Purples look to bounce back against St. Xavier

After suffering a 35-21 loss at Pleasure Ridge Park last Friday and having its 28-game winning streak snapped, Bowling Green will look to bounce back Saturday against another Louisville foe in St. Xaiver.

Originally scheduled for Friday night, the meeting was moved to Saturday due to heavy rain in the forecast for both Thursday and Friday. Along with Bowling Green, South Warren vs. Franklin-Simpson and Greenwood vs. Allen County-Scottsville were also moved from Friday to Saturday.

Bowling Green (1-1) and St. Xaiver will meet for the 15th time when the two sides kickoff at 11 a.m. CT Saturday at El Donaldson Stadium. St. X (1-0) leads the all-time series 9-5, but the Purples have won five of the last six meetings, including a 31-10 victory in last season’s meeting on Sept. 2, 2016 at BGHS.

St. X enters Saturday’s meeting at Bowling Green fresh off a bye week after beating Cathedral (Indianapolis, Ind.) 35-28 in Week 1. Running back Brett Metzmeier rushed for 157 yards and four touchdowns in the Tigers’ win.

In BG’s loss at PRP, wide receiver Ziyon Kenner opened the game with a 99-yard kickoff return touchdown for the Purples — the second 99-yard return TD in his career — but PRP quickly took control and dominated for most of the game. On the day, the Panthers outgained BG 401-150 en route to the win.

Bowling Green quarterback Beau Buchanan, in his first true road game as the Purples’ starter, completed 14-of-25 passes for 118 yards and a touchdown. Wide receiver Nash Hightower caught six passes for 62 yards and a score while running back Vito Tisdale tallied 53 yards and a TD on 14 carries.

Defensively, outside linebacker Devan Jackson had six tackles, four assists and two sacks. Linebacker Justice Dingle recorded seven tackles, four assists, a sack and a tackle for loss while outside linebacker Miles Smith led all Bowling Green tacklers with eight, two assists, and two takedowns for a loss.