5A Bowling Green (1-4) at 3A Christian Academy of Louisville (5-0)

Since the Covid 2020 Season, Christian Academy of Louisville (CAL) has won as many State Championships as anyone in the State of Kentucky tying Boyle County, Beechwood and Pikeville with 3 Championships and they only trail Beechwood (55 wins) and Boyle County (54 wins) over those 4 years in wins where CAL won 52 games.  Super Impressive.  Over that same timeframe, Bowling Green has won 2 State Championships and 1 Runner Up, amassing 43 wins over those 4 years.

CAL Coach Hunter Cantwell, in his 7^th Season as the head coach taking over for Stephan LeFors in 2019, has done an outstanding job leading the Centurions to 3 straight 3A State Championships. And they came into this season as the prohibitive favorite to win 3A again this season with no end in sight.

Overall, Bowling Green is on a good run themselves.  Coach Mark Spader, in his 8^th Season since taking over for Kevin Wallace in 2018, has also done an outstanding job leading the Purples to 3 Titles and 1 Runner up bid in the last 5 seasons.

This will be the first all-time meeting between the schools, but they did scrimmage each other back several years ago.  CAL stepped in for Male, who got JCPS-ed and couldn’t play.  Thanks CAL! 

Both teams play solid opponents and why we find ourselves on the verge of a great (well it set up that way at the beginning of the season and now with BGs injury situation likely now isn’t nearly as enticing) mid-season battle in East Louisville, which should continue to set both teams up for deep playoff runs later this season.

Christian Academy of Louisville Information (TP94 Rating:  98.3)

Our friend @Unrivaled97, does a great job with CAL and knows much more here, but here is a 10,000 foot view of CAL.  I think the Centurions are in the Top 3 in the whole State.  They have a very talented roster and are very well coached and have scholarship athletes falling out of their pockets. 

They run a 2 QB system with SO Jackson Burke (721 yards and 7 TDs vs 0 INTs – all stats through 4 games) teaming with JR Brodie Pfeiffer (466 yards and 5 TDs vs 0 INTs).  They have 2 good SR RBs in Jeffrey Vazzana (243 yards and 2 TDs) and Tyree Stoner (207 yards and 4 TDs).  And they have 2 exciting JR WRs in JaHyde Brown (39 catches for 499 yards and 6 TDs) and Gaines Howard (28 catches for 463 yards and 4 TDs).  And they operate behind a very good Oline.

Defensively, the Centurions have solid players all over but are led in tackles by JR Micah Newsome with 42 tackles with 3 tackles for loss.

Bowling Green Information (TP94 Rating:  63.09)

Hallelujah, the Purples get in the win column in 2025.  It has certainly been a tough road playing tough teams along with a tough injury list.  But this isn’t tidily winks and is a collision sport and injuries are simply a part of the game.

BG is led this season by FR QB Anthony Davis, who continues to soak up the experience of being a varsity level QB.  He was 14 for 21 for 274 yards and 4 TDs vs O INTs vs Barren County last night.  Good effort. 

Several WRs were back in the lineup and had a good night for BG.

Defensively, star SR LB Montez Trussell went down in the 3^rd Quarter vs South Warren and was thought lost for several weeks, but the kid is tough and put a club on and played anyway last night.  Barren plays a wing-T offense and thanks to playing Scott County earlier paid off for BG as they contained the Trojans overall.

Game Preview

It is easy to see the Centurions are the clear favorite here.  But I’m really interested to see if BG can gain any traction at all.  Defensively, I’m really looking for BG to show up for this game.  I’m not looking to shut the Centurions down, but I am looking for them to make it difficult for them to operate.  Can they?  We’ll see.

And for BG’s offense, need to use this and every opportunity to get better.  I’m looking for them to compete.  Plain and simple.

For CAL, just continue on.  No need to change anything now.

So who wins and what’s the score?

Have a bad, bad feeling about this . ?

Go Purples!

3 hours ago, BillNye said:

Have a bad, bad feeling about this . ?

Not me.

BG is starting to get healthy. The Purples are getting the best preparation for the 5A playoffs of any team in 5A. When the playoffs start, BG's FR QB will have played a half against St. X, and started against Scott Co., South Warren, CAL, and Franklin Co.

This is also good for BG. For forever, BG has been the team that everyone has said, "I have a bad, bad feeling about this, since we're playing the Purples." It's good for the program to have to fight uphill for a while. I think the focus and buy-in for the program only improve from a game like this. 

My glass is half full. Go Purples! 

I'll go with CAL by 21. 

6 hours ago, BillNye said:

Have a bad, bad feeling about this . ?

Go Purples!

I feel your pain with CAL - but this is a no-lose situation for BG…CAL is dominating, BG is reloading/rebuilding and still doesn’t have Mr. Barber et al.  I think good game for BG to try some new things.  All about line play for BG here…CAL is really good - top 3 overall in state.

CAL 35-10

As always - great write up @Purple88!

As always, excellent work @Purple88!  For CAL, the two QB rotation has pretty much ended with Jackson Burke being named QB1.  Burke played the entire first half last night, Pfeiffer played the 3rd quarter & FR Will Seifert played the 4th quarter.  CAL, for the most part, is finally healthy.  They are still missing a couple of starting OL, but every team is a bit banged up this time of year.

As for CAL, they have yet to play an “off” game.  There were some stretches against Ryle that they didn’t look the best, but I credit that to Ryle & not just being off so-to-speak.  Every good team has an off game or two during the year.  This might be the one for CAL, but then the question is, even with an off game, does BG have enough to take down CAL on Friday?  I think the Purples will be competitive in this one, but I do see CAL coming out on top in the end.  I think this is the last non-running clock for CAL until the 3rd round or later in the playoffs.  I’ll say CAL wins by 20, but it’s close for the first half or even into the 4th quarter before they pull away.

CAL big!

CAL will throw it all over the field. The Centurions haven’t thrown an INT and we’re halfway through the season, BG hasn’t caused much havoc if any on offenses this year. The Freshman QB on the road against a sound defense isn’t too favorable either. Could get ugly.
 

Just hoping for a healthy 48 minutes, I see another running clock. Hopefully after this beatdown they’ll run through the district and host a couple playoff games, very tough year for the Purples.

Interesting fact:  CAL has never lost to a 5A team.  I believe their record is 19-0 all time against 5A competition.

The game will be broadcasted by livesportscaster again.  I’ll post the updated link later this week.

https://livesportscaster.com/portal/upcomingvideos/

Updated link for the broadcast:

https://livesportscaster.com/video/10300/khsaa-football-bowling-green-at-cal/

 

BG has three criteria for trying to stay in this game. Without these things happening, CAL puts a ?‍♂️⏰ on them. 
 

1. BG must NOT turn the ball over. 

2. BG must force at least 2 CAL turnovers

3. BG must have one big time play via special teams. 

13 minutes ago, MBKT said:

BG has three criteria for trying to stay in this game. Without these things happening, CAL puts a ?‍♂️⏰ on them. 
 

1. BG must NOT turn the ball over. 

2. BG must force at least 2 CAL turnovers

3. BG must have one big time play via special teams. 

Tall tasks!