OWENSBORO – The Owensboro Catholic High School football team’s fourth-quarter comeback came up short against Class 5A South Warren on Friday night at Steele Stadium.

On fourth-and-one at midfield with about two minutes remaining in the game, junior running back Von Williams was engulfed for a 1-yard loss by South Warren’s Jacob Lacey, causing a turnover on downs.

“You’re going against one of the top 5-A schools in the state of Kentucky and we hung in their with them,” Catholic coach John Edge said. “Granted, we had opportunities to win the game but it is what it is.”

Williams was tackled for a loss 12 times in Friday night’s game, none bigger than the loss at the end of the fourth quarter. He finished with 35 yards on 19 carries.

“They put some people in the box and they added another one sometimes,” said Edge about South Warren’s run defense. “They did a good job mixing their coverages and changing back and forth.”

With very little time remaining and only one Catholic timeout left, a 6-yard run by junior Cameron Harrison on third-and-three wound up sealing the victory for the Spartans.

The Aces got off to a hot start with a 80-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Drew Hartz to junior wide receiver Kobe Hamilton on the second offensive play of the game.

Hamilton finished with eight catches for 156 yards and two touchdowns.

South Warren (8-2) answered back early in the second quarter off an 11-yard fade pass by junior quarterback Gavin Spurrier to senior wide receiver Marcus Elmore.

The Spartans added another score just before halftime when Harrison scampered in for a 31-yard touchdown.

Harrison had 28 rushes for 174 yards. He also added three catches for 31 yards.

Spurrier completed 16-of-28 passes for 139 yards.

After a 10-yard holding penalty by the Spartans backed them up to their own 8-yard line, Noah Todd sacked Spurrier in the endzone for a safety that cut South Warren’s lead to 21-9.

The Spartans had 10 penalties in the game.

On Catholic’s next offensive drive, it faced a fourth-and-15 on South Warren’s 27-yard line.

Hartz connected with Hamilton along the sideline for a 27-yard touchdown, cutting the Aces’ deficit to five.

Hartz completed 19-of-33 passes for 220 yards and two touchdowns.

“It gave us a little momentum when we scored,” Edge said. “We just made some little mistakes here and there and we’ve just got to clean those up still.”

The Catholic defense stepped up and held the Spartans scoreless the remainder of the game, but the Aces’ offense couldn’t find any success.

Hartz had two passes intercepted by senior Greg Byrd — one of which was returned 79-yards for a touchdown, but a penalty by South Warren on the return nullified it.

Now with the regular season over, Catholic (6-4) will face Webster County in the first round of the Class 2-A Russell Athletic/KHSAA Commonwealth Gridiron Bowl next week at Steele Stadium.

“It’s a new season, 0-0,” Edge said. “Those first 10 ball games now mean zero.”

SWHS – 0 14 7 0 – 21

OCHS – 7 0 9 0 –16

OC-Hamilton 80 pass from Hartz (Harrington kick)

SW-Elmore 11 pass from Spurrier (Cohron kick)

SW-Harrison 31 run (Cohron kick)

SW-Spurrier 16 run (Cohron kick)

OC-Todd safety

OC-Hamilton 27 pass from Hartz (Harrington kick)