Jim Mashek

BGHS AIMS TO BOUNCE BACK AGAINST APOLLO; GATORS LOOK FOR EDGE AT LOGAN COUNTY

South Warren High School’s football team had a lot time to think about the 2022 season over the last nine or 10 months.

The two beatdowns from archrival Bowling Green High School, including one that finished the Spartans’ season at an unusually mediocre 6-6.

The two-touchdown defeat at Greenwood High School, which went on to finish 9-3 for the season.

Tough losses on the road against stout out-of-state teams, Hendersonville High School in Tennessee and the following week’s 28-24 setback at the hands of Gibson Southern High School in Fort Branch, Indiana.

Three torn ACLs …

The 0-2 showing against Bowling Green …

You get the picture.

“I thought about it all the time, and I’m sure our guys did, too,” South Warren coach Brandon Smith said. “I’m glad it did bother them. It would have been bad, if it didn’t.

“We weren’t a very good team at the end of the year … But I like what I see, on the field and off, with this (2023) team. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about team chemistry. I think it’s probably the best thing going for us, right now.

“The attitude, the desire to get better … It’s a big part of the puzzle. Having the internal drive to improve. You can see it with these kids.”

Perhaps coincidentally — but who knows — South Warren gets a chance to settle one of those scores Friday night. The three-time KHSAA state champion Spartans (3-0) — most recently in 2021 — play host to the Gibson Southern Titans (2-1) on the South Warren campus. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

“I think they might be the best team we’ve played,” Smith said. “Defensively, yes, we’re facing the best team we’ve played. They’re disciplined, they get to the football. Their only loss was to Boyle County …”

Boyle County.

Brandon Smith’s alma mater.

The school where his father, South Warren defensive coordinator Chuck Smith, established a dynasty.

Across town, meanwhile, at Bowling Green High School, the Purples (1-2) are getting ready for their first home game at El Donaldson Stadium. Bowling Green will scrap with Apollo (0-3) with an eye on getting back to .500. Meade County rolled to a 45-19 victory over the Eagles last week.

Bowling Green opened the season with a gut-wrenching loss in the Rafferty’s Bowl, a dramatic 56-52 setback at the hands of University of Kentucky commit Cutter Boley and the high-octane Lexington Christian Academy offense. Coach Mark Spader’s Purples bounced back six days later, surviving a 42-28 shootout at Owensboro High School, before hitting the road again, to square off against Bryan Station High School in the LCA Bowl sponsored by eCampus.com in Lexington.

Bryan Station’s Zachary Gentry clipped a 40-yard field goal with six seconds left, sending the Defenders to a 38-35 victory over Bowling Green last week, sending Spader’s Purples to 1-2 on the season. The BGHS defense was without three starters in that game because of illness.

But the Purples, last year’s KHSAA Class 5A runner-up, aren’t the kind of squad to look for excuses.

“i know our kids and our fans are excited about playing at home,” Spader said. “We’re a little healthier, but we’ve got to play better, defensively. We had trouble coming up with any stops in the second half against Bryan Station.”

South Warren quarterback Bryce Button and his BGHS counterpart, Deuce Bailey, are putting up impressive numbers in their junior seasons. Button has completed 54 of 81 passes (67 percent) for 1,049 yards and 11 touchdowns. He’s been intercepted just once in the Spartans’ three games.

Bailey, meanwhile, has had to throw more often, just to keep his team in the game.

Bailey has completed 76 of 109 passes (69 percent) for 1,130 yards and 12 touchdowns. He’s added two rushing touchdowns while being intercepted three times.

Both quarterbacks are being recruited heavily from Division I FBS schools in this part of the country.

Another standout quarterback, Warren East junior Dane Parsley, and the Raiders will look to snap a two-game losing streak when they take the short trip across town to tangle with Warren Central. Both teams check in with records of 1-2.

Warren Central earned its first victory of the season last week, with Devontre Patterson rushing for 103 yards and two scores in the Dragons’ 40-26 victory over nearby Butler County at Joe Hood Field.

Warren East linebacker Josh Collins, meanwhile, finished with an amazing 17 tackles — three for losses — in the Raiders’ tough 7-6 loss to Barren County in Glasgow. Warren East trounced Warren Central, 56-20, last year on the blue turf of Jim Ross Field, en route to a 12-1 season, but the Raiders remain a work in progress under first-year coach Tanner Hall.

“We’re still a developing team,” Hall said. “Defensively, we seem to have settled in pretty good. Offensively, we haven’t been able to stay very healthy … up front, outside, in the backfield. Dane (Parsley) is one of the few guys who have been able to stay on the field.”

In other games involving South Central Kentucky squads, Franklin-Simpson (3-0) plays host to Adair County (3-0), while another unbeaten team, the Glasgow Scotties (3-0), are on the road against Allen County-Scottsville (2-1). Greenwood (2-1), meanwhile, looks to bounce back from last week’s 43-13 loss to KHSAA Class 2A powerhouse Owensboro Catholic, hitting the road to tangle with Logan County (3-0).

The Cougars were a KHSAA Class 4A quarterfinalist under veteran coach Todd Adler last season.

Elsewhere, unbeaten Barren County (3-0) is on the road to square off with Monroe County (1-2), while Metcalfe County (1-2) — a 12-1 team in 2022 — plays host to Nelson County (2-1) while Butler County (1-2) is on the road to tangle with Grayson County (2-1). Russellville (0-3), a KHSAA Class 1A runner-up in 2021, will travel to Trigg County (1-2), while Clinton County (1-2) has an open date before next week’s game against Jenkins High School (0-2).