Catholic builds big lead, then handles Todd Central 47-36

Oct. 1—There was never a more obvious case of a misleading final score than Owensboro Catholic's 47-36 win over Todd County Central on Friday night.

The Aces held a 47-6 lead at halftime, but Todd Central got some touchdowns going against Catholic's junior varsity and freshmen defense to make the final look much more interesting than it actually was.

Brady Atwell was 13-of-21 passing for 423 yards unofficially and five touchdowns. Tutt Carrico was dangerous once again in the passing game for the Aces. He had four touchdown catches for 175 yards total.

Carrico's most impressive catch of the night was on 3rd-and-17 from the Catholic 10 when Atwell uncorked a throw that found Carrico running down the middle of the field wide open on the 90-yard pass-run play that put Catholic up 27-6 with 10:47 left in the second quarter.

Catholic went to 4-3 overall and 2-0 in Class 2-A, District 2.

"They're just getting a better connection all the time with all the receivers," Catholic coach Jason Morris said. "Tutt is a really special player, runs crisp routes. Brady is doing a good job getting through progressions, it just happens to be that Tutt is making plays when it's time to make plays, and he's just been the open receiver and Brady is doing a good job finding him."

It only took 56 seconds for Catholic to get on the board with a 36-yard pass from Atwell to Tutt Carrico. Atwell hit an open Carrico again on a 32-yard scoring pass for a 13-0 lead. Vince Carrico scored on a 4-yard run. Atwell and Tutt Carrico connected on a 17-yard touchdown pass for a 34-6 lead with 5:37 left in the second quarter. Atwell hit Tanner Roberts for an 11-yard touchdown that put the Aces up 40-6.

Waryn Ebelhar looked like he would score on a long pass from Atwell, but the receiver suddenly took a knee at the Todd Central 1 for a 57-yard gain.

On the next play, Catholic sent out freshman lineman Eric McCarthy, who scored his first touchdown for Catholic on a 1-yard blast. That gave Catholic a 47-6 lead and set up the KHSAA-mandated running clock 26 seconds before halftime.

Atwell spread the ball around, hitting six receivers. Ebelhar had four catches for 111 yards.

Todd Central (4-3) recovered a couple of onside kicks and scored 24 points in the fourth quarter. Jamarion Smith had 129 yards and one touchdown rushing.

"I'm just proud of the way we came out in the first half and took care of business," Morris said. "We got our JV team and freshman team a lot reps in the second half. We got out with a win — that's what we wanted."

TODD COUNTY CENTRAL 6 0 6 24 — 36

OWENSBORO CATHOLIC 20 27 0 0 — 47

OC-T. Carrico 36 pass from Atwell (Ranallo kick)

OC-T. Carrico 32 pass from Atwell (kick failed)

OC-V. Carrico 4 run (Ranallo kick)

TCC-Nolan 3 run (kick failed)

OC-T. Carrico 90 pass from Atwell (Ranallo kick)

OC-T. Carrico 17 pass from Atwell (Ranallo kick)

OC-Roberts 11 pass from Atwell (Ranallo kick)

OC-McCarthy 1 run (Ranallo kick)

TCC-Nolan 3 run (run failed)

TCC-Reding 2 run (Farlow pass from Reding)

TCC-Smith 1 run (Smith run)

TCC-Reding 22 pass from Nolan (Nolan run)