Citizens First Holiday Classic @ Bowling Green High School

Cumberland County vs. Bowling Green 12-19-07

Bowling Green head coach D.G. Sherrill and Citizens First Bank have done a great job putting together a very nice tournament. The Holiday Classic has the potential of being one of the state's finest holiday tournaments if the community supports it. Bowling Green High certainly has a great facility for hosting such a tournament with two gyms and ready access to the city's best hotels, restaurants, and shopping areas. I can't forget to mention D.C. Clements, who is a local State Farm Agent, Booth Fire and Safety, and Martin Automotive Group for their support the tournament.

I didn't know what to expect out of this game. I've never seen Cumberland County play basketball, and I hadn't seen Bowling Green play since it got its core of players back from the Bills...oops, I mean their football team. Both are Fourth Region teams, so they have some degree of familiarity.

When Bowling Green's starters took the court, I noticed that D.L. Moore was on the bench. Wait a second. Coach Sherrill finally has one of his best starters back in uniform -- one of the best players in the region -- and he was sitting on the bench looking like a long and tall equipment manager. I know Moore doesn't take long to make the transition from the gridiron to the hardwood, so I assumed that the coach was sending a message to his best player.

Cumberland County jumped on the Purples early in the game. Casey Richardson, the Panthers' lanky 6'5" forward, took advantage of D.L. Moore imitating Bill Keightly and got some good baskets. Shaun Wheat, a thickly built center, manhandled Bowling Green's thin inside players. I kept looking for Coach Sherrill to pull the trigger and send Moore into the game, but the coach left Moore sitting on the bench.

I'm always impressed when a coach delivers an attitude adjustment to a key player by benching him. I'm more impressed when they stick to it.

At the end of the first quarter the Panthers had a 21-18 lead over the Purples.

In the second quarter, Bowling Green punched the accelerator and came back at Cumberland County. Jarren Nixon made some big plays with several quick slashes to the basket. He's got an impressive first step on his move and handles the ball well in traffic. Jared Carpenter provided some solid shooting from the perimeter. Plus, Coach Sherrill opened the dog house's door and let D.L. Moore into the game.

Jarren Nixon gave the Purples the lead with 5:35 to go in the second quarter, but Cumberland County wasn't going to roll over and die. They battled back, and they took a one point lead, 36-35 into halftime.

Bowling Green plays good defense this season. They have a nice full court press, and they even will press a team after a missed basket. It really catches teams off guard, and it takes an athletic and smart team to be able to find a man and pressure him after a miss. They do it well. Then, they settle into a sticky half-court defense with their arms up and always disrupting the passing lanes. Teams will find it difficult to make passes to the post against the Purples unless they are playing poorly.

Bowling Green's pressure got to Cumberland County in the third quarter, even though D.L. Moore was back in the Keightly chair on the Purples' bench. Jeb Richardson and Jarren Nixon, two totally different style of players, decimated the Panthers on the offensive end. Moore got back into the game and got some key rebounds on both ends of the court. Cumberland County was only able to score 13 points in the third frame, while the Purples scored 29. Bowling Green had a commanding 15 point lead, 64-49, and was in control of the game.

In the fourth quarter, Cumberland County only scored 11 points, while the tournament's host team scored 15 more.

I think we'll see a lot of this from Bowling Green this season. Teams will not be able to withstand their constant pressure and their basket attacking offense, and they will wither. Cumberland County's by-quarter scoring went 21, 15, 13, and 11. A coach who likes to use pressure defense has to be pleased when he sees his opponent unable to match the previous quarter's scoring total.

OBSERVATIONS

Prison Tat: I still don't know the kid's name, but Cumberland County had a guy wearing uniform #44, who had an impressive pair of tattoos. He checked into the game late, and I joked that he may be their team's "enforcer." Every team needs a kid who is good for five fouls and no amount of jeering from fans, jawing from coaches, and whining from opposing players will keep him from leveling at hot shooter a couple of times. Since the kid wasn't on the roster, I thought he might be in there make Jerron Nixon think hard about his next slash to the basket. I was completely wrong, though. He was a good defensive player and was in there to let someone try to get their legs back. I still don't know his name. The tattoo on his arm is a large Christian Cross.

