In the 22 times that Bowling Green and Greenwood have played, the Purples have yet to lose. With a 42-0 win Friday night, the Purples improved to 22-0 all-time against the Gators. All of the Purples points came in the first half of play behind a truly balanced offensive attack. Five different players found the end-zone for BGHS, contributing to their 38th consecutive win.
Purples’ quarterback Devin Hayes was once again the conductor of the BGHS offense. Hayes threw three touchdowns on 21/26 passing against Greenwood for 191 yards. The three touchdowns added to Hayes’ season total to give him 31 on the season. No Bowling Green game would be complete if it weren’t for Hayes finding star receiver Nacarius Fant for a touchdown. Hayes found Fant eight times against Greenwood, once for a touchdown. Along with Fant, Ben Holt and Cameron Wallace caught their first career touchdowns, both from Hayes.
Whenever a quarterback completes 81% of his passes, it would appear that the rushing attack of a team would not be needed. This was not the case for BGHS, who finished with three rushing touchdowns against the Gators. Purples’ running back Blake Pillow found paydirt twice, while Blue Tisdale scored once. ‘We had to run the ball inside and fight for yards,” said Pillow. “They played so deep on us to not allow passing yards.” With the Gators trying to prevent Hayes from looking down field, Pillow ran for 43 yards and two scores on only six carries.
The Purple offense impressed on Friday night, but their defense may have shined even brighter. BGHS allowed only 47 yards of total offense and forced five turnovers against Greenwood. Hunter Rogers, Josh Kelley, and Joseph McIntyre all intercepted passes to give BGHS outstanding field position in the first half. The defensive line and linebackers were in Greenwood quarterback Josh Dyer’s mind all night. The pressure gave him little time to look down field, and made him force several throws. The 42-0 win was the second time the Purples forced a shutout in 2013.
Some rivalries tend to be one-sided at times. BGHS has outscored Greenwood 935-118 in their 22 meetings, and this was the tenth time that Bowling Green shutout Greenwood. The Purples move onto to their toughest challenge next week when Blackman (TN) visits BGHS. Bowling Green did not get caught looking ahead to the big game against nationally ranked Blackman, as they focused on beating the opponent at hand. “It’s a good win, always good to beat Greenwood,” said BGHS linebacker Clay Hendrick. “We’ve got Blackman next week, hopefully we can finish the season undefeated.”
