By Jim Mashek – Sporting Times
Rece Jones is a linebacker for the Bowling Green High School football team and can’t wait to play in his first home game of the season on Friday night at El Donaldson Stadium.
The fact that South Warren, their archrival from Region 1, District 2 will be on the opposite sideline, well, you’ve got a recipe for something big.
Monumental.
Everybody’s ready to batten down the hatches.
“I feel like our defense is playing really well,” Jones said. “But, then again, we haven’t reached our full potential. Not even close.”
The Purples (2-0) went on the road and beat perennial Louisville Class 6A power St. Xavier on opening night, claiming a 14-0 victory over the Tigers and former BGHS head coach Kevin Wallace.
Then Bowling Green went back to Louisville and knocked off Pleasure Ridge Park, 24-6.
South Warren (2-0), meanwhile, hasn’t given up a single point. The Spartans opened the season on the road with a 40-0 victory over outmanned Warren East. After an open date, Coach Brandon Smith’s South Warren squad rolled past Glasgow High School, winning 36-0.
“They’re a good team. Always have been,” BGHS coach Mark Spader said. “They’re going to give us problems.”
The game will feature a matchup of talented quarterbacks, South Warren’s Caden Voltkamp and the Purples’ Conner Cooper.
In two games, Cooper has completed 28 of 44 passes for 374 yards and a touchdown. He has not been intercepted.
South Warren is a little more wide open, offensively. Voltkamp, a 6-foot-5 junior, has thrown for six touchdowns with just one interception. He has completed 30 of 49 passes for 469 yards, with five South Warren receivers having found the end zone.
Brandon Smith, however, is looking for more. The South Warren coach has a proven running back in junior Kobe Martin, but he likes to sling the ball around the field to keep his opponents off balance.
“We’re still not clicking yet, offensively,” Smith said. “We’ve got to be able to move the ball, and generate first downs.
“Our approach for this game isn’t any different than any other, but you don’t have to worry about the kids and their focus.”
South Warren offensive tackle Seth Hall pretty much concurs.
“You treat it like any other game,” Hall said, “but we realize they are a good team.”
Bowling Green swept the Spartans last season on their way to the KHSAA Class 5A semifinals. The Purples traveled to South Warren in early October and claimed a 14-3 victory. In the rematch, in the playoffs, BGHS won 20-13 on its home field to complete the two-game sweep.
“We struggled to move the ball in both games,” Smith said.
Spader wasn’t thrilled with the Purples’ mental approach at Pleasure Ridge Park, and he even had his team hold an intra squad scrimmage last week to maintain some sharpness during the open date.
“We really didn’t have much energy at PRP,” Spader said. “We know we’ll have a lot of folks at the stadium, and we know (South Warren) has a lot of talent on both sides of the ball.
“(After the delay from the COVID-19 pandemic) I’m just pinching myself, every week. I’m excited we’re playing. I’m excited for our kids.”
South Warren defensive tackle Julian Boley knows a handful of the BGHS players personally, but that won’t matter on Friday night.
“On the football field, we aren’t friends any more,” Boley said.
Boley said the Spartans’ defense has to do a better job keeping Cooper in the pocket than they did last year. Javeius Bunton is averaging about 5 yards per carry and leads the Purples with 200 yards rushing and four touchdowns.
“Their quarterback had way too much time to throw the ball,” Boley said. “Our technique (in rushing the passer) was bad … We were all over the place.”
By the same token, last year’s sweep of the Spartans won’t mean much when the Purples take the field on Friday night.
“We really don’t think about that,” BGHS linebacker Rece Jones said. “You can’t dwell on the past.”