Wolf Creek, Dam!: The dam at Wolf Creek, which impounds Lake Cumberland, is leaking. The Corps is worried that it will fail and flood the Cumberland Valley. I have a vision of a thousand houseboats full of people from Ohio flowing through downtown Nashville. Anyway, the Panthers must feel like the dam broke and flooded them last night. Bowling Green beat them by 19 points, and Central Hardin beat them by 30, 71-41 in the nightcap game.

Maybe It Was Memphis: D.G. Sherrill's defense looks a lot like John Calipari's down in Memphis. Someone needs to check Coach Sherrill's knickknack shelf for souvenirs from Sun Records and Beal Street. We might find him in his office jamming to Pam Tillis or Tom T. Hall. "That's how I got to Memphis..."

An Old Hornets' Nest

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm crazy about old gymnasiums and stadiums. I went to the old Male High School at Brook and Breckinridge streets in downtown Louisville. I spent a lot of time in the old gym at that school. I'm going off the top of my head, but I think that gym was built in 1939.

Maybe that's where I developed my love for old gyms.

The other day I was in Hancock County, Kentucky, for a Christmas function hosted by a paper mill in the area. They held the event in Hancock County Middle School's gymnasium. I got to asking around and discovered that this was the home of the Hornets when they first consolidated high schools in the county in the 1960s. The gym was constructed in 1960, according to a plaque in the foyer to the school.
It must've been one heck of a tough place to play a basketball game. The stands go right up to the court, and they are really steep, so the crowd was on top of the action. One end of the gym was a stage, and the other end was a cinder block wall with an eyebrow shaped window across the top. The roof is steel and slightly arched, so it probably bounced crowd noise back down onto the court.

If I could travel back in time, I'd like to go back to 1963 when Hancock County went to the Sweet Sixteen out of the Fourth Region and watch them play Breckinridge County with Butch Beard. If those two teams squared off in the old Hancock County gym, I'm sure the place buzzed.

Note: Again, sorry I haven't posted any game re-caps from the Fourth Region. In the past few days I've been in Hawesville, Madisonville, Greenville, Bowling Green, and Nashville. The only basketball I've been able to see was Memphis vs. Middle Tennessee and Tennessee vs. WKU.

John Hardin @ North Hardin 12-13-07

By Chris Gregory, Fifth Region Correspondent

As I was going up Dixie Highway to see John Hardin take on cross county rival North Hardin, I thought about my high school playing days. The last time I was in NH's gym was in 1990, and they were stacked. They had Jason Eututis (c.s.) and several other good players.

North Hardin is off to their best start since the 01-02 season.

I got there early, and the radio guys were nice enough to print me off the rosters for both teams. I looked it over and was shocked to see how much size both teams had. North Hardin has three guys over 6'6" and John Hardin has two. That's a lot of big guys for a couple of high school teams.

Both teams came out of the dressing rooms to the sound of Christmas music, courtesy of the North Hardin pep band. That's the way to pump up your team!

Apparently, the music got John Hardin in the Christmas spirit because they gave up a 19-5 lead to the Trojans.

I thought North Hardin was going to run away with it, but the Bulldogs bounced back in teh second quarter. They are a little down this year and didn't have the players to mount a big come back on a good team like NH. It seemed that the referees were trying to keep John Hardin from getting back into it, though.

With Desmon Bussey, John Hardin's guard, the Bulldogs pulled narrowed the gap to 11 points by halftime.

North Hardin opened the third quarter thinking they had this game wrapped up. Here come the Dawgs, though. Chris White, who is 6'4," powered an 18-7 run to close out the third quarter. It was a new game, and I could see the North Hardin faithful starting to squirm.

The John Hardin fans rose to their feet to start the fourth quarter, and the Trojan fans got up as well.

I knew that we were going to have a good finish. The Bulldogs tied the game at 44, but North Hardin was just too athletic. The prevailed 51-46.

OBSERVATIONS

Poet or President: Neither, North Hardin is a fast, atheltic team, and they can jump out of the gym. They also handle the ball well. They are led by 6'4" sophomore Roosevelt Emerson, who is probably the most talented player in the region. Again, he's only a sophomore.

