THE INITIATIVE IN A 35-7 VICTORY OVER GREENWOOD.
GATORS STILL LOOKING FOR BREAKTHROUGH VICTORY AGAINST BGHS
They’re tough up front, and fluid in the secondary. Inside linebackers Davis Fant and Jake Napier direct traffic and keep Bowling Green High School’s defense on the attack.
The Purples’ defense returned to form on Friday night at El Donaldson Stadium, limiting visiting Greenwood High School to 205 yards total offense in a 35-7 thrashing of a talented Gators squad.
“We just trust each other,” BGHS senior cornerback Augie Nyembo said. “The intensity’s there. Our defense was really turned up tonight.
“Everybody buys in.”
ADDRESSES HIS TEAM AFTER THE GAME.
Bowling Green improved to 7-1 overall and 2-0 in KHSAA Class 5A, 2nd District play. Greenwood dropped to 6-2 and 1-1, respectively, and the Gators are still looking for their breakthrough victory against their crosstown rival on Rockingham Avenue.
Bowling Green is now 34-0 all-time against the Gators. Fifth-year Greenwood coach William Howard has seen the Purples up close and personal seven times since 2018, and the Gators have scored in double figures just once in those games, a 24-10 defeat last year in first-round play of the KHSAA Class 5A playoffs.
Defense has been Bowling Green’s calling card for a long, long time.
CONTROLLED THE LINE OF SCRIMMAGE.
“We just have to make plays,” Howard said. “There were a bunch of times, when the ball hit us in the chest, then the hands. A lot of times we had people open and didn’t make a good enough pass … to be able to catch it. We have to make those plays, we have to play a much more sound game.
“I thought we moved the ball fairly consistently, particularly in the first half. But they’re a really good defensive team.”
Mark Spader succeeded predecessor Kevin Wallace as the Purples’ head coach in 2018, too, and he’s seen the Purples rely on the defense for a long time. Last year’s 6-6 finish was an anomaly, to be sure, but the Bowling Green defense is equal parts talent, desire and tenacity, and that can be a lethal combination.
HAD TWO INTERCEPTIONS.
BGHS junior free safety Wick Dotson had two interceptions on Friday night, and the Purples’ defense was all over the field in keeping the Gators in check.
Ryan Huff, Greenwood’s sophomore quarterback, had not been intercepted in the Gators’ first seven games. Lofton Howard, the WKU commit and son of the Greenwood head coach, was effective at times in the Wildcat set, and he also accounted for the Gators’ only points with a 12-yard touchdown pass to teammate Gray Price with 1:17 left in the first half.
The Purples unleashed a steady pass rush on the 6-foot-4 Huff, who completed just 7 of 21 passes for 74 yards. Lofton Howard had the Gators on the move in the early going, before a punt pinned the Purples at their 2-yard line midway through the first quarter.
SCORES ON A SPECTACULAR 98-YARD RUN.
Instead of capitalizing on that opportunity, Greenwood’s defense was split in half by BGHS junior tailback Javen Huddleston.
The 185-pound Huddleston took a handoff from BGHS sophomore QB Deuce Bailey and slipped through a hole inside. He quickly motored into the open field and was off to the races, scoring on a 98-yard run at the 6:05 mark of the first quarter.
The Gators’ Tel Tel Long trailed Huddleston and had a shot at making an open-field tackle near the Greenwood 30-yard line, but Huddleston kept his balance and rolled into the end zone to complete the spectacular scoring play.
“I don’t know how (Huddleston) got through that hole, as small as it was, but he did,” William Howard said.
Huddleston’s team-leading eighth touchdown of the season set the narrative for yet another BGHS victory.
“I have to accept the fact that sometimes, we’re gonna win ugly,” BGHS coach Mark Spader said. “Our offense is explosive. We’ve got a lot of (offensive players) who can do different things. I was glad to see our defense step up tonight.”
That’s what the Purples tend to do, defensively.
SHINES ON BOTH OFFENSE AND DEFENSE.
Senior BGHS offensive guard Austin Anderson, a commit to Liberty University, is playing more defense all the time. Augie Nyembo and Wick Dotson are standouts in the secondary. Inside linebackers Davis Fant and Jake Napier are sure-handed tacklers and veteran defenders.
And up front, Spader can count on his duo of rugged, undersized defensive tackles, DeAndre Wilson and Jordan Green. Wilson and Green excel at keeping their “pad level” low, which allows Napier and Fant to find opposing ball carriers. Also, the Purples have an “anchor” player, oftentimes 6-foot-3, 210-pound senior Devin Geer.
The BGHS “anchor,” Nyembo and Geer explained Friday night, is a combo defensive end/linebacker. A combo defensive end/linebacker who can make plays in the flat, putting his versatility to the test.
Dotson monitors the havoc from the secondary. The Purples’ defense has plenty of depth, too.
IS THE PURPLES’ ‘ANCHOR’ DEFENDER.
“We had a great first quarter tonight,” Dotson said afterward. “They moved the ball on us some in the second quarter. We made our defensive adjustments at halftime, and the second half is when it all came together.
“I think we got our ‘swag’ back.”
Put it together with Deuce Bailey and the quick-strike Bowling Green offense, and the Purples’ opponents have a lot to think about with Halloween approaching.
Bailey passed for 226 yards and four touchdowns, including scoring plays to three BGHS teammates — freshman wideout Trevy Barber, junior tight end Matthew Klein and senior wide receiver Easton Barlow, whose 27-yard touchdown reception closed the scoring with 3:08 left in the game.
Bailey took advantage of excellent protection to get the ball to Barlow on a crossing pattern late in the first quarter, and Barlow outdistanced the Gators’ Andrew Hatcher, a top-flight defender, on the left sideline to complete the 31-yard touchdown pass.
ETHAN WARDER CELEBRATE A 4TH-QUARTER TD.
Barlow also turned a quick slant into a 59-yard touchdown reception midway through the second quarter, and Bailey got the ball to a wide-open Klein at the goal line for an 5-yard scoring strike with 5:42 left in the game.
The Purples also twice took a knee in the red zone as the game came to a close.
ON ONE OF HIS FIVE SUCCESSFUL EXTRA POINTS.
Austin Anderson, the 6-foot-4, 290-pound BGHS senior, was part of it all on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Senior placekicker Colin Fratus went 5-for-5 on PATs, in perhaps the Purples’ most complete performance of the season.
That’s why Mark Spader was already thinking about next week’s district game against Christian County in Hopkinsville. It’ll be the Purples’ second game at Hoptown’s historic Stadium of Champions in about seven weeks, as Bowling Green knocked off Hopkinsville High School 35-6 earlier this season.
“Tonight was a big win for us,” Spader said, “but we’ve got to go over to the Stadium of Champions next week, and the last time, we really didn’t get off the bus.”
The pursuit of perfection never ends.
Especially with Bowling Green’s defense.
AT BOWLING GREEN HIGH SCHOOL.
NEXT WEEK AGAINST CHRISTIAN COUNTY.
PLAY HOST TO SOUTH WARREN NEXT WEEK.
