Jim Mashek

BOWLING GREEN BOOSTED BY TREVY BARBER’s RETURN FROM INJURY; DAVIS CHANEY KEYS GATORS’ SECOND-HALF SURGE

There was ebb, and there was flow. There was strategy, and there was interesting clock management. And in the end, it all came down to the left foot of Oliver Gonzales, Bowling Green High School’s football/soccer standout who finds a way to make it work, along with academics.

Gonzales connected on a 26-yard field goal as time expired, after BGHS coach Mark Spader elected to play for three points, sending Bowling Green to a thrilling 17-14 victory over crosstown rival Greenwood High School on Friday night before a packed house at the BGHS stadium.

Bowling Green thus became the No. 1 seed for the KHSAA’s Class 5A, 2nd District, with two weeks left in regular-season play. The Purples, a two-time defending KHSAA Class 5A state champion, improved to 3-5 overall and 3-0 in district play, while the Gators fell to 5-3 and 3-1, respectively.

Gonzales came through, with a shutout in goal for the Purples’ soccer team, on Thursday night at The Pit, securing a KHSAA 4th Region title with a 4-0 victory over another crosstown rival, South Warren High School. On Friday night, he waited on the sideline as freshman BGHS quarterback Anthony Davis got his team in position for the winning points.

Pressure? Nah. At least not on the surface.

Bowling Green is now 37-0, all-time against the Gators. Players from both sides will tell you that’s just a backdrop for what really matters here, and the truth of it is Greenwood might get another shot at the Purples in the KHSAA playoffs.

“I tried to block the noise out,” Gonzales said when it was over. “Greenwood’s a good team, and they were out for blood. I was (on the sideline), thinking to myself, ‘Let me try it.’

“I just nailed it.”

That, he did.

It was a crushing defeat for the Gators, but they had reason to embrace the opportunities in front of them. Several players and coaches remained on the field long after the winning points were delivered, including senior linebacker Cooper Hines.

“When the pressure’s on, that’s when I feel like we play our best,” Hines said. “It’s going to be tough, getting back on track for these last two games (against East Robinson High School of Cross Plains, Tennessee, and Union County), but we know we can do it.

“We’re coming back for the playoffs.”

Veteran BGHS coach Mark Spader addressed his team on the field afterward, wanting the Purples to embrace the moment before turning their attention to next week’s district finale on the road against Grayson County.

“It was a little ugly, but Greenwood was everything we thought they would be,” Spader said. “Defensively, we got some big stops when we needed to. We get a big win, live for the next opportunity and try to go win again.

“We had a lot of confidence in Oliver Gonzales. He was in goal when we won the regional soccer championship on Thursday. He missed (a kofield-goal attempt) earlier (in Friday night’s game, but I got my confidence back in him, and he got his confidence back in himself.”

Embree Dotson, the Purples’ junior defensive back, was the long snapper on the game’s final play, and teammate Roberto Luganez got the placement down before Greenwood’s rush could affect the game-winning kick.

Trevy Barber, the Purples’ all-state wideout, returned to the field after missing six games with an arm injury. Barber made several big plays in the passing game, and he watched from the sideline as Gonzales trotted onto the field with the game on the line. The Gators had two timeouts to work with, and they iced him before the decisive kick, too.

No problem.

“Oscar walked out there like it was nuthin’. He kicked it right through,” Barber said.

It was a defensive struggle, and a strategic contest, for BGHS coach Mark Spader and his Greenwood counterpart, William Howard. Bowling Green got on the scoreboard first, on freshman QB Anthony Davis’ 7-yard TD pass to Barber with 7:44 left in the first half. Barber gained inside leverage on the Gators’ coverage in the secondary, making the catch at the goal line.

Oscar Gonzales added the PAT and the Purples took that 7-0 lead into the locker room at halftime. In the final moments of the first half, senior BGHS defensive back Dru Jones came up with a leaping interception on a fourth-down play at the goal line, preserving Bowling Green’s seven-point lead.

The second half had a lot more offensive fireworks, to say the least.

On another fourth-down play, Davis found another BGHS senior receiver, Ethan Kirkwood, for a 23-yard touchdown pass early in the third quarter. Kirkwood outbattled two GHS defenders to make the catch in the left corner at the goal line, and Gonzales was true on the PAT, pushing the Purples’ lead to 14-0.

That’s when things started to get interesting.

Greenwood head coach William Howard and his longtime offensive coordinator, Jason Jaggers, wanted to use a “ground-and-pound” approach behind senior running backs Davis Chaney and Nathan Self. Self did most of his damage in the first half, and then Chaney became a man on a mission for the second.

“That kid can play,” Spader said.

Greenwood senior QB Levi Wyatt took the Gators downfield for a brisk touchdown drive, late in the third quarter, before Chaney broke away from the Purples’ defense for a 23-yard TD run. Greenwood’s Graham Smothers added the first of two successful extra points, and suddenly the Gators were right back in the thick of things.

But the drama was just beginning to build …

Greenwood’s defense was bowing its collective neck, while the Purples were looking for a knockout punch. Instead, the Gators went back to Chaney, and Chaney kept going forward. Chaney, an effective back out of the Wildcat formation, scored his second touchdown on a 1-yard run, but the Purples’ defense would later stop him on a fourth-and-1 play from just inside midfield.

That’s when the Purples went to the ground game themselves, and senior BGHS running back Trey Graham pounded out some tough yards before it was time for Oscar Gonzales to put the issue to rest. The Purples used their last timeout with one second left in the game, and Gonzales made it count to run Bowling Green’s record against Greenwood to an amazing 37-0, all-time.

Greenwood coach William Howard had reason to look ahead, to next week’s road game against East Robertson High School, in Tennessee, and beyond.

“Our kids just kept fighting,” Howard said. “Davis Chaney is a great running back, and our kids up front did a good job blocking for him. I think our offense kind of found their groove in the second half. The defense played great, the entire night.”

Time will tell if the Gators can get another shot at Bowling Green in the KHSAA playoffs. If it does happen, they’ll be returning to the sprawling BGHS stadium, possibly in the second week of the postseason.

Stay tuned.