Six Years Older and What Do You Get?: I'm impressed that a school that has been in existence for only six years has been able to build such a great athletic program. They have good football and basketball teams and always seem to be contenders.

Leave It to Bevars: I'm wondering if Ron Bevars may be ready to hand the reigns over to someone else. He has 688 wins and is 11-0 in regional finals (an astounding record!). He's also collected fifteen 17th District championships. He has not won a state championship, though. If everyone remembers, Laurel County's Paul Andrews snatched a championship from the Trojans in 1982 with the "Shot Heard 'Round the Commonwealth". Thursday night Bevars stayed on the bench and his assistants did a lot of the coaching.

Editor's Note: Thanks again, Chris. It seems I can't make it to a game here lately, so I really appreciate your notes from the Fifth Region. I have been on the road a lot for work, and then I spent the weekend in Nashville to see the Hilltoppers lose a heartbreaker to a football school. This week, I'm going to the Citizens First Holiday Classic at Bowling Green High School, and I might make it up to the Caveland Classic at Brownsville -- a "One Flashing Light Town." The Holiday Classic in Bowling Green features the hosting Purples, Madisonville-North Hopkins, Central Hardin, Greenwood, and the Red Devils from "Senior High" in Owensboro. It's shaping up to be one of the better Christmas time basketball tournaments in the state. Both gyms at BGHS will going full-tilt for three days.

Hart County @ LaRue County 12-07-07

By Fifth Region Correspondent, Chris Gregory*

When I got out of my truck at LaRue County High School the gym was thumping with the sound of the pep band goin' at it. The crowd sounded electric. I was there to see Hart County's new coach, Casey Simpson, who played ball at Bowling Green and was an assistant coach for Tim Riley at Warren Central.

The crowd was huge, and the LaRue students were dawned with blue and white paint all over their bodies. It was LaRue's home opener against 18th District and long time rival Hart County.

The game started slow, and at the end of the first quarter, the visitors had an 11-7 lead. Hart County opened things up early in the second quarter, but the two teams squared off, going back and forth through the end of the third. The Hawks had a two point lead over the visiting Raiders at the start of the final frame.

LaRue County is a senior rich ball club, and their experience carried them in the fourth quarter. They opened it up and prevailed 56 to 39.

OBSERVATIONS

Casey at the Bat: Simspon is a good young coach and handles himself well on the sidelines. Hart County fans should be patient with their young coach.

Bault and Sold: LaRue County's Bryan Bault hasn't played organized ball since grade school. Now, he starts for the Hawks and scored in double digits and grabbed several boards.

*Chris Gregory brings a better perpsective to Pick and Roll because he actually knows something about basketball. He played for Breckinridge County High School and is a good student of the game. He and I have had some lengthy discussions about UK, UofL, WKU, and high school hoops. He is a fan of high school football and basketball. Because he went to Breckinridge County, I won't let him write about football, though.

Warren East @ Warren Central 12-07-07

There's a great big question hanging over the Fourth Region this basketball season: can the Warren Central Dragons hoist the regional championship trophy for the seventh time in as many years? It pops up in nearly every discussion, and it seems to monopolize the thoughts of every basketball fan in the Fourth. Every other team in the Region is tired of Warren Central storming through games like a loose herd of wild buffalo (thank you, Billy Jo Shaver), and they are ready to do something about it.

Throughout the football season the Warren East Raiders assumed the role of Rodney Dangerfield. They got no respect. Friday night, Russell Malone's basketball squad -- replenished after the football team's heart breaker loss to Lone Oak a week before -- didn't come into the "Dragon's Lair" tugging at their ties, fidgeting, and cracking "I don't get no respect." Instead, they took the court and matched Warren Central's usual intensity with their own brand of in-your-face, don't back down basketball.

East opened with a quick 10-4 lead on Central, and they seemed unfazed by the Dragon's constant full court press, which is a trademark of Coach Tim Riley's lasting success. East's guard #23 Jordan Ellis followed the quick start with a missed dunk, but he got the ball back, stepped out and nailed a three point goal. After a Central miss, he came back down the floor and hit another three point goal. The score was 16-7 in the Raider's favor.

I knew it was going to be a wild ride. I looked for a sign cautioning pregnant women and people with heart conditions not to board.

