” Fallin said. “I believe that you can and must play with tremendous effort without getting too emotional or thinking about things like revenge. Graves County will come in determined, and we will need to be ready to match their intensity.”
The Red Devils will look to topple Graves County once again when they host them at Rash Stadium 7 p.m. on Friday.
