The 2024 football season officially kicks off tonight, and there’s plenty to keep an eye on with area teams. Owensboro Catholic takes on Apollo in a city-county matchup, Owensboro hosts a defending state champ, Daviess County plays their first game under a new head coach, and Hancock and McLean counties look to repeat their Week 1 success from a season ago.
Owensboro Catholic (Class 2A, District 2)
at Apollo (Class 5A, District 1)
The Aces dominated their way through the regular season and came up just shy in the 2A state championship in 2023, and it all started with a 42-6 victory over the Eagles. Meanwhile, struggle to get their footing en route to a 2-9 campaign.
Catholic head coach Jason Morris knows that last year’s results don’t mean much tonight.
“We’re expecting a battle,” he said. “Especially when it’s a city-county kind of game, that means a little bit more to the kids as well.”
Still, he’s got plenty of confidence in his squad full of veterans. Most notably, Class 2A Player of the Year Brady Atwell returns as the signal caller for the Aces.
“We’re not going to be changing styles from years past. This will be our third year of starting quarterback Brady Atwell, and everything will run through him and our spread offense,” Morris said. “Then as the game goes on, we look to just take whatever the defense has given us, whether that be in the run game or the passing game. But we expect to be able to attack in both dimensions.”
Apollo head coach John Edge knows they can’t afford to give the Aces extra chances on offense, so the Eagles will look to control possession.
“We need to not turn the ball over. The more chances you give them, the better they’re going to play,” he said. “We’ve got to control the pace. We’ve got to control everything, really. You have to get in front of them. You can still win playing behind, but it’s a tall task. I think the biggest thing for us is winning the field position battle. Last year they had a short field a lot, and you just can’t win that way.”
Edge said the Eagles will be prepared for several looks on both sides of the ball, and hopes the work put in over the summer shows up during the game.
“We’re gonna take whatever they give us,” he said. “They’re gonna throw a different thing that we haven’t seen. We’ll be prepared for it. We’ve gone against a lot of things all summer. We run a system, we don’t run a toolbox of plays. So whatever they throw at us, it goes right into our system and we will figure out how to counter what they’re doing.”
Morris similarly said he expects an aggressive attack from the Eagles, saying the Aces will have to take care of the football.
“I’m looking for Apollo to get back to kind of a real similar style as us, as far as being a spread system and trying to take whatever they think we’re giving them offensively. Defensively I think they’re going to be a 3-3 stack. That’s an aggressive kind of team that’s going to mix up playing man and zone trying to keep us on our heels,” he said. “We expect to play good, clean football and to not do things to beat ourselves. We have to try to make Apollo earn everything they get in the game.”
Christian-Academy Louisville (Class 3A, District 3)
at Owensboro (Class 5A, District 1)
Quick notes:
The Red Devils waste no time in testing their mettle by hosting defending 3A champs CAL. It’s a rematch from Week 1 last year, when the Centurions came away with a 28-14 victory. CAL’s standout quarterback, who was also the top rusher, graduated, but OHS head coach Jay Fallin knows they’ve still got a talented roster. Meanwhile, the Red Devils bring back quarterback Trevor DeLacey and running back Evan Hampton, who helped lead OHS to a 5A semifinal appearance last season.
Head coach Jay Fallin said:
We feel prepared. We feel like we have a good plan, like we’ve had a good week of practice. But some things will happen that are unexpected, both ways. They’ve got some they’ve got some things up their sleeve that they haven’t shown yet, and we have some things up ours that we haven’t shown yet. That’s the sort of thing that is a reality in Week 1 games. We’re just looking forward and really excited about the opportunity to get out and play a game.
I think both teams definitely want to move fast offensively. I would say you’re gonna see two teams that are well-coached and prepared. They graduated some key pieces, but also return a lot of experience. I’d say they’re similar to us. They’re really experienced in some places and and youthful and others. We’re expecting a great game.
Early in the season, when you play quality opponents, you get an idea of who you are very early. We are fully expecting to come out and compete to win a ballgame against a really good team. I don’t think that we would have gone on the run of the playoffs we did last year, had we not played some of the early season games we did.
Daviess County (Class 6A, District 1)
vs. Franklin-Simpson (Class 3A, District 2)
(game played at Warren East)
Quick notes:
It’s the debut for new head coach Anthony Payton, but he’s hoping the focus stays on the field rather than him. The Panthers got off to a slow start but finished 6-6 with a playoff win a season ago while the Wildcats went 9-3, but Payton said he doesn’t put much stock in previous years. He’s looking for DC to stick to the game plan and take care of the rock in order to come out on top.
HC head coach Anthony Payton said:
They like to run the ball a lot. They will pass it a few times. We’re going to try to be fast-paced. I really believe they’re going to try to run the ball at us, but we’ll just have to figure it out and make adjustments as necessary.
I’m focused on the process and making sure the guys are keyed in on what they’re supposed to be doing. I just want those guys to go out there, have a good game, stay healthy and have fun. If we win, great. If we come up short, then we’ve got some stuff to look at to adjust to and grow from that.
My biggest thing I’m looking for is to stay together as a team, which is hard when you have a new coach and new standards. I’m just expecting them to go out there and take pride and ownership of what we have, and stack positive play on top of positive play. Then when that scoreboard hits four zeroes, we should be on top.
McLean County (Class 3A, District 1)
at Ohio County (Class 5A, District 2)
Quick notes:
McLean and Ohio have traded victories over the years, but the Cougars are looking to make it three in a row tonight. McLean returns players in key positions from a squad that went 8-3 a year ago, while Ohio is looking to rebound from a 1-10 campaign in 2023.
HC head coach Zach Wagner said:
It’s the first game for both teams, so I expect to see some hiccups on offense and defense. Hopefully, we can minimize or have the least amount of mistakes, especially on special teams. Early on in the season, special teams can play a vital role.
Defensively, we have to make sure we’re we’re tackling correctly, and getting all 11 hats to the ball. If we can minimize a big, explosive play on our end, then I think that’ll set us up for a good opportunity to come up on top. Some of skill guys that have come back got valuable experience and reps last year, we’re going to rely on those guys on offense as well as defense to come up and make big plays for us.
Hancock County (Class 3A, District 1)
at John Hardin (Class 4A, District 2)
Quick notes:
The Hornets are looking to get their season started like they did last year, with a win over John Hardin. They squeaked out a 6-0 win over the Bulldogs a season ago. HC head coach Bob Eubanks is hopeful a strong offseason will help the Hornets find success this week.
HC head coach Bob Eubanks said:
John Hardin is a run-heavy team. They want to try to load up, and they’ll go three-back sets and try to really run it at you. They’re also athletic enough they can spread it out and come out of the gun. We’ll have to be ready for multiple sets, multiple looks from them, and just kind of be able to keep everything in front of us defensively. Offensively, we’re just going to try to take what they give us and try to play our game, play within ourselves, move the ball as much as we can.
I’m hoping to see the culmination of all the work we put in all offseason. We feel like we’re in pretty good shape as far as where we’re at with our practices. We just want to get out there and fly around and put all that work on display.
