Cooper received the opening kickoff and the Jags started on the 19. The teams traded punts and Cooper fumbled the punt giving Bowling Green the ball on the Cooper 34 and a Deuce Bailey to Matthew Kline TD pass to put the Purples up 7-0.  Cooper punted and two passes from Bailey to Trevy Barber later, it was 14-0 BG with 555 to go in the 1st.  Cooper answered with a 24 yard TD pass from Cam O'Hara to Isaiah Johnson to make it 14-7 Purples.  The Purples next drive ended with a Lucas Hughes INT and Cooper ball at their 45.  BG stopped Cooper on downs at the BG 46.  BG's next drive ended with a Jack Lonaker interception. Another muffed punt gave BG the ball at the Cooper 19 and ended in a Deuce Bailey to Jaxen Smith TD pass for a 21-7 Bowling Green lead with 412 left in the half.

The Purples started the second half on their own 46. After some back and forth a long Deuce Bailey run to the Cooper 36 and another run by Deuce Bailey to the 2, set the Purples up.  A Bowling Green touchdown by Jaxen Smith with 335 left in the 3rd quarter put Bowling Green up 28 to 7.  The Jags came right back with an O'Hara to Alexander TD pass to make it 28-14 BG with 1145 to go. That ended the scoring in the game. 

Congrats Bowling Green!  Congrats Coach Spader!

Great day to be a Bowling Green Purple. The whole year their defense was always the question. It’s fitting I feel like they rose to the occasion most in this bout. 
 

Size up the rings, fellas. This one feels good. 

A big difference in this game was Cooper had 3 turnovers and the Purple's scored 14 points off of those turnovers. Bowling Green had 4 turnovers 3 interceptions by Bailey and Cooper got 0 points off of those turnovers. The Bowling Green defense was very good holding Cooper to only 193 total yards and -27 yards rushing for the game. Congrats to the Purples!

How bout those Purples!

It wasn't pretty and wasn't always the way you draw it up on the chalkboard, but they got the job done on a wet, wet night where they didn't have their A game offensively (heck they may have had their C- game offensively).  But the BG defense delivered!  They just kept coming after an August to forget and after they turned a corner with St X played as well as just about anyone defensively.

Really happy for this group.  They have worked very hard for this.

I didn't think the coaching staff could top 2020, but I believe they did in 2023 for all they had to overcome (8 starters on D replacing, 3 new OLine, new kicker, etc.)  Coach Strode did a tremendous job with that group!

I also want to congratulate Cooper and their Program.  They fought as hard as they could and Jake Lonaker is probably the best LB I saw this year.  Man he can tackle.  And they have 4 Olineman going both ways.  Really impressed with Coopers effort.

But gaining their 8th Championship is pretty special!

It's a Great Day to be a Purple!  Go BG!

Great job at the updates the last 2 days @theguruawesome as always!

From the KHSAA:

The 2023 UK HealthCare Sports Medicine Class 5A Football State Final concluded at Kroger Field at the University of Kentucky in Lexington on Saturday.

Bowling Green earned its eighth state championship in school history with a 28-14 win over Cooper.

· Box Score (PDF)

· Bracket (KHSAA/Riherds Scoreboard)

· Mingua Beef Jerky Most Valuable Player

 

 

 

 

 

Sloppy conditions made for sloppy play.

7 minutes ago, theguru said:

 

When do they release the attendance numbers for each game? And where do you find them?

12 minutes ago, Astro Domino said:

When do they release the attendance numbers for each game? And where do you find them?

COOPER (12-3,5-1) vs. BOWLING GREEN (12-3,3-0)
Date: Dec 2, 2023 • Site: Lexington, Ky. • Stadium: Kroger Field
Attendance: 6299

https://khsaa.org/football/2023/5afinal.pdf

The turnovers were crushers for Cooper with the points Bowling Green got from them. Congratulations to Bowling Green on your championship and to Cooper on a very nice season.