Jones is big at keeper in Catholic win over Apollo

Aug. 19—Parker Jones did his best to be unbreakable at keeper for Owensboro Catholic in facing penalty kicks.

In the process, Catholic broke a 13-game losing streak to Apollo in boys soccer that stretched back to the 2015 season.

The Aces were thrilled when Jones made the final save to secure a 2-1 win Thursday night at Eagle Stadium.

Catholic won the penalty kicks 6-5, with Austin Martin, Brody Martin, Luke Pfeifer, Alex Garvin, Thomas Eyre and Joseph Kurtz connecting on their penalty kicks. Brody Martin also scored Catholic's goal in the second half on a penalty kick. Catholic is 2-1 on the season.

"Don't be nervous, a lot of it is how I see their angles," Jones said of his mindset going into penalty kicks. "I think I did (reading the shots), but for all I know it was pure luck. I'll give myself the bragging rights this time that I read it right."

Jones got a call that he jumped early on one of Apollo's PKs, giving Cesar Velazquez Gonzalez a second chance, which he converted. Long Berly, Ra Son, Dah Hai and Eh Wah converted PKs for Apollo. Hai also scored the goal in regulation for Apollo, which is 1-1 on the season.

"We had to be defensive," Catholic coach Andy Donohoe said. "It's all for each other, we've got our top players in positions they wouldn't play normally. If anyone deserves to win in sudden death penalties it was this group. They defended well in the game, they were resolute. This is something to be proud of.

"You can only be a hero as the goalkeeper in the shootout, the pressure is on the player (shooting), we were almost unlucky. Our keeper had some really good saves in the game."

Apollo had Steven Teran at keeper, and he also did a fine job with several saves on the few opportunities Catholic had.

"It took awhile to try and break them down, we got some stuff at the end, we couldn't quite finish them all," Apollo coach Ryan Poirier said. "Our kids played hard, played well. They executed their game plan really well. Once you got toward the goal there was no space. There were eight or nine guys in there and you've got to place really good passes and really good runs, we got one good one in there. Catholic took really good PKs."