Murray and Owensboro Catholic are both riding emotional highs after pulling off upsets over No. 1 seeds in the second round of the Class 2A playoffs last week.
The Tigers and Aces will meet Friday night at 7 p.m. at Ty Holland Stadium in Murray with a spot in the state semifinals on the line.
Murray (7-3) overcame a 14-0 halftime deficit, and withstood three overtimes to get out of Mayfield with a 28-21 victory. (Mayfield had won 21-20 in overtime earlier this season at Murray.)
Meanwhile, in Hawesville, Owensboro Catholic (7-3) ran out to a 20-0 lead at Hancock County, only to have to stop a late two-point try by the Hornets to escape with a 27-26 victory. (Hancock had won the regular-season meeting 30-29.)
This week figures to be the third-straight nail-biter for Murray, which fended off Caldwell County 35-28 in the first round before getting the rare victory at War Memorial Stadium in Mayfield last week.
This week’s game looks to come down to each side’s ground attack.
The Tiger rushing game has seemingly gotten stronger as the season as progressed. Meanwhile, the Aces gave up 381 yards and four touchdowns to a run-heavy Hancock squad last week, which could bode well for Murray.
Meanwhile, Owensboro Catholic used to be known for its big passing numbers, but the Aces are running the ball more than two-thirds of the time this season. So both defenses will be challenged in the ground game.
The Aces are keyed by freshman Hunter Monroe (734 yards and nine touchdowns) and junior Braden Mundy (727 yards and nine scores).
Mundy moved to quarterback for the last two games. He completed 7 of 12 passes for 86 yards with a TD and an interception in last week’s win at Hancock. Mundy’s transition to QB allowed the Aces to put even more of an emphasis on the running attack.
Previous quarterback Lincoln Clancy, a junior, threw for 1,051 yards with 11 touchdowns and eight picks. He’s also run for 365 yards and two touchdowns.
But the Aces only throw the ball around 13-14 times a game,
On the other side of the football, linebacker Chris Boarman is the heart of the Owensboro Catholic defense. Boarman has nearly twice as many tackles as anyone else on the team, recording 131 stops in 10 games with 16 tackles for loss and three sacks this season.
The Murray offensive philosophy is similar to Owensboro Catholic as far as keeping the ball on the ground. The Tigers put the ball in the air only about 12 times a contest.
Murray has a three-headed rushing attack, led by senior running back Charvelle McCallister’s 726 yards and 11 touchdowns. Quarterback Rowdy Sokolowski, a junior, has run for 636 yards and 10 scores while senior running back Brendan Dahncke has 579 yards and seven TDs.
Sokolowski also has 1,015 yards passing with 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
Murray will pick its spots as far as going to the air, but the Tigers’ bread and butter is the ground game.
Defensively, senior lineman Sebastian Lawrence may be Murray’s best player. He has 73 tackles with 20 of those being tackles for loss. Andrew Orr, a junior linebacker, actually leads the team in total stops with 81.
Murray and Owensboro Catholic are not strangers when it comes to postseason meetings. The Tigers beat the Aces 41-32 in the second round in 2018.
The Aces prevailed each year in the second round from 2015-17, but the Tigers won four straight playoff meetings from 2011-14.
Owensboro Catholic won the 2010 matchup in the regional finals.
After this week’s games, the playoffs will be re-seeded again for the state semifinals next week.