The Dragon's weren't going to let a cross-county rival come into the Lair and bloody their noses, so Tim Riley cranked the knob of his team's press all the way to 11 and came back after East. Central runs the press so well that I love to watch them. A coach at a major state university within site of Warren Central tries to use a full court press to snare turnovers and only uses it on occasion. Tim Riley, however, uses the press the way it should be used. He uses it constantly, and he intends it to wear teams down instead of popping a turnover every now-and-then. It reminds me of when Denny Crum had his great teams at Louisville, and they ground teams down with constant pressure.

With the press a Tim Riley coached team is never out of the game.

At the end of the first quarter the Raiders led 22-16, but the momentum had shifted back to the home team. Both teams had large crowds in the stands, and they had the gym rocking. The mood in the bleachers matched the mood on the hardwood. Forget Billy Jo Shaver songs, someone needed to que up The Troggs. "Wild thing, you make everything groovy."

I guess the game was too entertaining. Maybe the crowd was too loud. The officials turned the second quarter into a zebra fest. Perhaps they decided they wanted to be part of the show or they got tired of running up and down the court so much. They started whistling every touch, every hand check, and then if two players touched the ball at the same time, they knew there had to be a foul.

It was awful. They turned a wide open basketball game into a free throw shooting contest. The officials blew so many whistles that I thought I was in Havana and Fidel Castro had died.

The Warren East crowd thought they were getting the short end of the stick on the calls, but I must point out that several of their players were on the football field the week before. It's hard to make the transition from the turf to the maple wood in just seven days. I remember one year when traditional football powerhouse Mayfield played their first basketball game. They committed 37 fouls in a 32 minute basketball game. Warren East may have had the same problem in Friday's game.

Central's press and pressure was the other story for the second quarter. They climbed back into the game and had the lead at halftime, 35-34. The highlight of the quarter for the Raiders was DeAngelo Kirk's 23 foot three pointer that kept his team's momentum going.

At the half, I thought that Warren East had made their statement. They are a for real team in the 14th District and in the Fourth Region, but I thought that they could never match Central in the second half. East's hot shooting guard, Ellis, was saddled with four fouls, and a whole raft of them had three fouls after the officials decided to be part of the show.

A point down, Warren East opened the second half with a flurry and took a 45-37 lead on their hosts. Of course, Central came back with two huge plays by freshman George Fant, but everyone started to catch a sniff of upset in the air, including Russell Malone. He was after his players to keep up their intensity, and he even signaled to the throng of Raider supporters in the stands to clap and cheer. He knew his team had a shot at upending the six-in-row Fourth Region champs.

At the end of the third quarter, Central's Stephen Irvin committed a boneheaded move. Right in front of a whistle happy official, who was part of a crew handing out technical fouls like party favors, he slammed the ball down and let it bounce way up in the air. The official proudly signaled "T" and East got to end the quarter with two made free throws, making the score 55-49 in favor of the visitors.

Central wasn't going to go away, however. They never do. They can amp up their press at anytime and turn any team's legs to spaghetti -- over-cooked spaghetti. With 4:33 left in the game, the Dragons had a 59-56 lead over East, and it felt like the momentum had shifted to the home team's bench. East had lost two of its starters to foul trouble, and I no longer sniffed the scent of upset.

I was wrong, though. East wasn't backing down, and they regained the lead on a huge three pointer with 3:45 left.

With time running out and the score knotted at 68-68, freshman George Fant got the ball on the baseline with no one around him. He jumped up and put the ball on the rim, and it rolled off into the hands of a Raider rebounder. The "Wild Thing" game was headed for overtime.

Warren East did it. They took control of the extra period and prevailed 81-75. Throughout the game the Warren Central students chanted "WE CAN'T HEAR YOU" whenever their team got the lead. As the clock ran out on the overtime the East faithful answered with their own "WE CAN'T HEAR YOU."

I'm willing to bet that the Fourth Region heard the Raiders. Is Central's run over or will Tim Riley put together another team that will prevail at Diddle Arena in March? I think the Fourth Region is ripe for the picking this season. Central is not out of it, but there are several other teams who have a shot at punching their ticket to Rupp Arena this season.

