Another week, another dominating performance by South Warren.
The Spartans – ranked third in the Class 5A Kentucky Associated Press poll – registered yet another blowout win on Friday night, cruising by Greenwood 55-7 at Greenwood High School to remain undefeated on the season.
“Everybody loves to win. Everybody loves to dominate people and just have fun doing it,” South Warren senior wide receiver Clayton Bush said. “It’s great.”
Now sporting an unscathed 7-0 record, South Warren scored on the very first play of the game and kept attacking from there. The Spartans built a 21-0 lead after the opening quarter and later led 48-7 at halftime, forcing yet another running clock for the second half of the contest.
South Warren senior quarterback Gavin Spurrier and the WKU commit Bush produced their best outings of the year in the White and Black. While Spurrier completed 11-of-13 passes for 350 yards and a six touchdowns – both career highs – Bush finished with five receptions for 222 yards and four TDs.
In addition to that duo’s impressive numbers, Tanner Gallahair, MJ Boley and Chidi Afam each scored TDs to highlight the Spartans’ explosive offense.
“You know, it was awesome,” Spurrier said. “My o-line did a great job protecting me, I got to go through my reads and my receivers ran great routes – I just got ‘em the football. They scored; I think I only threw one into the end zone. After the catch, they made all the plays.”
South Warren received the opening kickoff and immediately went to work.
Fielding Greenwood’s kick at the 25-yard-line, Bush turned to his right and tossed a quick pass to Gallahair – who then sprinted 75 yards untouched down the right sideline to give the Spartans an early 7-0 lead at the 11:46 mark of the first quarter.
“We have a coach that does all of the film and special teams, and he saw that they all just crash the side. He came in and said, ‘Hey, everybody stay after that’s on kickoff returns. We’re gonna change it up this time,’” said Bush of the play. “It put a lot of pressure on us and we got the job done.”
After the Gators (2-5) drove to midfield but had to punt on their first drive, South Warren put together another successful series. Covering 79 yards in just four plays, Spurrier fired a 41-yard TD pass to Bush to put the Spartans up 14-0 with 6:06 remaining in the period.
Following another Greenwood punt, South Warren marched 76 yards in five plays and found the end zone for the third time. After Spurrier found Bush for a 17-yard gain and Cameron Harrison ran twice for nine more yards, the quarterback then unloaded for a 50-yard strike to Boley to move the Spartans’ lead to 21-0 after one.
“Those guys did a really good job,” South Warren coach Brandon Smith said. “Clayton made a lot of guys miss and he looked like a really good player tonight. I thought he looked really fast, honestly. Gavin did a great job – he’s done a great job all year long of taking what they give us – and the receivers did a good job of making plays with the ball in their hands.”
Greenwood finally found an answer early into the second, scoring on a 12-yard pass from John Morrison to Reed Slone. The touchdown capped a six-play, 69-yard drive, helped the Gators gain some momentum and cut their deficit to 21-7 at the 11:21 mark.
That momentum was soon taken away, as South Warren went onto score four straight times – all on Spurrier TD passes – to close the half.
Just 12 seconds after the Gators’ score, the Spartans quickly answered with an 80-yard Spurrier-to-Bush blast. The duo connected twice more in the final minutes of the quarter – along with Spurrier’s 30-yard pass to Afam – to send South Warren into the locker room at halftime up 48-7.
“It was a great one,” Bush said of the win. “I had a sour taste in my mouth. Two years ago, as a sophomore, I got to film the whole game – I didn’t get to play – and we got beat by a point. I had something to prove this game.”
As the lopsided lead triggered the KHSAA state-mandated running clock for the entirety of the second half, South Warren was able to cruise throughout the final 24 minutes and remain undefeated.
South Warren will look to move to 8-0 on the year when it hosts Ravenwood (Tenn.) on Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. Greenwood has next week off before traveling to Grayson County for a 7 p.m. kickoff on Oct. 12.
“I think we’re hitting our strides, practicing hard and feel like we’re one of the best teams out there,” Spurrier said. “We’re going into every week focused and practicing as hard as heck – 100 percent – and ready to play some ball.”
SWHS – 21 27 7 0
GHS – 0 7 0 0
First quarter
SWHS – Gallahair 75-yard kickoff return (Dervisevic kick), 11:46
SWHS – Spurrier 41-yard pass to Bush (Dervisevic kick), 6:06
SWHS – Spurrier 50-yard pass to Boley (Dervisevic kick), 1:15
Second quarter
GHS – Morrison 12-yard pass to Slone (Patterson kick), 11:21
SWHS – Spurrier 80-yard pass to Bush (PAT blocked), 11:09
SWHS – Spurrier 30-yard pass to Afam (Dervisevic kick), 6:57
SWHS – Spurrier 77-yard pass to Bush (Dervisevic kick), 3:21
SWHS – Spurrier 6-yard pass to Bush (Dervisevic kick), :21.0
Third quarter
SWHS – Veltkamp 23-yard pass to Whalen (Dervisevic kick), 3:08
