SCORES ON A 4-YARD TOUCHDOWN RUN.
BGHS COACH MARK SPADER: ‘IT WAS AN UGLY WIN, BUT IT WAS A WIN …’
The standards are high, around Bowling Green High School’s football program, and that was evident Friday night.
The Purples never trailed, against Madisonville-North Hopkins, in second-round play of the KHSAA Class 5A playoffs, and the Bowling Green defense answered the bell in the second half. But it was a choppy voyage, at times, which gave veteran BGHS coach Mark Spader some pause as the Purples move on after their 35-16 victory over the Maroons on a chilly November night.
“It was an ugly win, but it was a win,” Spader said when it was over. “I just wish it was a cleaner game … (but) we get to play for a regional championship, and they never come easy.”
Bowling Green earned its eighth victory against four defeats, while extending its winning streak to six games. The Purples will now square off with a familiar postseason foe, defending KHSAA Class 5A state champion Owensboro High School, with a regional championship on the line. The Red Devils improved to 10-2 on the year after dominating Barren County High School, 54-0, at Owensboro’s Rash Stadium.
That’s where the Purples are headed next week.
Madisonville-North Hopkins finished its season at 9-3 overall.
SCANS THE FIELD FOR A RECEIVER.
THEIR EIGHTH VICTORY
AGAINST FOUR DEFEATS.
LEADS THE PURPLES WITH 19 TOUCHDOWNS.
Bowling Green started fast against the Maroons, with the Purples converting an Embree Dotson interception into the first points of the game. BGHS quarterback Anthony Davis kept feeding the ball to senior running back Nick Graham, who scored on a six-yard touchdown run with 3:03 left in the first quarter. Davis completed a third-down pass to his elder brother, Arlando Davis, before Graham found a hole inside for the score.
Bowling Green’s defense delivered again, in the final three minutes of the opening quarter.
BGHS sophomore Tayden Green intercepted a tipped pass by the Maroons’ Alex Richards, giving the Purples a short field with which to work. On a fourth-and-six play, Anthony Davis ran down an errant snap before retreating about 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage, with the M-NH pass rush closing in. Anthony Davis scrambled to his left and again found his brother, Arlando Davis, waiting in the end zone for the 25-yard touchdown reception.
Freshman placekicker Kip Walden delivered the second of five extra points and the Purples took a 14-0 lead into the second quarter.
Madisonville-North Hopkins, a ball-control team, put together a 13-play, 85-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter. The Maroons used the sturdy legs of senior running back Ryder Sandidge for the bulk of the drive, the Purples were caught out of position on Richards’ 17-yard run on a quarterback draw for the score with 1:44 left in the first half.
As is its wont, M-NH coach Chris Price opted for a two-point conversion try, and Sandidge followed his blockers on a sweep to the right side to trim the Bowling Green lead to 14-8.
ITS HANDS FULL AGAINST OWENSBORO.
HAS THROWN 22 TD PASSES THIS SEASON.
FINISHES ITS SEASON AT 9-3 OVERALL.
The Purples used Anthony Davis’ strong left arm to put some distance between themselves and the visitors from Hopkins County before halftime.
Davis completed two quick passes before taking advantage of solid protection and finding BGHS teammate Isaac Wilson for the Purples’ third touchdown of the night. Wilson beat the Maroons’ coverage on a deep slant on scored on the 39-yard TD reception with a minute left in the first half. The Purples seemed to have control of the game, and Nick Graham added a 4-yard touchdown run with 8:31 left in the third quarter, at which point Bowling Green could entertain thoughts of creating a KHSAA-mandated running clock for the rest of the game.
M-NH quarterback Alex Richards and the Maroons had other ideas.
Richards scrambled for a first down on a fourth-and-8 play, leaving the Maroons just a yard short of the end zone. Ryder Sandidge scored on the next play, before adding another two-point conversion, and suddenly the Purples seemed a bit vulnerable.
Not quite.
TRIMMED THE BGHS LEAD TO 12 POINTS
IN THE THIRD QUARTER …
SCORED ON A 60-YARD KICKOFF RETURN,
AND THE PURPLES WERE ON THEIR WAY.
BGHS sophomore Jett Reynolds fielded a pooch kick on the ensuing kickoff before finding a seam on the right side. He broke through the Maroons’ kickoff coverage and scored on a 60-yard return, putting the Purples in front 35-16.
“Jett’s been making plays like that all year,” BGHS coach Mark Spader said.
Reynolds said he anticipated the pooch kick coming his way on the right side of the field.
“I could see the way the kicker was lining up, that it might be coming to me,” he said. “I saw a seam and just had to take it to the house.”
The second half had plenty of penalties, a BGHS turnover and some extracurricular activity, but the Purples managed to maintain their cool down the stretch.
“We did some good things, but we did some things that’ll kill us, moving forward,” Spader said.
Ultimately, however, the Purples negotiated the task at hand. BGHS defensive back Embree Dotson, one of the Purples’ co-captains, might have put it best.
“There’s a lot to improve on, for sure, with Owensboro coming up,” Dotson said.
“Defensively, we need to work on our tackling,” Spader added.
The Red Devils have been a familiar postseason opponent over the years. Owensboro crushed Barren County, 54-0, on Friday night to reach the KHSAA Class 5A regional championship game.
“Our (offensive) penalties are kind of putting us behind the sticks,” Spader said. “I’m just happy our team is still alive … we get to play for a regional championship.”
ADDRESSES HIS TEAM AFTER THE GAME.
DRESS WARMLY, Y’ALL …