Jim Mashek

BOWLING GREEN BEGINS KHSAA CLASS 5A TITLE DEFENSE AGAINST LEXINGTON’s FREDERICK DOUGLASS HIGH SCHOOL IN LATE GAME SATURDAY NIGHT

At long last, high school football season has arrived in the Commonwealth.

The 2024 KHSAA season begins tonight across Kentucky, with plenty of compelling matchups (see Bowling Green-Frederick Douglass High School, Trinity at Bryan Station, Pikeville vs. Corbin, for starters) and all sorts of story lines to command attention over the next 3.5 months.

It all ends, of course, at the Promised Land, the University of Kentucky’s Kroger Field, where South Central Kentucky has had at least one representative in each of the last three seasons, and, in 2021, two schools made it, Russellville High School in Class 1A and South Warren in Class 5A.

(Pikeville would squeeze out a gritty 30-27 victory over the Panthers on the first day of the KHSAA championships, before Caden Veltkamp and South Warren stopped Lexington’s Frederick Douglass High School, 38-26, giving the Spartans their third state title since the school opened in 2010.)

Bowling Green claimed the KHSAA Class 5A state championship last December, the eighth state title in school history, by mauling Cooper High School, 28-14, on a rainy night in Lexington. One year earlier, of course, the Purples reached the KHSAA 5A title tilt, only to drop a 28-7 decision to Frederick Douglass, which now competes in the Class 6A ranks.

Bowling Green will tangle with Frederick Douglass, which went 8-5 in its first season as a Class 6A school, in the annual Rafferty’s Bowl on Saturday night on the campus of Western Kentucky University. They’ll square off at about 8 p.m., after the opening game between Lexington Christian Academy and Boyle County, with a 5:30 p.m. kickoff at WKU’s Houchens-Smith Stadium.

“We’re testing ourselves early,” BGHS coach Mark Spader said, “but I think our fans kind of like it. It’s a special game for our kids, and we know we’re going to get anybody’s best shot, no matter who we play.”

Deuce Bailey, Bowling Green’s senior quarterback, became the school’s career passing leader last season, and he plans to play college football at Missouri State, which will soon join Western Kentucky, MTSU and the rest of the scattered schools across three time zones in Conference USA.

“We’ve got a little unfinished business (with Frederick Douglass),” Bailey said. “They’re always going to be tough.”

Bowling Green used a tenacious defense and Bailey’s skill set to take the state championship last year, and the Purples return plenty of experience this season. Three starters on the offensive line — Parker Fields, Zach Jordan and Christopher Nuckols — return, along with Bailey’s top receiver, junior wideout Trevy Barber (84 receptions, 1,189 yards, 16 touchdowns in ’23) and reliable placekicker Braden Weeden.

Bailey, meanwhile, passed for 3,517 yards and 43 touchdowns last season, with only seven interceptions. But the Purples needed a trick play — Bailey-to-Barber-to-Tray Graham — in the final seconds on a “hook-and-ladder” play to stun archrival South Warren, 36-29, on the Spartans’ home turf. South Warren finished the year 9-3, but the Spartans didn’t get a chance to face Bowling Green again when they got overwhelmed at Owensboro High School, falling 53-22 at cramped Rash Stadium in Owensboro.

South coach Brandon Smith, like Spader, tries to put together as tough a non-district schedule as possible, and that’s certainly the case this season. The tradition-rich Spartans open the 2024 season against Louisville’s Ballard High School in a non-district game at Campbellsville College on Friday night. Ballard reached the KHSAA Class 6A state championship game last season, before falling 24-21 against Lexington’s Bryan Station High School.

“On paper, our offensive line and our defensive line should be the strength of our team,” Smith said.

South Warren returns senior quarterback Bryce Button, but he’ll be throwing to a revamped group of wide receivers and backs. Button, entering his third season as the Spartans’ starter, has committed to Eastern Michigan University of the Mid-American Conference.

“We’ve got to find some kids at the skill spots, and see what develops,” Smith said.

The Bowling Green-South Warren grudge match will unfold on October 18 at BGHS. South Warren will be moving up to the Class 6A ranks for the 2025-26 school year.

There’s some interesting double-headers scheduled across the state on Friday night, including one featuring four area teams at Logan County High School.

Logan County, which has become a consistent Class 4A contender under ninth-year coach Todd Adler, will open its season against nearby Butler County in the second game of the doubleheader. Russellville, which has been rebuilding since its Class 1A runner-up season, will square off with Warren Central in the first game.

Warren Central has a first-year head coach in Jeremy Harness, and the Dragons will be looking to bounce back from last year’s 1-10 season.

There also will be a double-header at Warren East High School, with second-year WEHS coach Tanner Hall leading the Raiders into a 6 p.m. matchup with visiting Christian County on Friday, followed by Franklin-Simpson squaring off with Daviess County. Greenwood, meanwhile, will play in the second game of its double-header on Friday, with the Gators facing Hopkinsville High School at 8:30 p.m., after the opening game between Allen County-Scottsville and Marion County.

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