Owensboro head coach Ryan Haley wanted to see his team make a statement early, something Dennis Juma took to heart. Off a feed from Jackson Sigler, Juma found the back of the net less than 90 seconds into the match, his first of two goals in the Red Devils’ 7-0 win over Owensboro Catholic in the first round of the 9th District boys’ soccer tournament.
“Overall, I felt we moved the ball really well,” Haley said. “We communicated well, our center backs dictated traffic and told our players where to go… Catholic is a good team. Their season ended so I know they feel rough. They did a good job preparing for the game and trying to match on our two center backs. They are always well-coached, and we are just happy to move on to the next round.”
Entering the match, the Red Devils were expecting the Aces to stick to their bunker style, but instead, Catholic decided to play with two strikers to match Owensboro’s center backs. The decision caught the Red Devils off guard, but it also opened more scoring angles, which Owensboro capitalized on.
“It seemed they were trying to make it a two versus two and hit them long at the beginning of the game… We made sure to always keep three players back to have a numerical edge on their attack,” Haley said.
Jackson assisted on Owensboro’s next three goals, all in the first half – finding Peter Mbayo twice and Max Knoop once. Juma scored his second goal of the game to give the Red Devils a 5-0 lead into halftime off of an assist from Brian Payne.
In the second half, the Red Devils added two insurance goals, with Mbayo and Garrett Ferry assisting Patrick Alexander and Broderick Divine.
Owensboro has one day to rest up before their rematch with longtime rival Daviess County for the district championship on Monday evening.
“You don’t get to go play for championships very often and Owensboro hasn’t won one in quite a while,” Haley said. “We are going to do our best to go to try and hold up the trophy this year and set the tone heading into the region. We’re happy our season is still alive and excited about it.”
Young players step up for Panthers
Missing multiple key players due to injuries, Daviess Conty still had plenty of firepower against Apollo, winning 7-1.
“I was a little anxious coming into this one,” Daviess County head coach Doug Sandifer said. “We have had some bad luck with injuries lately and were missing several players. We had young guys who came in and gave us quality minutes tonight. They did well, and our veterans who had been playing all year did fantastic. I am just proud of this group.”
Just five minutes into the game, off of a feed from Gabe Sandefur, sophomore Ethan Dailey gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead. Dribbling from the right side, he ripped it past Apollo Luke Mattingly leaving the crowd speechless. The Panthers would score two more goals in the first half thanks to Cameron Bell and Taylor Hoak.
In the second half, the Panthers relentlessly continued to wear out the Eagles, with Saw Mu (twice), Hoak, and Carter Houk all scoring. Apollo’s lone goal of the game came in the 58th minute when Ahmad Hanafi scored on the right side from about 20 yards out.
The Panthers enter Monday’s district championship against Owensboro with their eyes on winning their 11th straight district title.
“Hopefully it’s going to be a battle. Owensboro is playing really well right now and it’s a district final,” Sandifer said. “I’m sure both teams will approach it with a fired-up mentality wanting to win a district championship. Both teams advanced to next week in the region so the biggest thing is to compete but get out of here healthy and prepare for the next round of games.”
