CAL travels to Rash Stadium on Friday to take on Owensboro with a 7 p.m. CDT kickoff.  CAL is coming off a 45-7 victory over Pikeville.  Conversely, Owensboro is coming into the contest off of a 38-7 loss to St. X.  This will be the 3rd meeting between these two schools with the last 2 being wins for CAL the last 2 years.

2022 - 28-14 CAL

2023 - 27-17 CAL

CAL essentially has a 2-headed monster at all offensive skill positions in the form of Brodie Pfeiffer and Jackson Burke at QB, Jeffrey Vezzana and Tyree Stoner at RB and Ja'Hyde Brown and Gaines Howard at WR.  The CAL offense is tough to stop due to their ability to beat you a variety of different ways with a variety of different weapons.  On the defensive side of the ball last week, Sr. Jason Hilliard anchored the line from his DE spot while Sr. Jackson Settle and Jr. Micah Newsome both finished with at least 10 tackles in the contest.  Containing the offensive skill players for Owensboro will be a tall task for that group this Friday.

Owensboro, on the other hand, is coming into this contest off of a lackluster effort against St. X.  Sr. Evan Hampton and So. Kingston Dillard were largely held in check, which is a testament to the defense of St. X.  RB Evan Hampton is a true talent and is capable of breaking a big play at any time.  The same can be said or WR Kingston Dillard.

Going off week 1 results, one might be led to believe this matchup could be a one-sided contest, but that would be a huge mistake.  Owensboro has played toe-to-toe with the CAL the last two years, and I expect the same this year with a huge rebound effort from last week.  This game will be won in the trenches as I truly believe skill positions for the two teams are extremely close to a toss-up.

Who wins and why?

Owensboro will come in to this one playing hard to avoid another embarrassing week. CAL overpowers them in the second half anyway.

CAL 38

Owensboro 24

I'll go with CAL 28-14. Owensboro will be looking to play better after last week.

Quote

 

I really don't know what to think of this one. Us Red Devils fans were sorely disappointed in the teams performance last Friday at St.X. Was I expecting victory, No, but the performance was a little rocky for me. It was like we were not ready or something. 

However, I do think we bounce back and play better football.

I'm going to go 24-21 Owensboro. 

I feel that Owensboro might give the inexperienced CAL QBs some difficulty. Secondly, the CAL defense is not as strong as the St. X defense. 
 

I think this game is closer than many will think. 
 

CAL 23 - Owensboro 21. 

Bump.

How will O's QB do at handling pressure? I expect there will be a heavy dose of it from CAL's Dline.

Cal 35

OHS 14

36 minutes ago, jester270 said:

How will O's QB do at handling pressure? I expect there will be a heavy dose of it from CAL's Dline.

Cal 35

OHS 14

St. X D chased him around whole game but because he's fast was often able to evade the pressure. He also had to throw the ball away or rush some throws because of the pressure. I thought he played pretty well for not having much blocking.

1 minute ago, Tigerpride94 said:

St. X D chased him around whole game but because he's fast was often able to evade the pressure. He also had to throw the ball away or rush some throws because of the pressure. I thought he played pretty well for not having much blocking.

Great insight. I do know that St. X has one of the most defensively sound units in the state this year. Man those guys can tackle! 

I think the two big questions remains:

Can OHS get ahead early on? If so then that may open up more run game opportunities. 

How well can the OHS o-line create holes for Hampton? I know that this was a huge question preseason. Hampton averaged less than 4 ypc against Saint X (I realize they were playing from behind most of the game).

Good luck to OHS! 

Owensboro always plays better at Rash Stadium.

And I expect them to play much better this week.

But CAL is an extremely talented team, so it won't be easy.

I look for O to make some big plays, but in the end, I just don't think the O

lines are good enough to win this game and that's where it will be won IMO, but by less than many think.

If O had shown a pulse last week, I may take O, but no way now.  I think they play better but the O-line is not a complete unit.  I don’t think it’s close either.

CAL lost Hodge and whoever else was amazing…they’ve lost 2 BIG time D1 recruits to Atherton, but they do have on the Louisville All metro team:

Ja’Hyde Brown - WR D1 offers from Alabama just a junior

Jason Hilliard 6-2 245 who was all metro defense last year moved to O-line

Kellen Hall 6-4 260 lineman D1 with multiple offers from Alabama and others only a sophomore

Jackson Settle 6-1 220 LB led team in tackles last year - offers from mid majors

Stone Perkins 6-0 190 defensive back committed to Ball state

 

This would be a shock if O won or were in it with a chance to win.  Personnel changes if they have them to make.

 

Centurions 35-7

I hate to pile on Owensboro's o-line, but they immediately stood out to me as a liability when I looked in on the St. X game. Hampton had nowhere to run and all Ganaway could do was run.

CAL is so good in the box, I envision a similar fate for the Devils. I think the defense has to play at a different level to keep Owensboro in this.

I think our defense can play with CAL. If we can stop them then obviously we will be in the game. However, if we don't stop them then we will get beat and beat pretty bad. If this happens we have a lot of issues that need to be worked out. 

I do have hope we can get this ship turned the right way. I believe in the coaches.

James Green who streams the OHS games on FB said he will no longer be streaming home games for the Devils?.

48 minutes ago, Devils Fan said:

James Green who streams the OHS games on FB said he will no longer be streaming home games for the Devils?.