By Jim Mashek – the Sporting Times
South Warren defensive lineman Julian Boley turned in a splendid effort in the Spartans’ 36-0 victory over Glasgow High School on Friday night. But Boley and the rest of the South Warren squad were already looking ahead.
Looking ahead to next Friday’s showdown with crosstown rival Bowling Green High School, the only team to defeat Coach Brandon Smith’s Spartans during the 2019 season, sweeping a two-game series on its way to the KHSAA Class 5A semifinals.
South Warren wasn’t chopped liver, either, finishing 10-2 on the season. And the Spartans and Bowling Green will both take 2-0 records into Friday night’s game at BGHS.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Boley said. “We want some revenge, obviously. We’re going to have to work for it.”
The Spartans quickly took control against Glasgow, which dropped to 2-1 with the defeat. South Warren quarterback Caden Veltkamp opened the scoring on an 11-yard touchdown run on a third-down draw play early in the first quarter.
A nifty one-handed interception by the Spartans’ Luke Burton led to the game’s second touchdown. Kobe Martin scored on a 3-yard run before the Spartans added a two-point conversion, and Martin was just getting started.
Martin scored on a 65-yard touchdown run with 5:40 left in the first half, and the South Warren junior gave all the credit to his offensive line when it was over.
“It all comes down to the line,” Martin said. “They knocked guys on their butts and there’s a wide-open hole. I just had to take it up the middle.”
Brandon Smith was pleased with Martin’s all-around performance.
“I thought Kobe did a better job of keeping his feet moving on contact,” Smith said.
Caden Voltkamp had another solid game as the Spartans’ quarterback. The 6-foot-5 junior passed sparingly but effectively, and he was able to move the pocket against the Scotties’ pass rush.
Voltkamp got the ball to senior tight end Nathan Neal late in the third quarter for a 64-yard touchdown reception, and the Spartans’ Jimmy Sales closed the scoring with a 27-yard touchdown run with 1:17 left in the third quarter.
“The win’s nice,” Voltkamp said, “but overall, we really needed to play better. We had a lot of miscues.”
Brandon Smith will stress offensive execution heading into Friday night’s game against the Purples.
“We’re still not clicking, offensively,” Smith said. “We had a lot of drops tonight. It’s really hard to simulate that in practice. It’s just been a different sort of year.”
Smith said the Spartans are relatively healthy for the showdown at BGHS.
“I think we’re where we need to be,” he said.
Glasgow (2-1) will play host to Adair County on Friday night.
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