Bowling Green 28 South Oldham 14

Final.

Big win by Purples!

Very good playoff football game! I was really impressed with the Dragons, especially in the first half. Their skill guys were better than I had envisioned and they played with a lot of heart. Their game plan was really sound and they were well coached. But they, along with the Purples, had a lot of miscues that ultimately decided the game. The fumble in the 3rd Quarter with the game tied after South picked off a Conner Cooper pass was really huge!

I also thought South got a bad call on a punt that appeared to hit a BG defender and was recovered by South but the ref standing very near the play ruled it did not hit the BG player, so that is what it is.

BG's win did not come without a price as team leader Vito Tisdale suffered what was reported to me as a broken hand. This is terrible in many ways. First I hate injuries, then as a senior to potentially not be able to finish out your senior year is a very tough blow to say nothing about the loss against a significant opponent next week. I just hate it for Vito. He has given a lot to this team and it just sucks, but we ain't playin Tiddly Winks and it's a physical game.

For the Purples, I was really impressed with their OLine even though the South DLine would penetrate on passing plays, when it came to the run in the second half, BG RBs Javy Bunton and Jayvan Collins really carried the mail for the Purples and earned this win.

Great season for the Dragons!

For the Purples, on to CovCath, who is just a tremendous team! But you don't get to play Caverna in the Semi-Finals, you have to earn it against stout teams!

Go Purples!

Congrats Purples! Meet us in the Final!

What a win for the Purples!

Thought South Oldham came in ready to play. And their offense did a much better than I thought they would for an option offense in today's game. It was tough to defend cause they would throw a lot of different things out there.

But boy did South Oldham make a lot of mistakes offensively. I'm sure they are kicking themselves this morning between the bad snaps and fumbles. Wow.

BUT BG found something in the second half with the run game. After a ton of mistakes the Purples starting pounding the ball right

at South Oldham and they couldn't stop it.

The thing is, Bowling Green is not North Bullitt or Bullitt East or Seneca. No disrespect to those teams, but South Oldham hadn't seen a team anywhere close to BG's caliber all season.

The Purples are going come at you for four quarters, play by play, blow by blow, minute after minute. And that wears on most teams. I think South Oldham just got wore down defensively and the Purples were able to just pound the ball on the ground, go away from the passing game and put the game away.

I saw it a bit differently. I felt that South’s turnovers and bad punt were the factors that resulted in their loss. BG was able to capitalize on those (a couple of nice short fields) whereas South didn’t (got the interception but then lost it in the red zone.) Having watched a lot of South’s games this year (and this is no knock against BG), I didn’t see anything that made me feel that scheduling was an issue in this one.

South had a great year and continues to improve. Coach Reed was again named district Coach of the Year and DE Luke Clark was named Player of the Year. In his time at South, Coach Reed has taken a team that, before him, went 0-10 and losing to the teams that people now accuse South of playing a weak schedule with to a team consistently making it several rounds in the playoffs.

I’m going to stick with the notion that if you don’t play up in competition on occasion you have no real gauge for how good your team can be. In this case, SO rolled through their schedule and didn’t get a taste for what it was like to battle in a close game. Shooting yourself in the foot comes with that process.

Bowling Green has been tested, knows handling the ball and being protective of possessions go a long way. I just don’t think the Dragons have been put in a position this year where every possession mattered.

Both teams played great.

I saw it a bit differently. I felt that South’s turnovers and bad punt were the factors that resulted in their loss. BG was able to capitalize on those (a couple of nice short fields) whereas South didn’t (got the interception but then lost it in the red zone.) Having watched a lot of South’s games this year (and this is no knock against BG), I didn’t see anything that made me feel that scheduling was an issue in this one.

 

South had a great year and continues to improve. Coach Reed was again named district Coach of the Year and DE Luke Clark was named Player of the Year. In his time at South, Coach Reed has taken a team that, before him, went 0-10 and losing to the teams that people now accuse South of playing a weak schedule with to a team consistently making it several rounds in the playoffs.

TB&G,

You make some good points! Mostly that South Oldham has gone from a team that you expected to lose to now a team that you expect to win. When you do that it takes time to continue that upslope climb. And I think Coach Reed has taken the Dragons to the brink of playing for a State Chapionship.

But in a non-mud slinging perspective, if South Oldham has no games that test them throughout the year, I'm afraid they are going to stay on the brink. Why do I say that?

