Jul. 15—As difficult as it is to fathom, we’re just over a month away from the opening kickoff of the 2021 high school football season, and there are reasons to believe that all four City-County teams have a chance to be very good.
One team, in fact, has a chance to be great — again.
The Owensboro Red Devils have been pounding on the door of a KHSAA Class 5-A state champion-
ship for two years running, losing in the state semifinals at Lexington Frederick Douglas in 2019 and falling to age-old rival Bowling Green in the 2020 state finals at Kroger Field in Lexington.
Now, OHS will be hoping to take the next step and win the program’s first state championship in 35 years.
The Red Devils will
be led by senior quarterback Gavin Wimsatt. In his two years as a starter, the team has won 24 of 27 games and has made a pair of deep playoff runs.
Wimsatt passed for over 2,000 yards and 27 touchdowns last season, while also rushing for over 400 yards and six
TDs.
In the offseason he committed to Rutgers, after being rated one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the nation.
OHS must replace its top rusher, Ethan Avery (630 yards, 9 TDs), and its top receiver, Treyvon Tinsley (42 receptions, 602 yards, 10 TDs).
The Red Devils also must replace stellar linebacker Austin Gough, the team’s top tackler, but the team returns a bevy of solid defensive players, including lineman Sahvon Hines and cornerback Zach Clark, who ranked second and third, respectively, in tackles last season as sophomores.
Also back are battle-tested senior cornerbacks Maurice Moorman and Javius Taylor, who combined for nine interceptions last
all.
Make no mistake, Jay Fallin’s Red Devils will once again be in the mix for a championship in the state’s most stacked-at-the-top division.
Optimism is sure to be high out at Daviess County, as well, as the Panthers return senior quarterback Joe Humphreys, another highly touted NCAA Division 1 prospect.
In 2020, Humphreys passed for more than 1,500 yards with 21 touchdown aerials and only five interceptions, while also rushing
for 483 yards and
seven scores — all
this in only seven games.
Also back for coach Matt Brannon’s Panthers will be junior Bryson Parm, an explosive running back who gained 1,069 yards and 14 touchdowns in only eight games, and junior receiver Decker Renfrow, who led the squad with 31 receptions for 511 yards and nine
TDs.
DC must replace some notable linemen, but the cupboard is far from bare.
The Class 6-A Panthers went just 3-5 last fall, but don’t expect a repeat of that — Daviess County will feature an improved defense and should be significantly better this time around.
John Edge begins his third season at Apollo in 2021, and the Eagles have made significant strides the past two years — going 4-7 in 2019 and a much-improved 4-4 last season, which included City-County wins over Owensboro Catholic and arch-rival Daviess County.
Even more promising was Apollo’s performance in the Class 6-A playoffs, a highly competitive 21-13 loss at McCracken County, which had blasted the Eagles 57-0 in the same spot in the playoffs a year earlier.
The Eagles have work to do in replacing some key individuals — including dual-threat quarterback Damian Lovinsky and 1,000-yard rusher Harold Patterson, among others — but the program’s defense has improved exponentially, a hallmark of Edge’s best teams during
his storied run as coach at Owensboro Catholic.
No doubt, the Apollo program is moving in the right direction.
Owensboro Catholic, meanwhile, was one of the area’s most resilient teams last season — winning four in a row out of the gate, then losing three of four, including a one-point district defeat at Hancock County, then advancing to the Class 2-A regional championship game with postseason victories over McLean County and Hancock County (another one-point decision).
The Aces will be powered by multifaceted senior star Braden Mundy — a late-season insertion at quarterback last fall — whose sheer tenacity and all-around ability will pose problems for every foe Catholic faces.
Also back is Hunter Monroe, who led the team in rushing in 2020 as a freshman with 761 yards and nine touchdowns.
One of the biggest challenges for coach Jason Morris this fall will be replacing star linebacker Chris Boarman, who far and away led the team in tackles last season with 136 stops.
Nonetheless, count on Catholic — which finished 7-4 a year ago — to once again be a strong challenger in 2-A.