OBSERVATIONS

Fant of Heart: Don't bet on it. George Fant is going to be a very good basketball player. It's a given that he is well coached, and he seems to respond to his coaching. He's got good hands and a soft shot. As he matures, he should become more aggressive about taking the ball to the rack. He'll be fun to watch develop this season and the next three.

Hometown Proud?: Throughout the game, Warren Central's PA announcer reported the score of Bowling Green's bid to be 5A football state champs. Fans from both sides of the court cheered loudly at the news of Highland's domination of the Purples. I hear that Bowling Green is going to change their name to the "Bills."

Two Games in Two Nights: I made it to the Bowling Green-UHA game on Thursday and the East-Central game on Friday. That won't happen very often because the Pick and Roll budget is in the tens of dollars and it's rolling stock is a fourteen year old pickup truck.

University Heights Academy @ Bowling Green 12-06-07

No one will ever say that Bowling Green's Coach D.G. Sherrill backs down from a challenge. When he put the University Heights Academy Blazers on his schedule for early December, he had to think that the Purples football team had a good shot at another trip to the KHSAA State Football Championship Game. Yes, Bowling Green's gridders are back in Louisville this week to take on Highlands, which leaves the school's basketball team with a thin roster. Most of Coach Sherrill's starters were sitting in the stands with their football teammates watching their basketball teammates take on UHA.

Coach Sherrill could have backed out of the game or postponed it until another part of the season. Instead, he took a "play 'em as ya schedule 'em" attitude and kept his date with the Blazers from Hopkinsville.

University Heights is a formidable opponent, too. They feature one of the state's best players, shooting forward Scotty Hopson. Hopson is a muscular 6'5" kid who glides up and down the court and has explosive moves to the rim. He put on a show for the Bowling Green crowd during warm-ups with a crazy looking 360 dunk. It was impressive, and I sort of felt a buzz in the small but interested crowd. Tyshawn Edmondson also did some razzle-dazzle moves during the warm-ups. I thought it might be a long night for the depleted Purples squad, especially when I saw D.L. Moore in street clothes hanging out with his football teammates.

When they tipped the ball up, though, I could tell that Bowling Green wasn't going to let the Blazers cruise into their gym and let them walk away with an easy victory. The Purples went after the ball on the defensive end, and they attacked the basket on the other. They challenged the visiting Mr. Basketball candidate, even frustrating him to the point of knocking a Bowling Green player down after a turnover. In the first quarter, an errant elbow split the eyebrow of a UHA player, which sent him to the locker room. No, no. The Purples were not going to back down to this Second Region powerhouse.

At the end of the first quarter UHA was up 11 to 9.

In the second quarter, UHA found their game, but the pesky Purples hung within striking distance. Their defense continued to force the Blazers into mistakes and made them force their shots. Scotty Hopson had a couple of nice moves to the basket and one very authoritative dunk.

Hopson, however, lacks intensity. Prior to the game there was some discussion about whether or not he was going to sign with Mississippi State University. In college recruiting, nothing is certain until the ink dries on a letter of intent, and Hopson hasn't signed a thing, as far as I know. Some say he wants to attract the attention of the state powerhouses of Louisville and Kentucky, but Hopson is going to have to show those programs that he can turn it up to 11 and play the college game.

Throughout the game with Bowling Green he seemed out of sorts, almost lolly-gagging around the court. Perhaps Coach Randy McCoy told him to dial it back a few notches out of respect for Coach Sherrill's thin roster, but he exerted as little defensive pressure as possible. Hopson's attitude did not impress me.

Tyshaun Edmondson impressed me the most. He's a good guard, and has excellent moves to the rim. He also has a good sense for the court. I lost track of how many points Edmondson had. Hopson had 23.

In the third quarter, Bowling Green made a respectable run at the Blazers. They went in the locker room at halftime down 30-22, but with 3:51 left in the third frame, Bowling Green got a one point lead, 33-32, on a free throw.

University Heights was frustrated. Coach McCoy had his "seat belt" on after a first half technical foul. Scotty Hopson mouthed an official after a foul call, and he got a technical. Unfortunately, for the Purples, they could connect on only one of four free throws after the technical. I thought the Bowling Green players were trying for jobs at Lee Brick and Block. Heck, they laid so many bricks I thought about checking to see if they had their International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers union cards.

