The Bulldogs travel down I-65 to take on the Purples next Friday for the last tune up of the pre-season. What can we expect to see from each team?

Bowling Green's purple and gold will host Male's purple and gold this Friday at 6 Central and 7 pm Eastern.  These two have been scrimmage opponents for some time now.  It is a good matchup for both teams IMO.

For Male, the news that star RB Chayce Burton is likely out for the year is to me the key news of the pre-season across the entire state.  Burton could be the best RB in the State.  He only played in 8 games last season but still gained over 900 yards with 15 TDs.  My prayers go out to the young man, and I hope his future is only bright from here.

Coach Chris Wolfe brings his Bulldogs down I-65 after going up I-71 to Highlands last week and battling a well-respected Bluebirds team and stayed right with them.  As @Tigerpride94 said, Male brings back 6 defensive starters off a 9-3 squad that lost a tough second round game vs Ballard in OT.  This is the school that has 957 wins all time and is #3 ALL Time in the NATION for wins.  They expect to be good, and I think they will be very solid this season even without Burton.

For Bowling Green, it's nice to play at home for a final trial run before the real thing (Rafferty's Bowl) the following Saturday (with Boyle Couty and Bullitt East playing the early game).  BG traveled to Oldham County yesterday and were really sluggish out of the gate, more so offensively.  But in the second half, BG found some rhythm and scored 3 TDs plus a special teams Travey Barber score.  The BG defense looked pretty good overall.  But really the coaches did a super job getting a LOT of kids in and out to give them an opportunity to possibly earn some playing time down the road.  Speaking of that, I believe the QB spot is likely going to be former Frederick Douglas QB SR Jaxon Strautman, who did fine in the scrimmage.  Has to be tough developing chemistry with new WRs (for him) in a matter of months.

Last thing, these are scrimmages and NOT games.  Some seem to get wound up over the scoreboard in these events.  While outscoring your opponent is what you try to do on Friday Night Lights, this is a time to see guys in spots who you might take a chance on later in the year and that is valuable.  I think if you asked most coaches regarding scrimmages if they would rather "win" the scrimmage or find out more about more players on their team, nearly 90% would take the latter.

Hoping for no injuries on Friday for both teams!

 

Going to be a warm one!

Male up 7-0 after 1. Both defenses look solid but BG has had some silly penalties. Male looks more complete thus far IMO.  Both teams have a couple of turnovers so it hasn’t been pretty. But I guess that is what scrimmages are for (or something like that)

14-7 Male with 4 minutes left in varsity action

14-7 Male at the half. I think that concludes varsity portion, either way, I’m out! Plenty to work on!

Easily over 100+ yards of penalties for the Purples in a half of football, all on the defensive side of the ball, can’t win football games against good competition with that sort of aggressiveness. 

Great scrimmage!

Both teams made some really nice plays and both have a lot to work on too!

Male looked great early offensively and defensively. Their returning QB threw some nice balls and Male has some shifty WRs that are going to cause people problems. They haven’t hit their stride yet running the ball but losing one of the best backs in the state will do that. But they will be in the 6A picture in some fashion and will continue to get better all year IMO. 
Their first drive found pay dirt with a great passing play. And then later in the first/early second Quarter they found the end zone again in the air. Very nice play!

BG was very sluggish offensively early and the defense had a boatload of stupid penalties. It’s early. BG would find the end zone before half to cut the lead to 14-7. 
In the 3Q Travey Barber takes it to the house on a screen to make it 14 all. Then Freshman Zyrek Burton took it 65 yards off right tackle to make it 21-14 after 3Q. Then an even JV quarter. 
I’m not a big “win” scrimmage guy. Both teams looked good to me and also have a LOT to work on. This film will be invaluable to both. Great opponent for BG to get tested before the live action starts. 
Good Luck to the Bulldogs the rest of the season!

For the Purples, it’s Raffertys Bowl Time!

let's Go!