Greenwood (6-1) at Bowling Green (6-1)

IS THIS THE YEAR TO BREAK THE WIN STREAK?

Coach William Howard has done a great job over at Greenwood.  He brings his Gators about 4.5 miles down Scottsville Road for another district battle with Bowling Green.  Both teams were off last week for Fall Break and both teams have identical records at 6-1.  BG came in at #4 in last weeks BGP’s 5A Poll, while Greenwood is ranked #10 in that same poll. 

History is not on the side of the Gators as BG brings a 33-0 win streak into this game.  Two of those games were really close (within 1 score).  2004 – BG wins 31-24 and 1996 BG won 25-21.  But the law of averages would suggest that Greenwood will get a win in this series.  So the question is when?  I honestly feel the Gators missed their chance last season.  But we’ll see.

 

Greenwood is on a 6-game win streak after a really tough opening game loss to a very solid Bardstown team on the last possession of the game (maybe even the last play or something close to that).  They absolutely walloped poor ole Christian County 42 to 0!  Yikes!  Christian County had a total of 40 yards on the night!  Double Yikes!!!!

Greenwood is led by WKU commit SR LB/TE Lofton Howard, who leads the team in tackles with 62 with 12 tackles for loss and 4 sacks.  He also leads the team in receiving with 238 yards and 2 TDs and is second on the team with 194 rushing yards and 8 TDs.  Mr. Lofton has accounted for roughly 40% of Greenwoods TDs by himself!  Impressive!    Greenwood is also blessed with another star Warren County Sophomore QB in Ryan Huff who is 49 for 82 for 897 yards, 12 TDs and NO INTs!  Also Impressive!

Bowling Green really earned their Fall Break this year getting through their “Big 3” gauntlet of back-to-back-to-back games vs Boyle County, Father Ryan (TN), and South Warren with a 2-1 record.  While the games before these 3 were against less ranked teams, the Purples IMO didn’t hit their stride until they were thrown in this “tri-fire” and it was either burn up or grow up and BG grew up (IMO) a lot from the team they left behind from last season.  So this Fall Break was REALLY timely for BG! 

In Bowling Green’s last matchup, the Purples pulled out a “last team with the ball wins” kind of game vs rival South Warren 28-24 in a terrific battle that saw JR RB Javon Huddleston (a backup OLB last year) breakout for 142 rushing yards and 119 receiving yards and 3 TDs!  Wow!  Deuce Bailey after a lackluster 2^nd Quarter, played very well in the second half!  Bailey started the game going 0 for 9 with one INT (a great effort by Spartan DB Preston Burns), but ended the game going 12 for 15 – Clutch effort!  FR WR Trevy Barber was great again for BG with a super TD reception and he made 2 blocks on the big 71 yard TD catch and run by Huddleston!  He also got a chance to return a kickoff and was the only Purple to take it into South territory!  Player!  All this with SR defensive leader Bert Kibawa sidelined with an injury!

I look for BG to come out ready to go on Friday and they will need to be!  I will say it again, Greenwood is the Best 3^rd place team in any 5A district and perhaps in any district in the entire state!  I think the first half could be closer than most expect, but BG has too much at the skill positions and will eventually break through in this Homecoming game!  Who wins this game and why?

No contest here. 
 

Greenwood did a lot smack talking last year expecting to win. They had a lot of former players go to the game, several that flew in from other states. Problem is they didn’t bother to look at the schedules. It wasn’t a contest then either.

Same could said this year. Greenwood getting way too much love in the polls.  They’ve played only one 5A or 6A school and we are 7 games into the season.  That one school is two win Christian County.  BG will roll in this one.  Could be a little bit of a fall break hangover, but BG will win handily.

BG 38

Greenwood 14. 

I think Greenwood will battle but in my opinion have no chance to win this game. Greenwood needs about 5 Lofton Howard’s to win this game.

4 hours ago, Killowatt59 said:

No contest here. 

To assume that Greenwood is ever a “no contest” is a bad idea. Never take the Gators lightly, certainly not a 6-1 Greenwood team that has beaten a 4A top 10 Logan team. 

34 minutes ago, VF111 said:

To assume that Greenwood is ever a “no contest” is a bad idea. Never take the Gators lightly, certainly not a 6-1 Greenwood team that has beaten a 4A top 10 Logan team. 

But they haven’t been against BG.

per Purple88 info

BG is 33-0 and only two games in the entire time have been even remotely close.

The Geenwood folks like to pump their chest when they have records like 6-1, but that’s where the schedule comes into play.

 

BG wins no contest.

I’ve seen almost every game these 2 teams have played. It’s always come down to 2 things. Depth and speed, with speed always devastating GHS. Depth isn’t really an issue anymore. I’ve seen some really good GHS teams get manhandled by some better BG teams. For several years now, the mental hump is huge. Last year’s playoff game is a perfect example of that. GHS had opportunities to win that game. I love my Gators, but I think BG wins. 

That game was really not close. And no point did Greenwood have a chance to win. 

I haven’t seen Bowling Green play so it is difficult for me to assess. I have seen Greenwood play, and they are very physical and have surprising athleticism. I would expect a fairly close, low-scoring game unless BG’s passing attack is more advanced than one typically sees out of high school.

I'll take Bowling Green comfortably. It may be close for a half or so. It's always been a mental thing for the Gators when playing this game.

22 minutes ago, Hearsay said:

I haven’t seen Bowling Green play so it is difficult for me to assess. I have seen Greenwood play, and they are very physical and have surprising athleticism. I would expect a fairly close, low-scoring game unless BG’s passing attack is more advanced than one typically sees out of high school.

Greenwood hasn't seen an offense half as good as this BG's offense this year. And even though BG's defense has struggled, it's still going to be the best defense Greenwood has faced this year. 

A long-time Bowling Green insider and former coach, having seen both teams this year, says he doesn't think Greenwood will beat them, but believes "it should be close." He thinks Greenwood will have trouble scoring.

6 minutes ago, Hearsay said:

A long-time Bowling Green insider and former coach, having seen both teams this year, says he doesn't think Greenwood will beat them, but believes "it should be close." He thinks Greenwood will have trouble scoring.

If that's the case, then I don't see how this coach would expect it to be all that close. This, objectively, is the most vulnerable the Purples D has been in quite some time. If Greenwood is going to have trouble scoring, I'd say that is a shaky set up for them going in to Friday night.

Close for a half then BG pulls away.  I’ll go with 36-7

34 minutes ago, BillNye said:

If that's the case, then I don't see how this coach would expect it to be all that close. This, objectively, is the most vulnerable the Purples D has been in quite some time. If Greenwood is going to have trouble scoring, I'd say that is a shaky set up for them going in to Friday night.

Exactly.  Someone got some bad information.  Anybody that has been watching this year would know if Greenwood has trouble scoring then it will be a running clock. 

Greenwood sees those gold helmets and a lot of stuff flies out the window for them immediately. If they are ever to have an actual real chance at winning, they have got to survive the first and third quarters. I don’t track their scores closely, but I have this perception they often get punched in the mouth early and don’t recover. The times they withstand that, the third quarter often unravels them. I believe they’ve only played within single digits of Bowling Green twice ever. 
 

I do believe they will be competitive. I do not believe they will have a realistic chance to win. I am actually far more interested in how they fare against South.