GREEN COUNTY REMAINS UNBEATEN IN 42-20 VICTORY OVER WARREN CENTRAL
It was a light night of high school football in South Central Kentucky.
Most of the teams in the area scheduled their open date to coincide with fall break.
And there’s just three weeks of regular-season play remaining before the KHSAA playoffs begin during the first weekend in November. That thing has flown by …
It was tempting, to find something else to do, but high school football is special to me. I’m in my third season chronicling the prep game in South Central Kentucky, and South Warren, the second-ranked KHSAA Class 5A team in the Commonwealth, was playing host to McCracken County on Friday night.
Then, about 800 meters from my domicile, at least as the crow flies, the Warren Central High School Dragons had a home game with Green County, a KHSAA Class 2A team that was unbeaten coming into Friday’s games.
And most of us know what’s happening at Warren Central.
Warren Central was looking for its first victory since the 2015 season, believe it or not, and the Dragons were ready to tee it up with another batch of Dragons from Green County, a school that’s about a 90-minute drive up and over from Bowling Green.
It’s a full-scale reclamation project at Warren Central, something veteran coach Mark Nelson knew when he took the job in March.
It was a totally different scene at Warren Central, where the ticket booth normally used for Dragons home games was dark, forcing me to find another path into the stadium. Once that was secured, through a gate behind the field house, I could see that it was going to be a long night for the home team.
Meanwhile, down Nashville Road, Brandon Smith has built a KHSAA Class 5A power in South Warren, which won KHSAA Class 5A state championships in 2015 and ’18, along with a runner-up finish in 2017.
Smith’s team was coming off its most substantial victory in months, perhaps even years, on October 1 when the Spartans dismantled crosstown rival Bowling Green High School 36-7.
Smith admitted he was a little concerned that the Spartans might have a mental letdown after their rousing victory over Bowling Green, the defending KHSAA Class 5A state champion. The Purples had eliminated South Warren from the Class 5A playoffs in each of the last two seasons.
Those fears were extinguished quickly, however, as Kobe Martin scored four first-half touchdowns as South Warren took a 34-0 lead into the locker room at halftime. The Spartans would win going away, a 41-0 triumph, going into next Thursday’s road game against district rival Christian County.
It was 26-6, Green County, with about four minutes left in the first half when I decided to boogie on down to South Warren.
Green County would go on to win its game with Warren Central, taking a 42-20 victory over Nelson’s squad. The verdict also extended Warren Central’s losing streak to 56 games, a streak seldom seen in high school football and a bulging burden for the Dragons.
Warren Central trimmed its deficit to 12-6 in the final moments of the first quarter, with Demetrius Barnett bringing in a quick slant pass from teammate Kayuma Jean Aime and turning it into a nifty 30-yard touchdown reception.
Warren Central would get no closer.
Green County quarterback Zach Ferguson and running back Blake Houchins gashed the Warren Central defense, with both the run and the pass, and Warren Central was also victimized by penalties and other mental mistakes, something Nelson and his coaching staff have tried to minimize with their student-athletes.
It was fairly obvious it wouldn’t be a competitive game, so I left for South Warren and got to the Spartans’ game with McCracken County at halftime. I caught the last few moments of the first half from the radio broadcast of the game, and learned that Kobe Martin was riddling the Mustangs defense time and again, and that the Spartans were well on their way to their sixth victory against a single defeat.
Senior quarterback Caden Veltkamp, who will play college football at his hometown school, Western Kentucky University, yielded to South Warren teammate Bryce Button from time to time. Button’s just a freshman, and Brandon Smith explained that Veltkamp was “a little banged up” after the Bowling Green game, so it was a move that made sense. Martin was the guy McCracken County couldn’t stop, anyway, and the Spartans’ defense was intent on pitching a shutout in the second half.
“We wanted to get a look at Bryce Button, and we got that opportunity tonight,” Brandon Smith said when it was over. “I’m proud of our defense. We battled through any sense of a letdown, after the Bowling Green game, and we actually had a good week of practice. The experience we have with this team, yes, I think it’s paid off for us this season.”
Kobe Martin said the approach of the South Warren coaches on the practice field pays quick dividends when the Spartans take the field against an opponent. Martin believes that’s a critical part of the Spartans’ 6-1 start, with the lone defeat coming at the hands of Hendersonville (Tennessee) in the heat of an August night at South Warren.
“We knew the crowd would be a little light, especially with the Bowling Green game last week and everybody being on fall break,” Martin said. “The coaches have a routine, in practice. We work really hard in practice.
“The offensive line did an amazing job tonight. Every time I scored, I was running through a huge hole. It was a lot of fun for our team.”
Beforehand, Veltkamp approached Kobe Martin in the Spartans’ locker room, telling Martin he sensed the Spartans should be able to run the football.
“I kind of challenged Kobe before the game,” Veltkamp said with a smile. “I told him, ‘We’re going to need a big night, running the football,’ and you saw what happened out there.”
Well, I saw the second half. Full disclosure, Caden.
South Warren defensive tackle Jake Jackson watched the second half from the sideline. You could barely tell he’d played in a football game, from the looks of his uniform, but Jackson was already thinking about next week’s road trip to Christian County.
“I’ve never really liked games like this,” Jackson said. “I really like playing the whole game. Usually, we practice like we play, and we had a good week of practice after the Bowling Green game.”
I asked the personable South Warren lineman how far the Spartans can go this season. And in my next breath, I admitted it was a loaded question.
“Pretty simple, really,” Jackson said. “We’re going to play it week to week.”
Week to week.
Makes sense to me.