Class 5A championship: Suffocating defense leads Bowling Green to 7th state title
Bowling Green shut down one of the state’s most prolific offenses with a dominating defensive performance that delivered the Purples the program’s seventh state championship Saturday at Kroger Field.
“We’ve had some special teams in the history of our program. I think they’ll earmark themselves as one of the most special because of everything we’ve had to go through to get to this game,” Bowling Green Coach Mark Spader said, alluding to both this year’s COVID-19 plagued season and a tough schedule that included losses to Trinity and rival South Warren along the way.
Saturday’s effort, highlighted by a pair of interceptions and the limiting of Owensboro to just 20 rushing yards, resulted in a 17-7 victory in the 2020 Class 5A UK Orthopaedic Surgery & Sports Medicine State Football Finals.
“We knew they were fast and they didn’t play many games that were very physical this year, so we just had to be really physical with them and get to it,” said junior linebacker Tyler Moore, who led Bowling Green with 12.5 tackles and was named the game’s most valuable player.
An Eli Burwash interception of heralded Owensboro junior quarterback Gavin Wimsatt a little under midway into the second quarter set up a decisive sequence. Though Bowling Green had to kick it away, Burwash, also the team’s punter, buried the Red Devils at their own 3-yard line. Owensboro couldn’t get more than a yard and had to kick it back. The Red Devils’ punt traveled 19 yards.
Three plays later, Bowling Green quarterback Conner Cooper kept his head after fumbling the shotgun snap, picked it up and scrambled around and through Owensboro’s defense for a 17-yard score that helped put the Purples up 10-0 with 1:46 left until halftime.
“That’s kind of how we’ve been playing,” Spader said of his team’s opportunistic play. “Even if we don’t initially capitalize on a turnover, with our special teams and our defense we can flip the field. Our offense eventually feeds off that.”
After an exchange of punts to start the second half, Bowling Green’s secondary, which got five picks last week against Covington Catholic, struck again with an interception by Augustin Nyembo, who brought the ball to the Owensboro 28-yard line to the roar of the Bowling Green’s side of the stadium.
“Our kids just bought into what we needed to do,” Spader said. “When you’ve got a really good D-line that can get things done with just a three- and four-man rush, a lot of times it allows you to mix up coverages. I think that gave us some advantages and some big down and distances throughout the game.”
Three runs by Javy Bunton and a 6-yard dive to the 1 by Cooper set up Kentucky signee Jordan Dingle for the plunge in to make the score 17-0 with 4:53 left in the third quarter.
With how Bowling Green’s defense had played to that point, it was hard to imagine Owensboro climbing back into the game, even with Wimsatt, one of the nation’s top-rated junior dual-threat quarterbacks. Wimsatt finished with 279 yards passing and a touchdown, but much of that came in the team’s scramble to get back into the game in the fourth quarter.
“They had an outstanding plan and they did an outstanding job executing it from start to finish, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. Nobody’s defended us like that all year,” Owensboro Coach Jay Fallin said. “I’m very proud of how our kids battled to the end.”
Wimsatt led Owensboro deep into Bowling Green territory twice in the fourth quarter, but the first trip ended on downs at the 10. Wimsatt hit Kindrick Williams on a 4-yard TD pass with 3:15 to play. The seven points scored was 40 below the Red Devils’ average.
Six of Bowling Green’s seven state titles have come since 2011. This is its first since 2016.
“I remember going to all these championship games when I was in grade school and junior high,” senior linebacker Rece Jones said. “I remember those guys and those teams were great teams. Now, this team’s able to be a part of that, and it’s awesome.”
