Greenwood (6-2) at Bowling Green (6-2)

The Gators will again load the buses and travel about 5 miles down Scottsville Road to take on the Purples.  It will be the 35^th meeting between the schools on the grid iron with the Purples undefeated.  While there have been close games in this series; most notably 1996 (25-21), 2004 (31-24) and perhaps the 2021 playoffs (24-10); the majority have been all Purples.  And at this point, it seems as much a mental hurdle for the Gators as a grid-iron hurdle.

Greenwood Information:

The Gators have had a solid season thus far, but likely expected a little more when they fell at talented Owensboro Catholic (43-13) and district foe South Warren (47-13).  In these games, it’s not so much they lost, but really by the margins they lost by that make those losses seem larger than they were.

Greenwood is led by SR QB Cam Smith who has 670 yards passing, 8 TDs vs 3 INTs through 6 games.

But the straw that stirs the drink for the Gators is Senior Tel Tel Long who is listed as RB, FB, WR and S.  He leads the Gators in rushing with 485 yards on 73 carries and 6 TDs and receiving with 10 catches for 166 yards and 2 more TDs.  Mr. Long will have to have a great game on Friday for Greenwood to have a chance in this game IMO.

Bowling Green Information:

WHAT a game sports fans!  The Purples traveled to arch-rival South Warren last Friday Night and somehow came away with a back-and-forth momentum swinging Instant Classic game, scoring on the Purple's "old friend" (a play they call "John Hardin" in the playbook, according to the Daily News article) the hook-n-ladder with 6 seconds to play in the game!  WOW!

Starting with the challenging part for BG, the defense gave up 534 yards offense to a strong and balanced South Warren offense.  BG gave up long time chewing drives.  In the first half, South ran 47 plays to BGs 19.  That is a HUGE disparity.  South RB Jimmy Sales ran for 162 rushing yards and at times was the whole South offense.  QB Bryce Button wasn't pressured very much and made nice throws all night gaining 287 yards through the air. 

BG had less than 30 yards on the ground (they had a little more than that because the sacks took away some of the rush yardage).  That puts a lot of pressure on QB Deuce Bailey and the OLine pass protecting.  There is obviously still a lot to work to do for BG.  BUT:

BG led for the ENTIRE Game except for about 28 seconds at the very end of the 4th Quarter!  Just a crazy game!  Deuce Bailey was sensational, throwing 22 for 30 (over 70%) for 376 yards and 4 TDs.  WRs Travey Barber and CJ Sweeney came up really BIG for BG (each with a TD and about 100 yards receiving; and over 100 yards kick return yards on top of that!  And how bout my man Tre Graham!!!  The Sophomore "is comin" (as Coach Prime likes to say!).  He and Bailey were the rushing offense for BG.  Graham caught a 95-yard strike on BG's second play from scrimmage and raced to the House for an early 7-0 Purples lead.  But he will be remembered as the guy who took the hook-n-ladder pitch to the House with 6 seconds to play to steal the game back for BG.  36-29 Bowling Green with the Epic win.  It's going to be a chore for the coaches to re-focus BG after such an emotional game last Friday.   

Concerning this game:

I think the Purples will try to be more balanced than the Gators this Friday night and re-establish a rushing attack that other than last Friday was a tough one to tame.  I look for Tre Graham and Jaxon Smith to carry the ball early and often for BG and try to put the Gators away from the opening snap.  For the Gators, I'd look for several trick plays early to try to get on the board first.  I think that is critical for them and even lead after the first quarter.  I think they go on 4th down a lot in this game.  We'll see.

Game Information:

This game will be played at Bowling Green High School.  At the beginning of the season, I’m sure Greenwood faithful had hopes to possibly break the streak this year.  The way it has played out, not 100% sure that is still the sentiment.  I look for a score similar to the South Warren game score BG 52 – Greenwood 21.

BG 50 GW 14. Purples extend their streak over Greenwood to 35.

The streak continues!

Purples 48 Greenwood 14

BG 52-14.

I know last year there some on here who wanted to go ahead and award the Gators the state championship half way through the season. This year seemed like there were a few after the first few weeks to declare them a top 3 team.

But we've seen what happened.  BG rolls in this one and probably gets a running clock if they play well. 

Good Article in the Daily News!  

Lot on the line tonight!  Gotta earn it:

 

I didn't know this until recently, but this is big for BGHS Football.

With the next 8 yards passing, JR QB Deuce Bailey will become the all-time passing leader at Bowling Green HS surpassing the Great Devin Hayes (6,493 yards/Class of 2014).  This is remarkable considering he could STILL have a max of 22 games left to play (includes tonight).  

Speaks to the field of vision to get Deuce on the field as a Freshmen for BG back in 2021 when they took some lumps after the State Championship season.  Will be a memorable night at BGHS tonight!

Go Purples!

15 minutes ago, Purple88 said:

I didn't know this until recently, but this is big for BGHS Football.

With the next 8 yards passing, JR QB Deuce Bailey will become the all-time passing leader at Bowling Green HS surpassing the Great Devin Hayes (6,493 yards/Class of 2014).  This is remarkable considering he could STILL have a max of 22 games left to play (includes tonight).  

Speaks to the field of vision to get Deuce on the field as a Freshmen for BG back in 2021 when they took some lumps after the State Championship season.  Will be a memorable night at BGHS tonight!

Go Purples!

Pretty wild to think about, how many yards did Scooter have?

9 minutes ago, Volxtile said:

Pretty wild to think about, how many yards did Scooter have?

Great Question V!  The Great Scooter Hollis had 4,477 passing yards and 54 TDs culminating in the 2011 State Championship.  Thing is for Scooter he also had 1,450 yards rushing and another 22 TDs.  

I'll go with Bowling Green by 28.

I see BG taking away a big win here, at least 3 scores. 

49-7 Green…. Nope BG

Purples in all purple and gold helmets. Gators in all white I cling helmets. 
Gators defer. BG ball to start. 

TD BG

Bailey to Tuck. 
Deuce Bailey is now the All Time Leading Passer in BGHS history.

Congrats Deuce!

7-0 Purples.  

Greenwood has some first downs on the ground but on 4th and 2 choose to punt at midfield. BG ball at BG 26

I am shocked GW punted on a 4th and 2.  That’s almost like raising the white flag already.