Last night in the first half, South was effective at running the triple option and it was tied at the half. In the second half, BG made adjustments to stop the triple option, which had not happened all year, except maybe in the opening CAL game. So they really didn't need a "what's next" in the playbook until last night. But if they played a little tougher schedule, I think they would have been more prepared in the second half to adjust themselves to make a push to win the game. I know turnovers killed South last night; I agree with that, but going forward an up-tweak in the schedule would pay dividends in this regard, I believe.

Great season for the Dragons!

I’m going to stick with the notion that if you don’t play up in competition on occasion you have no real gauge for how good your team can be. In this case, SO rolled through their schedule and didn’t get a taste for what it was like to battle in a close game. Shooting yourself in the foot comes with that process.

 

Bowling Green has been tested, knows handling the ball and being protective of possessions go a long way. I just don’t think the Dragons have been put in a position this year where every possession mattered.

 

Both teams played great.

Your points are well-taken. More challenges during the season would have helped the Dragons. But it wasn't exactly like South played 10 games against patsies. South played a pre-season #1 in Christian Academy of Louisville and a 6A team that was ranked #6 (Central Hardin).

When you create your schedule, you don't always know how tough opponents are going to turn out to be. When the schedule was created, for example, I seriously doubt anyone expected the 9 blowouts that South had...

I don't think there's any question Bowling Green played a tougher schedule, but I think the inference that South somehow knowingly scheduled a lesser schedule is perhaps off the mark. Bill, perhaps that wasn't what was intended...but it sounded as if you were insinuating that South consciously scheduled a weak schedule.

The CAL game wound up being a 6-0 overtime game, so it was truly a blow-by-blow, play-by-play, nip and tick battle to the very final play. It probably would have helped South to have had a few more games like the CAL game, as you suggest, Bill, but South turned out to simply be far superior to their other opponents.

I think South played about as decent a schedule outside their district as one could expect.

I think some of South's lopsided victories (Central Hardin, Oldham County, for example) were much more a testament to South's ability than an indictment of their scheduling. Central was highly regarded, ranked #6 in 6A, and Oldham is a 6A team that finished with 8 wins this year.

So - if the point is simply that a tougher schedule could have helped South, that's probably true. And it's likely that South would have benefited from a few close nailbiters, just to get that experience. But if the question is whether South should have scheduled differently - well, I'm not sure that their choice of opponents was really all that bad.

Keep in mind that South cannot choose their district opponents (4 games).

The Dragons are expected to play the other two Oldham schools (2 games). North Oldham was in a clear rebuilding season and won just 1 game; the rout over a pretty decent Oldham County team was a stunning victory in a rivalry game.

That leaves four games that South can schedule. This year, those four games were:

- Christian Academy of Louisville, defending state champ and pre-season #1 in Class 3A

- Central Hardin, a 6A team that was ranked #6

- Bullitt Central, a 5A team

- Eastern, another 6A team.

I think it does go without saying that playing in a tougher district helps to hone a team. South will benefit as Jeffersontown, Atherton, Seneca, and North Bullitt improve. It just happens that all four of those teams struggled a bit this year. It illustrates how difficult it can be to always ensure the schedule is robust.

Last night was a great HS playoff game. One of the best this week. Congrats to the Purples on a big win and good luck next week!!! To the Dragons - congrats on a fourth consecutive 10+ win season, and a fourth consecutive trip to the regional championship or semi-finals!

CM

 

That leaves four games that South can schedule. This year, those four games were:

- Christian Academy of Louisville, defending state champ and pre-season #1 in Class 3A

- Central Hardin, a 6A team that was ranked #6

- Bullitt Central, a 5A team

- Eastern, another 6A team.

 

To the Dragons - congrats on a fourth consecutive 10+ win season, and a fourth consecutive trip to the regional championship or semi-finals!

 

CM

Colonel Mike,

You always make sound posts and this is a piece of another one above. The only area I would offer to tweak has to do with the 4 teams you mentioned South has control over, as we all know the District games are out of your control. I would keep CAL and Central Hardin as they are fine teams to see where South is at, but Bullitt Central and Eastern won't help you go forward IMO. If South were to switch one of those 2 out (baby steps here; if you're bold go ahead and switch them both out) with the likes of a Manual, Ballard, Fern Creek, maybe North Hardin type team, I honestly feel South would be better battle tested for the late rounds of the playoffs. I think those are the caliber teams you need to get ready for Round 4 of the 5A playoffs. Just my opinion and offered to help instead of mud sling. :thumb: