PURPLES PLAY HOST TO UNBEATEN BOYLE COUNTY.
UNBEATEN WARREN EAST TRAVELS TO RUSSELL COUNTY; GLASGOW, LOGAN COUNTY PUT 4-0 RECORDS ON THE LINE
There’s no shortage of high-profile games in South Central Kentucky as we approach the fifth week of the season on Friday night.
The Bowling Green High School Purples, unbeaten in four games, play host to defending KHSAA Class 4A state champion Boyle County. The Rebels have been nothing short of dominant in their four games themselves.
At South Warren High School, the defending KHSAA Class 5A state champion, a big game will soon unfold between the Spartans (1-2) and another tradition-rich opponent, the Paducah Tighlman Blue Tornado.
Tighlman (2-1) endured one of the most unpredictable seasons in Commonwealth history last year, finishing 8-7 but reaching the KHSAA Class 3A state championship game last December in Lexington.
In a matchup of contending 3A squads, Glasgow High School (4-0) is on the road to face nearby Hart County (3-1). Metcalfe County, which has dominated three opponents after opening the season with a 12-9 victory over Class 6A Barren County, will square off with winless Clinton County on Friday night.
AGAINST RUSSELL COUNTY ON FRIDAY NIGHT.
Warren East will begin KHSAA Class 4A, 2nd District play tonight when the Raiders (4-0) travel to play Russell County (1-3). Greenwood High School (3-1) will play host to unbeaten Logan County (4-0) on Friday night at The Swamp in yet another high-profile tilt.
Warren Central, which snapped its miserable 61-game losing streak on Opening Night, mauling Bullitt Central 13-0 in Shepherdsville, is on the road again against nearby Allen County-Scottsville (1-3). Because of a scheduling quirk, the Dragons (1-2) have yet to play at Joe Hood Field and have just three games all season on the WCHS campus.
TO DISTRICT RIVAL WARREN CENTRAL ON FRIDAY NIGHT.
Both Allen County-Scottsville and Warren Central are looking for critical victories to establish the tone for the final seven weeks of regular-season play.
Bowling Green High School, the KHSAA Class 5A state champion in 2020, faces a top-flight Boyle County team for the second consecutive season. Former WKU quarterback Justin Haddix brings the Rebels into Bowling Green with a 4-0 record, and Boyle County is also sporting a 17-game winning streak, its last loss on August 28, 2021.
That’s when Lexington Christian High School traveled to nearby Danville and defeated Haddix’s Rebels 35-28. After drubbing the likes of Pulaski County and Henderson County, Boyle County played host to the Purples, who staggered home after a 31-0 defeat.
It was a defeat that stung, as senior BGHS linebacker Jake Napier acknowledged earlier this week.
AND JAKE NAPIER ARE THE TEAM’S LEADING TACKLERS.
“We didn’t get off the bus in that game. More or less,” senior BGHS linebacker Jake Napier said. “This is an important game for us. Boyle’s very good.”
Mark Spader, the Purples’ fifth-year head coach, would tend to agree.
“This will measure our progress, as a team,” Spader said. “This is a high-profile game with a defending state champion in Boyle County … This should reveal some things we need to improve on in order to be a championship team ourselves.”
South Warren is looking for a similar edge, as its annual showdown with Bowling Green is looming in the distance on September 30. The Spartans are actually playing their first home game of the season on Friday night, after back-to-back losses to out-of-state squads. Hendersonville (Tennessee) prevailed 28-22 after four lead changes against the visiting Spartans on August 26, and after an early open date, South took a gut-wrenching 28-24 loss to Gibson Southern in Fort Branch, Indiana.
That was a long, long bus ride, as veteran coach Brandon Smith and his players admit.
Gibson Southern trailed by 11 points with 3:34 left, but a late South Warren turnover helped the defending Indiana Class 3A state champions pull out the improbable victory. The Spartans crushed Gibson Southern 42-7 on its way to a state championship themselves last season.
“They nearly went the length of the field for the winning touchdown,” Smith said. “You’ve got to get that taste out of your mouth … The Western game (South’s 49-14 rout of Highlands on August 20 at WKU’s Houchens-Smith Stadium) seems like a long time ago.
“Yes, it was a long bus ride back from Indiana.”
Senior defensive tackle K.J. Hardesty was quick to concur.
“Pretty quiet on that bus ride,” Hardesty said. “Did a lot of thinkin’ … We lost. Period.”
WR/DB CRISTIAN CONYER (LEFT) AND DT K.J. HARDESTY.
South Warren receiver/defensive back Cristian Conyer, a versatile weapon who has committed to the University of Tennessee, said the Spartans understand there’s only one antidote.
“We had a lot of mental mistakes in that game,” Conyer said. “We’re still trying to find the right people, the right places … I’m glad we can stay home this week, show the city what we can do … and put on a show.”
All Brandon Smith knows is that South Warren High School, with three KHSAA state championships to its credit over the last 13 years, hasn’t played a home game since November 19, 2021, when the Spartans throttled South Oldham 49-13 in the Class 5A quarterfinals.
“Winning cures a lot of things,” Smith said with a smile.
In other games on Friday night, the hard-luck Panthers (0-4) are playing host to nearby rival Franklin-Simpson (2-2), while Barren County, the lone KHSAA Class 6A school in South Central Kentucky, is on the road to tangle with North Laurel (2-1). Barren County (3-1) won its third straight last week with a 39-6 rout of Class 2A Monroe County. Unbeaten Butler County (4-0) has an open date and will square off with another unbeaten team in Class 4A McLean County (4-0) on September 23.
I’ll be covering the Bowling Green home game against Boyle County tonight. Good luck and good fortune to all our area teams.
SHOWS HIS COLORFUL SIDE ON TUESDAY AFTERNOON.
HAVE TO SIT THIS ONE OUT …