ADDRESSES HIS TEAM AFTER TUESDAY’s PRACTICE.
LOGAN COUNTY FACES CALLAWAY COUNTY IN RUSSELLVILLE; GLASGOW TAKES THE LONG TRIP TO MURRAY IN KHSAA CLASS 3A
Bowling Green High School’s football coach, Mark Spader, put it in the simplest terms to his team after practice under the lights Wednesday evening at the BGHS Stadium.
“I told our kids, ‘About half the state packed their gear after last week,'” Spader said. “If we’re fortunate enough to win (Friday night), we’ll be playing for a regional championship next week.”
Those are the stakes as the KHSAA football playoffs move into their second week.
Bowling Green (9-2 overall) plays host to Madisonville-North Hopkins (9-2) in second-round play of the KHSAA Class 5A playoffs, with the winner likely to face Owensboro High School (9-2) next week at Rash Stadium in Owensboro.
Owensboro is the defending KHSAA Class 5A state champion. The Red Devils eliminated Greenwood High School, 42-6, last week in first-round play.
Meanwhile, on Nashville Road, South Warren High School (8-2 overall) will face Christian County (3-7) in second-round play of the KHSAA Class 6A playoffs, the association’s highest classification. The Spartans had a bye last week, like they did last year, when they finished as the state runner-up in their first season as a Class 6A team.
HAS WON FIVE CONSECUTIVE GAMES.
HAS SHINED ON OFFENSE AND DEFENSE.
IS FLANKED BY FELLOW SENIORS
TUCKER SEARS (LEFT) AND ISAIAH BRIDGES.
South Warren already has defeated Christian County this season, rolling to a 42-0 victory over the Tigers in mid-September. Christian County merged with Hopkinsville High School after the 2025-26 school year, creating one of the largest schools in the Commonwealth.
“I think we’re playing at a high level; you just want to show it when you get to the playoffs,” South Warren coach Brandon Smith said. “I think we’ve had a good week of practice, but we’ve had a lot of injuries this year. Seven or eight seniors with big roles on our team have missed four-plus games this year …
“We know (Christian County) has a lot of good athletes, mostly kids who played at Hopkinsville last year. We saw them in the playoffs.”
Camden Page, South Warren’s senior quarterback, said last week’s bye might have been a blessing in disguise. Senior wideout Justin Capps sustained an Achilles tendon injury in the Spartans’ final regular-season game, a 35-7 victory over Logan County on October 30 in Russellville.
“After Justin’s injury, it was probably a good thing,” Page said. “But I think the team’s extremely confident right now. The week off should help us.”
BY TEAMMATES ARLANDO DAVIS (LEFT)
AND EMBREE DOTSON.
FACES CALLOWAY COUNTY ON FRIDAY NIGHT.
IN ITS LAST FOUR GAMES.
Two other teams in South Central Kentucky remain alive in the KHSAA playoffs. In Class 4A, Logan County (8-3 overall) will play host to district rival Calloway County (7-4), while in Class 3A, the Glasgow Scotties (10-1 overall) will make the long trip to square off with Murray High School (10-1).
Logan County whipped Taylor County, 52-20, in first-round play, and a victory over Calloway County would probably send the Cougars to mighty Paducah Tilghman (11-0) for the Class 4A regional finals. Tilghman stopped the Cougars, 37-7, earlier this season in Russellville.
Glasgow opened postseason play with a 47-0 rout of Hopkins County Central last week.
HAS PASSED FOR 2,035 YARDS AND 28 TOUCHDOWNS.
Bowling Green’s senior class — about 22 players strong — understand they’ll be playing their final home game, regardless, on Friday night against Madisonville-North Hopkins. BGHS will be facing the Maroons for the first time since the 2018 season.
BGHS coach Mark Spader said Madisonville-North Hopkins is a big, physical squad. The Maroons have a standout running back in Ryder Sandidge, who has rushed for 1,589 yards and 22 touchdowns this season.
“Coach (Chris) Price does a great job over there (at M-NH). He always has a good offensive line,” Spader said. “They’ve got a group of guys, four or five kids, who play offense and defense. They almost never come off the field.
“They have the ability to run the ball, possess the ball, and if they can do that, they could send us home. We want to hold this (BGHS) team together as long as we can … we’re gonna have to be sound, up front, defensively.”
WITH WINDSPRINTS ON WEDNESDAY.
TO CHRISTIAN COUNTY ON FRIDAY NIGHT.
BGHS senior defensive back Embree Dotson, who is also the Purples backup quarterback, said his team’s five-game winning streak has provided a sense of confidence. Bowling Green pulled away in the second half last week to eliminate Owensboro’s Apollo High School, 63-38, in first-round play.
“We had four games with (KHSAA mandated) running clocks,” Dotson said. “We’ve got to come out and get the train rolling, early.”
HAS 23 RECEPTIONS FOR 427 YARDS
AND SEVEN TOUCHDOWNS.