Jim Mashek

SOUTH WARREN TAKES 5-1 RECORD INTO NON-DISTRICT TILT

Most of the high school football teams in South Central Kentucky went their separate ways for Fall Break this week.

South Warren High School was a notable exception.

The tradition-rich Spartans, ranked statewide in multiple polls, travel to play Louisville’s Moore High School on Friday evening. South Warren, 5-1 overall, had its open date last week, and after tangling with the Mustangs in Louisville, the Spartans will turn their attention to the much anticipated matchup with crosstown rival Bowling Green High School.

The Purples are 5-2 overall.

South Warren has practiced in the mornings this week and will leave for Louisville around lunchtime on Friday. The game is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start, Eastern Daylight Time.

“I really don’t mind playing during Fall Break week,” South Warren coach Brandon Smith said. “In fact I don’t know if we’ve ever had our open date that week. Not any time recently, for sure. We have to find teams willing to play us …”

Smith said the Spartans will play host to Moore next season, also during Fall Break week.

“They’ve got a first-year head coach (Mekale McKay, a former University of Cincinnati wide receiver and pro football journeyman), and their strength is their defense,” Smith said. “They’ve got a young quarterback (freshman QB Javis Wallace), and you can tell he’s going to be pretty good.

“They’re fast to the football, defensively, and they don’t give up a lot of big plays.”

The Mustangs (4-2) defeated Seneca High School last week, 10-0, but they’ve scored just 28 points in their last three games, including losses to Grayson County (26-6) and Lexington’s Lafayette High School (25-12). Wallace has passed for 553 yards and eight touchdowns, with five interceptions, while rushing for 347 yards and a team-high nine TDs.

Senior fullback Nathaniel Moore leads the Mustangs with 376 yards rushing, with two touchdowns, and Moore also has a team-high 40 tackles, including 5.5 tackles for losses. Moore linemen Michael Williams and Demetrice Murrell have each recorded 5.5 sacks.

South Warren junior quarterback Bryce Button is off to an impressive start in his second season as the Spartans’ starter.

In six games, the 6-foot-2, 195-pound Button has completed 103 of 164 passes (63 percent) for 1,900 yards and 22 touchdowns. He has been intercepted five times while rushing for 217 yards and four touchdowns.

Button believes the morning practices, during Fall Break, have given the Spartans a chance to concentrate on the task at hand. He isn’t overly concerned about the Spartans’ big game with Bowling Green High School looming in the distance.

South Warren will play host to Bowling Green on October 13.

“I wouldn’t say it’s been difficult to prep for this (Moore) game,” Button said via text message. “We’re more worried about just taking it one game at a time … I’d say we’ve had a good focus, this week, with the intent of getting better each week in practice.”

South Warren coach Brandon Smith isn’t concerned about looking past the Mustangs toward the Bowling Green showdown, either.

“It’s usually a good indicator, what kind of team you have,” Smith said. “The teams that take care of business, they’re the kind of teams that are usually championship timber.”

Moore’s Mekale McKay, 31, told the Courier Journal’s Jason Frakes over the summer that he was embracing the challenge at Moore.

“My expectations are to the ceiling,” McKay said. “I’ve always been an overachiever, but first things first. It’s abound building the community. I want to bring back the camaraderie, that good-time feeling where it’s enjoyable to watch football.”

Junior linebacker Ethan Reynolds leads the Spartans with 47 tackles, including 10 for losses and four sacks. Teammate Colton Veltkamp has recorded 14 tackles for losses, including five sacks. Senior wideout Bailey Shoemaker has a team-high 34 receptions for 679 yards and eight touchdowns.