Ouch! That moment deflated the Purples.

Bowling Green made a run at UHA and cut the lead to seven, 57-50, about halfway through the fourth quarter. The Blazers came alive and pused the lead out to 13. The home team lost their momentum, and UHA cruised to victory 74-59.

OBSERVATIONS

Jeran Nixon led the Purples with 17 points. He made baskets when Bowling Green needed them.
D.G. Sherrill said that he was going to buy the football coaches Buffalo Bills hats if they did not win in Louisville on Friday.

Lando Calrissian? #20 for Bowling Green's name is Billy Williams. I only hope he proves to be a good defensive player, so he can earn the nickname "D."

Bowling Green Traffic: Randy McCoy and his UHA Blazers need to learn to allow a lot of time to get into Bowling Green on a Thursday night. They were late for the JV game that preceded the headline event. Coach McCoy needs to know that all those WKU students are headed to night class on Thursday night at The Deuce and Good Tymze 2. It's their extracurricular studies. Coach McCoy! This ain't Hoptown, baby.

Bowling Green @ Owensboro 11-30-07

As I watched the two teams warm up for Friday night's semifinal football game, I started thinking about west Kentucky's two principal cities and their differences. Owensboro is a river town while Bowling Green is a college town. Owensboro is flat, and Bowling Green is hilly. Owensboro's streets are in a logical well planned grid, and Bowling Green's streets are narrow, don't line up and intersect at odd angles. Owensboro is Catholic. Bowling Green is Protestant. Old timers in Owensboro talk about Gabe's, and old timers in Bowling Green talk about Pauline's. Owensboro's barbecue is wet and Bowling Green's is dry. After decades of talking about getting one, Owensboro has an Olive Garden restaurant. Bowling Green had an Olive Garden but lost it several years ago. The most important event in Owensboro's history was when Cliff Hagan signed with the University of Kentucky to play basketball. Bowling Green's most important event was when Western Kentucky University went to the Final Four.

Yes, the two cities are different, and the differences may be reflected in their football teams. The Bowling Green Purples like to open the game up with a passing attack and sweeping pitch outs to their running backs. The Owensboro Red Devils focus on defense and play smash mouth, run-up-the-middle, ball control offense.

I knew the game had the makings of a classic, and it was appropriate that the game was being played at Rash Stadium behind old "Senior High" along Owensboro's Frederica Street. It's a classic venue. The stadium is two concrete grandstands that sit incredibly close to the playing field. There's very little room for the two teams to stand on the sidelines, so spectators really get a sense of the action on the field. Last season the school and the boosters coughed up a horse choking wad of money to replace the old playing field at Rash with one of those second generation artificial turf fields that feel like a natural surface.

Bowling Green had a stout assignment to try to upend the Red Devils in one heck of a tough place to play. The atmosphere around the old stadium was electric, and every player, coach, and fan sensed that two very good football teams were squaring off for a spot in next week's 5-A state championship game.

The two teams opened up the game with a bad case of the jitters. Bowling Green had the first possession, and Trent Steelman threw an interception on the opening play. Owensboro promptly turned the ball back over to the Purples. I can't remember all the entire scenario, but after some sloppy football, Owensboro tried to punch the ball in the end zone on short yardage but failed. They settled for a field goal.

Bowling Green just couldn't find a groove and continued to turn the ball over, and the Red Devils took a commanding 13-0 lead over the #2 ranked Purples. The Owensboro fans were going nuts, and the visitors from the other end of the Natcher Parkway were very quiet, despite having a large crowd in attendance.

Owensboro's fans were armed with cowbells and plastic milk jugs filled with bb's. They clanked those bells and shook those milk jugs making an awful racket. I was sitting with a friend from Owensboro, and we could hardly talk over the rattling and clanking. I was afraid that I would be deaf by the end of the contest (my ears still rang the morning after).

A well-dressed, middle-aged lady sat in front of me. She had on a heavy overcoat and layers of clothes on underneath. When the Red Devils kicked a field goal, she took off her coat. When they scored a touchdown, she took off a light jacket. I started to wonder if she lost an article of clothing with each Red Devil score. I thought things could get very interesting if they started running up the score, especially on such a cold night.

