By Perry Swack – ST Reporter, with Brent Phillips and Spencer Austin
Brent Phillips – Owensboro High – 2002-2006 / Team Chaplain 2012
Perry Swack: Alright guys, big game this week, huh?
Spencer Austin: I ain’t got hate for little brother Owensboro 😎
Brent Phillips: Hey now, we were winning state titles before Bowling Green was even a school!
SA: BG is the second-oldest school in Kentucky behind only Male 😬
BP: I thought you all came around in the 60s
SA: 1908
BP: OHS was started in 1871!
PS: Wow, I did not know Owensboro was that old As a Greenwood grad, we’ve only been around since 1990.
BP: I didn’t either, but that’s what Google says. It also tells me football started in 1895 at OHS
PS: That actually leads into one of my questions: why does Owensboro list on their football website that they have won four state titles, whereas on KHSAA’s website, it only notes two?
BP: With that 1917 state title…KHSAA didn’t start until the late 1950s, so that 1917 would not be listed. I’m not sure about the ’83 one, I’m asking my dad 😆 (KHSAA lists OHS as the runner-up in 1983)
SA: You know Bama/Notre Dame/Owensboro always counting extra titles from the early 1900s! Either way you spin it, BG got more 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆
BP: Owensboro has nine undefeated seasons though. About to make it ten!
SA: After Saturday: 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆🏆
PS: Are you all planning to attend the game Saturday?
BP: I have tickets but not sure I’ll be able to make it.
SA: How do you have tickets? I looked last night and said no general admission.
BP: You can contact the school and get tickets. My parents are long time season ticket holders.
SA: You small town folk and your under-the-table workarounds.
BP: Hey, now! Owensboro had a higher population than BG until like 10 years ago
SA: All y’all got is a couple BBQ restaurants…but the Purples are the ones that will be eating this weekend!! 🍗 🍖
PS: Spencer, would you go to the game if you had to sit in the Owensboro section?
SA: Yes, and I would dust off my BG letterman jacket
PS: Brent, how much heckling would he receive if he sat in the OHS section in his BG letter jacket?
BP: Honestly, I don’t think it would be that bad. We love people at Owensboro. Plus, we’re just glad to not be playing Highlands in the state championship. We lost to them in 1999, 2000, and 2014.
SA: Yeah…BG lost to Highlands in the championship every year I was in middle school (2005-2007)
PS: Spencer, when you were at BG, the legend himself – Kevin Wallace – was the head coach. What does he mean to BG football?
SA: Wallace was a beast. Everyone in the school definitely respected him. He was my Drivers Ed teacher and was a super nice guy. But he built the program up from its already great foundation. People thought he would leave after Ryan graduated, but he stayed. People thought the program plateaued by beating up on BG area teams and never being able to go all the way and win the big one. There was a sense of defeat because a lot of people thought it would never happen. But Wallace stuck around, and a group of seniors in 2011-12 decided they weren’t gonna settle for anything less than winning it all, and they put the program over the top, got them over the hump, and after that winning state became like dominoes. The infrastructure was already there, they just needed the confidence to know they had done it. That’s helped them do it over and over again. Without Wallace, I doubt that would’ve happened. Even though he’s not there anymore, the work he and all the players he coached did in building the foundation still stands. That’s why they’re back in the finals ready to whip up on some Red Devil tail.
PS: Yeah, you’re definitely right. And this is the program’s first state title appearance since losing Wallace after the 2016 season.
SA: Wow, I guess I didn’t realize that. Glad to see them get over yet another hump.
PS: And Brent, when you were at OHS, the Owensboro legend –Joe Prince – was the head coach. What does he mean to OHS football?
BP: I was there at the beginning of the Prince Era. We had Coach Powers my freshman year, and he had just taken them to two runner-up titles in 99-00 and losing to Male in the semis in 2001. I remember going to a football team meeting when Prince was first hired and was like, “this dude is going to make me run for days and quit”. His first year they called themselves the “Dirty 30” because most people didn’t stick it out. But Prince was a genuinely solid dude. He was a scary man if you didn’t know him, but one of the most caring if you did. He truly built a great program and kept the tradition of deep playoff runs alive at OHS.
PS: Yeah, he’s second all-time in OHS history with 94 wins.
BP: Even though he’s not at Owensboro anymore, I noticed he’s been tweeting and posting on Facebook his support for OHS and cheering them on.
PS: Brent, who’s the best Owensboro player you’ve ever seen and why?
BP: Well, I think of 2. I think of Mark Higgs, who played for OHS before I was born but was a beast and went on to the NFL. He was the reason I became a Miami Dolphins fan because he was their leading rusher for multiple years when I was a kid. But of players that I watched, I’d say the duo of Justin Miller and Bo Smith. They were electric! You just knew when they got the ball it was game over. They helped lead Owensboro to two runner-up finishes in 99 and 00. Justin went on to Clemson and then became a Pro Bowler for the Jets. Bo had a great career at UK and played in the CFL for years. I guess I mentioned 3 but only 2 I saw in person.
PS: You’re good. Good to hear these names again! Spencer, same question for you in regard to BG.
SA: Best players I’ve ever seen…Avery Hibbett was the best RB ever. He set the standard for what was a long line of great BG running backs. An absolute monster and ran over and past anyone. DL Moore obviously was unstoppable, and his presence was felt everywhere. Nacarius Fant caught anything thrown remotely close to him, and never dropped anything that touched him. And gotta s/o Scooter Hollis for being the QB for that 2011 team.
PS: Yes, I watched all those guys growing up. I remember being in elementary school watching Avery Hibbett. He was really good. I remember being at a game in middle school, and Bowling Green started with the ball around their own 20-25 yard line. First play of the game…I kid you not…Trent Steelman flung one up to Moore and he grabbed it around midfield and was gone. You weren’t catching him!
PS: Okay, what’s one game from this rivalry that sticks out in your mind?
SA: The game that sticks out to me is that 2009 playoff game where Sam Howard played the hero and saved the day. He had an epic punt return for a touchdown and basically willed them to win, even though I think Owensboro probably had the better team.
BP: Agreed, for me, the big game was the 2009 playoffs. I went to that game in Bowling Green. BG scored 18 in the fourth quarter to come back and win (25-21). That was the game where I knew there was a tough rivalry that was going to be great for years to come. Whether either of our teams liked it, we were going to have to go through one another to win state. Makes perfect sense we would play for the title this weekend.
PS: Let’s hear your picks! Does Bowling Green win its seventh state title or does Owensboro preserve its perfect season and win its fifth?
SA: BG wins. Think the South Warren game tells you all you need to know about this team. Not scared and ready to fight. QB is composed and will be on Saturday. Dingle will make a big play down the stretch and prove too much to handle. BG
BP: I think this is Owensboro’s year. Coach Fallin has raised them team up to be contenders. They were beating teams by 50 this season but have shown since the playoffs started that they are not scare of adversity. Proof being the winning touchdown with less than 2 minutes to go against last years’ runner up, Frederick Douglass. I think Gavin Wimsatt – 5A Player of the year – will be able to give BG some looks they haven’t seen this year, being a highly-recruited dual-threat QB. But I think it will be close. Could come down to who has ball last.
PS: It’s definitely going to be fun! Alright, before you go, this rivalry needs a nickname. Give me some ideas.
BP: 70 Miles of Hate. Battle of the Natcher.
SA: War of the West. They play for a chance to get on our level!
BP: I like War of the West or Battle of the Natcher…even though I’m not sure they call it the Natcher Parkway anymore 😆
SA: You heard it here first… BG 41-24!
