Catholic handles McLean, 46-0

Mark Mathis, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
·3 min read

Oct. 23—CALHOUN — Owensboro Catholic completed its four-game run through Class 2-A, District 2 with a 46-0 victory at McLean County on Friday night.

The Aces did it with a new quarterback at the controls. Freshman Brady Atwell started for the Aces and had a good debut. Lincoln Clancy had been starting for Catholic.

"He's just a freshman we trust, he got to start tonight," Catholic coach Jason Morris said. "He was great, the future is obviously really bright with him back there. We have a very capable quarterback in Brady Atwell, he's another kid who every single week just gets a little bit better.

"I didn't change the game plan whatsoever, didn't have to. He practiced all week and got plenty of reps."

Catholic will take a 4-5 record into its regular-season finale next week at Elizabethtown. Catholic is 4-0 and the top seed in the district.

McLean County is 4-5 and finished 1-3 in the district. Butler County (4-4) also was 1-3 in the district and beat McLean County 22-20 in their regular-season matchup.

Atwell had a good night, hitting 9-of-15 passes for 124 yards and four touchdowns.

The 6-foot-3, 235-pound freshman also ran for a 32-yard touchdown when he rolled out and kept going on a 2nd-and-17 play for a 14-0 lead.

Atwell had three scoring passes to Braden Mundy — from 11 yards four minutes into the game, a 19-yard touchdown that made it 26-0 and a 16-yard touchdown that put Catholic up 40-0. That score started the KHSAA mandated running clock at 7:18 of the third quarter.

Atwell made a 27-yard touchdown pass to E. Munsey with seven minutes left in the game.

Hunter Monroe added touchdown runs of 14 yards and 40 yards.

Monroe finished with 11 carries for 147 yards.

Catholic finished with 281 yards in offense and worked with a short field on scoring drives almost constantly throughout the game.

McLean County managed 101 yards on the ground and 14 passing yards for 115 in total offense.

"Super proud of this team," Morris said. "Coming on the road here, traditionally we never start well, and we started out very well, came and got a score, scored 26 first-half points, and took care of business in the third quarter. Just really proud of my team the way they held their composure tonight."

Catholic had started 0-5 then got rolling in district play.

"We just keep getting a little better every week," Morris said. "The great thing about it is, honestly, we have not had a bad week of practice all year. We've had better weeks than others, but we have not had a bad week of practice. That's a testament to these seniors, we just kept getting a little better, and by district play, we were ready to go.

"What I'm seeing, every coach likes to see. We have good enthusiasm every day at practice, we've got lots of young talent that gets better every single week, our kids are getting more and more reps."

OWENSBORO CATHOLIC 7 19 14 6 — 46

McLEAN COUNTY 0 0 0 0 — 0

C-Mundy 11 pass from Atwell (Frick kick)

C-Atwell 27 run (Frick kick)

C-Monroe 14 run (kick failed)

C-Mundy 19 pass from Atwell (kick failed)

C-Monroe 40 run (Monroe run)

C-Mundy 16 pass from Atwell (run failed)

C-Munsey 27 pass from Atwell (pass failed)