Jim Mashek

(Editor’s note: This series offers a quick look at high school football teams in South Central Kentucky. Coming soon, Greenwood and Warren Central.)

SOUTH WARREN LOOKS TO BOUNCE BACK FROM 6-6 SEASON

South Warren High School’s tradition-rich football team absorbed some significant losses to graduation after the Spartans’ KHSAA Class 5A state championship in 2021.

For starters, veteran quarterback Caleb Veltkamp moved on to play college football at his hometown school, Western Kentucky University.

Rugged defenders such as defensive tackle Jake Jackson, linebackers Tyler Snell and Luke Burton and defensive back Avrin Bell followed suit, getting their first taste of the college game after the Spartans’ splendid 14-1 season just two years ago.

Veteran South Warren coach Brandon Smith put together a challenging schedule, however, and the Spartans struggled to find a foothold in the KHSAA’s top-flight Class 5A, 2nd District. Sophomore quarterback Bryce Button stepped to the fore, giving the Spartans stability at the game’s most critical position, and South took eventual 5A state runner-up Bowling Green High School to the limit before dropping a 28-24 decision at BGHS in mid-October.

South Warren would win its next two games, over the likes of McCracken County and Christian County, but the Spartans couldn’t roll with that momentum.

“We weren’t a very good team at the end of the year,” Smith said.

South Warren dropped three of its last four games, taking back-to-back losses — both by double digits — to district rival Greenwood (35-21) and 4A, 1st District champion Logan County (27-17). South bounced back in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs, drubbing Graves County 36-7 in Mayfield, before running into arch-rival Bowling Green on the Purples’ home turf.

“The Graves County score is pretty misleading,” Smith said. “We scored most of our points in the second half on special teams … “

The Spartans’ second trip to tangle with crosstown rival Bowling Green was nothing short of a disaster.

The Purples amassed more than 500 yards total offense, controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football, in rolling to a 34-0 victory in the 1st Region championship game. The Spartans finished the season 6-6, which has served as motivational material for the team over the last few months.

South quarterback Bryce Button, a tough customer in the pocket, and teammate Ethan Reynolds, a hard-hitting linebacker, are ready to turn the page on that .500 season.

South Warren opens the season against North Hardin High School in the opening game of the Forcht Bank Bowl, on August 19 in Campbellsville, Kentucky. The Spartans had played in the Rafferty’s Bowl, at WKU’s Houchens-Smith Stadium, in the previous two seasons.

“(The offseason) has kind of been what I expected,” Button said. “We’ve just got to concentrate on getting better, in practice, every single day … we need to come out, and prove what we can do.”

Reynolds, a South standout in both football and baseball, believes the Spartans’ mental approach will have a lot to do with the level of their success.

“We’ve got to buy in, buy in to what we’ve been doing,” he said.

The Spartans will be playing on a natural grass season for the final year, as all Warren County ISD schools will play on an artificial surface in 2024. They’ve also had to scramble to complete a 10-game schedule for the regular season, which has been par for the course for South Warren, a three-time Class 5A state champion since 2015.

And the school district also has completed, more or less, the indoor practice facility adjacent to the football and baseball stadiums.

“It’s been a unique offseason,” South coach Brandon Smith said. “We were able to get inside (the practice facility) in the spring … we’ve had to move some things around.

“I feel like every once in a while, you need a re-set. We’ve done that a couple times here over the years.”

Chuck Smith, Brandon’s father, is the Spartans’ defensive coordinator. Chuck Smith won five KHSAA state championships during his legendary career at Boyle County High School. Chuck Smith compiled an impressive record of 234-69 as the head coach at Allen County-Scottsville (1987), Campbellsville (1988-91) and Boyle County (1992-2004 and 2014-17).

Bryce Button will have some veteran receivers to throw to, including junior Bailey Shoemaker (a team-high 41 receptions, 516 yards) and Ethan Reynolds, who is often used as a tight end in the Spartans’ attack. But they lost the likes of speedster Cristian Conyer, now playing at the University of Tennessee, and steady wideout Keegan Milby (30 receptions, 357 yards, five TDs in 2022).

Running back Jimmy Sales (a team-high 905 yards rushing, seven touchdowns in ’22) also returns for the Spartans, and Button has been an effective runner himself. He passed for 2,021 yards and 16 touchdowns last season, while adding 438 yards and six scores on the ground.

The Spartans will participate in a three-team scrimmage with Allen County-Scottsville and Bullitt East next week, before playing host to Hopkinsville in another scrimmage before opening the season in Campbellsville.

“We just need to put it together. Keep working,” Button said.

The Spartans’ track record, since the school opened in 2010, suggests they can do just that.