By J. Trace Kirkwood
Greenwood's Hunter Thompson should consider this subject for an English essay: Fear and Loathing at El Donaldson Stadium. The Gators have never won at Bowling Green's home field. Heck, I don't think they've ever beaten the Purples on any football field.
When the Hell's Angels discovered that gonzo journalist, Hunter S. Thompson, who was a native of Louisville and an alumnus of Male High School, might profit from writing an article about them, they beat him nearly to death. I'm not trying to say that the Bowling Green football team is the Hell's Angel's, but they keep putting a good beating on their crosstown rival Greenwood. They beat the Gators 56-0 last season, and this game seemed to be headed that same direction.
On the second play of the game Bowling Green's J.P. Jackson connected with Lavance Anderson for a 78 yard catch and run touchdown pass. Less than a minute later Jay Beard blocked a Greenwood punt, which resulted in a touchdown, and the Gators found themselves on the short end of a 14-0 score.
The Gators stopped a Bowling Green from scoring a touchdown only once in the first quarter. Then, the Purples had to settle for a Max Oldham field goal. Tevin Barksdale scored a touchdown with 53 seconds left in the quarter, and as time expired Tyreon Clark intercepted the ball and ran it back for a touchdown.
At the end of the first quarter, Greenwood was in a 31-0 hole.
Bowling Green slowed down a bit in the second quarter. Instead of scoring touchdowns at a frenzied pace, they scored only one in the quarter and took a 38-0 lead into the break.
In the locker room Hunter Thompson probably pondered writing Bowling Green Purples: The Strange and Terrible Saga of a Really Good Football Team. At halftime, I pondered why I came to this game instead going to see a game with two teams in Scottsville.
The second half was more of the same, although Bowling Green only mustered three touchdowns in the half.
Greenwood did sneak in a score with 1:09 left in the contest, but Tevin Barksdale took the Gators' kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown. It was Greenwood's The Curse of Lono condensed into Barksdale's hundred yard dash -- give or take a few yards.
Hunter! The football season is NOT over.
OBSERVATIONS
To The Max: I hope some colleges -- especially my alma mater -- are after Max Oldham. The kid can flat out kick a football. He kicks it out of the back of the endzone on kickoffs, and the one field goal he had split the uprights. He's very good.
Who Let the Dogs Out?: Uh, ahem. I'm not sure if I can come up with a tactful way of putting this. I always laugh when I see cheerleaders and dance teams dance to this song. I won't include a link, but people should consider the lyrics of a song before they use them. Trust me, I'm not offended by this because I'm not easily offended, but it's humorous when people don't really listen to what a song is saying. I think I've written about a funny thing at Male High School when I was a student there many moons ago. Our cheerleaders had a catchy cheer that went "WE ARE MALE BULLDOGS!" I've never thought self-deprecation worked for cheerleaders.
Dear Old High School: It's sort of strange for a Male High alumnus to watch a Bowling Green game. The purple and gold. The letter "H." It's all very familiar. There's also the familiarity of winning a lot of games and going deep into the playoffs only to watch someone else carry off the big trophy.
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2 comments:
Mr Kirkwood,
I enjoy reading the Pennyrile Pick and Roll. I have a son that plays for Bowling Green and found your site while searching for articles on BG. I now check to see if you were in attendance at a BG game.
Male and Bowling Green were two of the first 4 high schools in Ky. Therefore, the "H" stands for High as the schools were referred. Also the first four schools had colors as names and not masscots as Bowling Green has keep the nickname "PURPLES." Again thanks for the articles.
Mr. Kirkwood - your comments are fascinating and insightful. But of course you must know that to find truly good high school basketball, you must cross the big river into Illinois (and certainly not into Indiana).
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