Bowling Green has advanced past the first round with ease in recent years as the Purples have not lost a game in the first round of the playoffs since 2002.
But Coach Mark Spader’s club cannot overlook a very athletic Christian County team coming into El Donaldson Stadium on Friday night.
Christian County (4-6) has struggled this season but have the poor record that it does due to an inability to close out games. The Colonels have lost four games by a touchdown or less—closing out the regular season with a three-game skid that included one-score losses to Graves County, Madisonville-North Hopkins, and Paducah Tilghman.
The Colonels are led by Jadonavin McNeal, who has rushed for 894 yards and 11 touchdowns so far this season. Dual-threat quarterback JLin Powell has completed 48-of-103 passes for 628 yards and six touchdowns while being second on the team in rushing with 246 yards and seven touchdowns.
On the defensive side of the ball LRay Coleman has recovered five fumbles while Zadae Jones-Wilson leads the secondary with three interceptions.
Bowling Green (8-2) had a bit of a rough October as the Purples won just one of three games. The Purples lost to nationally-ranked Warren Central (Indianapolis, Ind.) and crosstown and district rival South Warren on the road before closing out the regular season with a dominating 52-0 win over Bullitt Central.
Senior quarterback Beau Buchanan leads the offense as he has completed 160-of-270 passes for 1,963 yards and 21 touchdowns while tossing just six interceptions. Buchanan has spread the ball around to a variety of players as Bowling Green has nine players that have at least eight receptions and 100 receiving yards on the year. Ten different Purples have caught a touchdown pass this season.
Running back DeVito Tisdale has led the ground game for Bowling Green with 746 yards and nine touchdowns while Jamil Smith has tallied 268 yards and four touchdowns.
The Bowling Green offense is the ninth-best in Class 5A with 35.4 points per night while the Purple defense has been its usual stingy self, yielding just 17.4 points per night. The Purples have held a team to single digits or shut a team out five times this season.
Kickoff between the Purples and Colonels is slated for 7:30 p.m. at El Donaldson Stadium. Follow along for updates on Twitter, and listen to Joe Brunk with the call on STBNTV.com.