Down by a touchdown bracketed by two field goals, the Bowling Green squad could have given up, folded tent, and waited for the yellow dog school buses to truck them back down the parkway. Instead, they engineered a drive that put them right on Owensboro's goal line. Bowling Green got the touchdown and made the score 14-7. Tension spread through the stands, and the Purples' crowd started to make some noise.

Owensboro had the ball late in the second quarter. Their drive fizzled, and they had to punt. It turned out to be the key possession of the game. If Owensboro scored or even just ran the clock out, Bowling Green would've been down at the half with the Red Devils getting the first possession of the second half. Instead, the Purples got the ball with just over two minutes remaining.

They drove back down to Owensboro's goal line and were threatening to take the lead. The lady who had been taking off her warm clothes started putting them back on. Oh well. I'll try to sit next to her when the Red Devils take on Breckinridge County in a future season.

Trent Steelman and running back Lavance Anderson put together the best fake hand-off play I have ever seen to score the Purple's second touchdown. Steelman faked and Anderson plunged into the line of scrimmage running over the left tackle. Owensboro brought him down short of the goal line, and the referees blew their whistles thinking Anderson had the ball. Meanwhile, Steelman rolled out to the left and trotted into the end zone with the ball.

I've never seen a more convincing fake hand-off. I knew who had the ball, but I think I was the only other person in the stadium who knew it besides Trent Steelman and Tavance Anderson. Owensboro's players were confused. The officials were baffled. The Owensboro fans were irate. The line judge marked where Anderson was tackled, and he held his mark. But, Anderson never had the danged ball. The other officials conferred at the five yard line, and I thought for a minute they were going to disallow the touchdown. The scoreboard operator even took the six points off Bowling Green's total.

I feared I was going to witness one of the worst officiating calls in the history of high school sports. I thought the officials were going to disallow the touchdown because Steelman and Anderson fooled everyone so well. Deceit with the ball is one of the principles of football.

Finally, the referee trotted toward the side of the field and raised his hands signaling a touchdown. I was relieved, but the Owensboro fans around me were angry. They seemed to know nothing about inadvertent whistles, which are a part of the game of football.

I had been marked as a Bowling Green fan (I'm not), and I worried that I might not make it out of Rash Stadium with my skin. Skin? Rash? Yuk!

The important thing was that Bowling Green had the lead, and the momentum shifted to the visitor's side of the field.

The Purples controlled the second half. They moved the ball and scored three more touchdowns, and their defense kept the Red Devils out of the end zone. In the third quarter, Bowling Green used six minutes of game clock to drive for a touchdown. Owensboro had two possession and used about six minutes of clock but did not score. That killed the Red Devils. It finished off what Bowling Green started in the second quarter. Owensboro had a great defense, but they were on the field way too much in the second half. They had nothing left late in the game.

Owensboro is a good football team, but they needed more dimensions to their offensive attack to beat a very good team. Bowling Green is a very good team, perhaps even a great one. They can prove their great by knocking of Highlands in the championship game at Papa John's-Cardinal Stadium in Louisville next Friday. They've got to quit turning the ball over and quit getting stupid penalties. If they turn the ball over five times to Highlands in the first half, they will be dead.

OBSERVATIONS

Hard Nosed Player

I loved Owensboro's #42, Blake Roberts. He's a linebacker who has the nose for the ball and delivers bone crushing hits on ball carriers. He can shake off blockers, and despite being 5'10" he can disrupt passes. He seemed to be everywhere on the field, and I believe he played every down on both sides of the ball. Owensboro listed him as a tight end on their roster, but I saw him coming out of the backfield as a fullback. He did everything right on offense and defense. He's intense, smart, and competitive. He seems to be a crowd favorite in the "Big O." It's too bad a kid like that doesn't get to play next week in Louisville. Fans told me he was their district's defensive player of the year. A good choice, no doubt.

The Name Game

Gotta Give Him Credit or Credits: Owensboro had a player named T.J. Carbon. He wore jersey #11. I thought he should wear #6.

Learning to Fly: Owensboro's Adrian Cessna. Maybe his jersey number should read NC13250.

Where's Captain Kirk When You Need Him? Owensboro's Jordan Khan would surely raise the ire of the Starship Enterprise's charismatic commander. KHAN!