Jim Mashek

WALLACE MAKES TIGERS’ TWO-QB SYSTEM WORK; SPADER LIKES PURPLES’ DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT

Bowling Green High School’s football team closed regular-season play with a familiar opponent, with an even more familiar face on the opposite sideline:

Former BGHS head coach Kevin Wallace.

Wallace, the architect of the Purples’ football excellence over 22 memorable seasons, returned to Bowling Green as the sixth-year coach of the St. Xavier Tigers on Friday night. His onetime defensive coordinator, BGHS head coach Mark Spader, always welcomes the challenge of playing the Tigers.

Even while it’s been decidedly one-sided.

“I don’t mind taking a loss, if we learn from it,” Spader said after the St. X defense manhandled the Purples in a 27-12 victory on a cool, damp night at El Donaldson Stadium.

Spader and Wallace both like to challenge their squads in non-district play, with the KHSAA opting for smaller districts and more scheduling flexibility. It’s served Bowling Green and St. Xavier well over the years, to say the least.

Bowling Green will begin pursuit of the eighth KHSAA state championship in school history next week, when the Purples (7-3 overall) play host to Owensboro’s Apollo High School (2-8). Bowling Green reached the KHSAA Class 5A state championship game last season, only to fall short in a 28-7 loss to Lexington’s Frederick Douglass High School.

State championships are a way of life at St. X, too, and Wallace guided the Tigers to the 15th state title in that school’s history in 2021. St. X defeated Louisville’s Male High School, 31-21, that year at the University of Kentucky’s Kroger Field, and this year’s Tigers squad (also 7-3 overall) appears more than capable of making another run at postseason glory.

Mark Spader and Kevin Wallace are “big picture” guys, to be sure.

“This was the best we’ve played, defensively, all year,” Wallace said after visiting briefly with Spader and some of the Purples’ players.

Spader knew what Wallace and the Tigers had in mind before St. Xavier pulled into Bowling Green on Friday afternoon. Football is a labor of love for both men.

“I knew as soon as they got a lead, they were going to pound it with the running game,” Spader said.

And that’s exactly what happened.

Wallace used a two-quarterback system, going with usual starter Trevor Havill in the first half before he yielded to St. X teammate Thomas Andriole for the final 24 minutes. Havill completed 10 of 17 passes for 116 yards and a second-quarter touchdown, a 10-yard scoring strike to Kyle Krupp midway through the second quarter.

Hamill was also intercepted twice, however, and BGHS cornerback Andru Jones returned one of them 40 yards, which led to the lone BGHS touchdown.

“We like our quarterbacks room,” St. Xavier coach Kevin Wallace said, “but we’re trying to find out who we need to play (in the postseason). We had four turnovers in the first half.”

After Jones’ interception, BGHS junior quarterback Deuce Bailey wasted no time getting the Purples in the end zone.

Bailey got the ball to BGHS teammate Trevy Barber, the Purples’ leading receiver, on an overhand lateral into the right flat. That brought the Tigers’ defense toward the line of scrimmage, and Barber lofted a 12-yard touchdown pass to sophomore BGHS receiver Hudson Nottmeier in the right corner of the end zone for the score.

BGHS place-kicker Braden Widener, who delivered a 43-yard field goal to open the scoring, added the extra point, and the Purples were sporting a 10-7 lead.

It would prove to be short-lived.

The Tigers’ Trevor Hamill quickly got his team downfield before he found St. X teammate Kyle Krupp for a 10-yard TD pass, and that 14-10 lead would hold up until halftime.

The Purples found themselves playing catch-up in the second half, and that was a tall order indeed.

St. X junior QB Thomas Andriole was more than efficient in a relief role, completing all six of his passes for 99 yards and a touchdown. Deuce Bailey and the Purples’ offense, meanwhile, couldn’t get much done against a swarming, physical St. X defense, and Bowling Green got its final points on a safety, when the ball sailed over the head of the Tigers’ punter and into the end zone.

Both teams, however, were ready to turn the page.

The Purples were anxious to get to work for next week’s home game against Apollo, while St. Xavier will be at home against Oldham County in the KHSAA Class 6A playoffs.

“We know that if Deuce can set his feet, he’s as good as it gets,” St. X coach Kevin Wallace said.

Bailey become the Purples’ all-time leader in career passing yards last week, in a 35-7 victory over crosstown rival Greenwood High School.

BGHS coach Mark Spader and the Purples’ defense are ready to get to work on their game plan for Apollo. The Purples lost starting defensive tackle Mehki Axson, a 270-pound junior, to an injury in the first half, but Axson is optimistic he’ll be able to return soon.

“I think our defense grew up a little bit tonight,” Spader said.

BGHS junior cornerback Grayson Newman agreed.

“I think we definitely took a step forward, as a unit, defensively,” Newman said. “Come playoff time, we’re going to be ready.”

Time to tee it up in six days.