Jim Mashek

BOWLING GREEN SQUARES OFF WITH VISITING ATHERTON; SOUTH WARREN PLAYS HOST TO NORTH BULLITT

Bowling Green High School’s Mark Spader and his contemporary across town, veteran South Warren football coach Brandon Smith, were careful to make some significant points in addressing their respective squads after Thursday evening’s chilly practices.

No. 1, of course, is that upsets happen, and preparation is critical to postseason success. Just as important, blocking out the noise helps a teenage football player concentrate on the task at hand. The KHSAA postseason field has been winnowed to 48 teams, across six classifications, with that number to be cut in half on Friday night.

South Warren (11-1 overall) looms as a strong favorite over North Bullitt High School (7-5), but the Eagles struck for a 29-28 upset of Grayson County last week in second-round KHSAA Class 5A play in Leitchfield. Grayson County finished its season at 9-3 overall.

Likewise, at Bowling Green, the defending KHSAA Class 5A state champion Purples (10-2 overall) seem to have hit their stride over the last month or so, after dropping a hard-fought district game against South Warren, the Spartans’ dramatic 28-24 victory on October 18 at the BGHS Stadium.

Spader pointed out that Atherton (10-2 overall) closed the regular season with four consecutive shutouts, and that the Ravens made a similar postseason run last year, only to fall on the road to Owensboro High School. Atherton has a top-flight running back in senior Michael Curry, who leads the “A-Train” with 1,664 yards rushing and 23 touchdowns. Defensively, the Ravens have a star in 215-pound senior Jeremiah Parker, who leads the team with 30 tackles for losses, including 15 sacks, along with two fumble recoveries, FOUR forced fumbles and an interception.

Deuce Bailey, the Purples’ four-year starter at quarterback, and his offensive line will have to account for Parker on every play, particularly on passing downs.

“You let your seniors know that this is likely to be the last home game of their high school careers,” Spader said. “We’ve had a very good week of practice, like we did last week before we played against Owensboro. The kids have been dialed in … they know this is a good team coming to our place.”

Bowling Green is one of four squads from South Central Kentucky still alive in postseason play. If the Purples and South Warren survive and advance on Friday, they’ll meet in a high-profile matchup to determine a berth in the state championship game set for Saturday, December 7, at the University of Kentucky’s Kroger Field in Lexington.

Bowling Green earned its eighth state championship last season, stopping Cooper High School, 28-14, in a rainy title tilt to cap the two days of football festivities. South Warren, meanwhile, has won three state championships since opening in 2010, most recently in 2021.

The cold weather across the Commonwealth could be a factor in quarterfinal play, but South coach Brandon Smith likes the way senior QB Bryce Button and the Spartans have been moving the football. Button has passed for 2,330 yards and 33 touchdowns in 12 games, with eight interceptions, while adding seven TDs on the ground.

“You want to be playing when it gets cold … That’s a goal, for everybody,” Smith said. “It’ll be colder, but you have to prepare yourself for that. Sometimes, the ball can get a little slippery … (North Bullitt) is a big, physical team. They like to get the downhill running game going … Their win over Grayson County last week was one of the biggest upsets in the whole state.”

Meanwhile, in Glasgow, the Barren County Trojans take their Magical Mystery Tour on the road one more time, as they’ll be playing in a KHSAA state quarterfinals game for the first time in decades. Barren County takes a 10-2 overall record into its game at Great Crossing High School in Georgetown, Kentucky. The Trojans avenged an earlier loss to North Hardin in second-round play, taking a 16-13 victory last week in Radcliff.

Senior quarterback Tate Spillman is an experienced hand running Barren County’s Wing-T offense, and the Trojans are basically playing with house money at this point. Take a shot, see what happens, survive and advance …

“I think we’re definitely going into this game with the right mindset,” Spillman said via text message on Friday morning. “It’s going to be cold, but as long as we can minimize mistakes, and play like we have, the last couple weeks, we should be OK.

“I think we can take this as far as we let ourselves.”

Barren County throws the ball sparingly, but the Trojans have several capable weapons in the backfield. Senior running back Daylan Thomas leads the team with 781 yards rushing and nine touchdowns, with Spillman not far behind with 633 yards and a team-high 13 rushing touchdowns.

Coincidentally, Barren County will be moving back to KHSAA’s Class 5A for the 2025-26 school year, while South Warren will be moving up, to Class 6A, for the first time. South Warren and Bowling Green will continue to play one another in a non-district game in September.

South Warren QB Bryce Button said the Spartans have shown steady improvement over the last five or six weeks of the season.

“I think we’ve started to pick up the pace a little bit,” Button said. “It’ll be good to be back at our home field (after field conditions sent the Spartans’ second-round game to Warren Central last week), and I think we’re mentally ready to play.”

Hart County has certainly been “ready to play” this season. The Raiders (12-0 overall) advanced to the KHSAA Class 3A quarterfinals with last week’s 28-13 victory over Franklin-Simpson, Hart County’s second win over the tradition-rich Wildcats this season. Hart County will be back on its home field on Friday night for a showdown with Union County (10-2 overall). The Braves have eliminated Glasgow and Adair County in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

In Bowling Green, however, the focus will be on the Purples’ 5A quarterfinal matchup with Atherton, and South Warren’s game against North Bullitt. The home squads loom as favorites, but no one in either camp is looking past their opponent with a regional championship at stake.

“This is when you lean on your senior leadership,” BGHS coach Mark Spader said. “This is when you lean on your preparation. Our kids are excited that they’ll get another chance to play for each other.”