Daviess County Panthers named to the 12th Annual MaxPreps Tour of Champions presented by the Army National Guard

MaxPreps is pleased to announce that the Daviess County (Owensboro, Ky.) Panthers have officially been named to the 12th Annual MaxPreps Soccer Tour of Champions presented by the Army National Guard, which is in its sixth year honoring boys soccer.

This is one of the most prestigious team awards in all of high school sports and it is an exclusive honor reserved for the top 100 teams nationwide. In order to be eligible, a team must win a state championship and be highly ranked in the MaxPreps National Rankings. For soccer, only 20 of the country's best are invited and with nearly 34,000 competing varsity teams. This puts the ahead of 99.9 percent of their opponents!

Under the leadership of head coach Doug Sandifer, Daviess County became the first-ever 3rd Region team to win the KHSAA boys soccer state title. On Saturday, Nov. 5 the Panthers upended the defending state champion Covington Catholic with a dramatic 2-1 victory which ended in a penalty kick shootout and an unrelenting performance by Daviess County goalkeeper, Tyler Croft.

Coming off a dominating 5-1 semifinal win over Paul Dunbar, the Panthers picked up right where they left off two days later and scored in the sixth minute of the state championship game. But with the state title on the line, the Colonels responded in the 19th minute to tie it up. The game remained tied through two-overtime periods and Daviess County's Tommy Booker scored the winning goal in the seventh and final shootout.

The Panthers finished their season ranked No. 1 in Region 3, No. 1 in Kentucky and they are currently ranked No. 8 in the MaxPreps National rankings.

These incredible season achievements have earned the Daviess County Panthers an invitation to the 12th Annual Tour of Champions.

Please join us as we celebrate with the boys soccer team, coaching staff, students and fans on Friday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. during halftime of the boys basketball game in the gym.

For more information about the Tour of Champions, please visit the MaxPreps Tour of Champions site.

Courtesy of Davis County Public Schools