Earlier this week it was announced that Bowling Green would be without leading rusher Vito Tisdale in this week’s game. The junior running back has accounted for 36% of the Purples’ yards on the season and has received numerous top level Division One offers. It didn’t take long to learn that the offense would not miss Tisdale as Bowling Green cruised to a 68-8 win over the Cougars.
Bowling Green won the toss and deferred to the second half so the Cougars were given the chance to start the game with the ball. Grayson County went three and out to start the game and their ensuing punt went only 10-yards to give the Purples excellent field position to start their first drive.
Running an up tempo offense, it only took Bowling Green 4 plays and 37 seconds to move 30 yards down the field after Jamil Smith went in untouched from three yards out.
After their second drive ended with another three and out, the special teams woes continued for the Cougars as a high snap resulted in the punt being blocked by the Purples and they were given the ball on the Grayson 23 yard line.
Senior quarterback Beau Buchanan, who passed for 5 first half touchdowns, found Elvin FoFanah on the first play of the drive for a 23-yard touchdown pass. Later in the quarter, Buchanan found Ivan Drobosky from 3 yards out to cap their third touchdown of the quarter to make it 21-0.
The Cougars got the ball back with 3:20 left in the first quarter and had set up to punt after a fourth straight three and out, but were given a first down after the Purples were called for running into the punter. The penalty seemed to put new life into the offense as the next play had Noah Bullock find Q Daryius McHenry for a 43 yard pass completion down to the Bowling Green 27. McHenry ran the next one seven yards down to the 20 that turned out to be the closest the Cougars would get to the endzone for the rest of the night. On the final play of the quarter, Noah Bullock dropped back to pass on 4th down and 3 and was sacked in the backfield by Bowling Green’s Harris Tomblinson.
The second quarter added much of the same as the Purples scored on touchdown passes of 4, 36, and 25 yards to pace our score to 41-0 at the half. The final play of the first half did see a positive for the Cougars as Bullock hit a streaking McHenry down the left side of the field. McHenry was brought down from behind by a Purple defender just as time in the half was expiring.
With a running clock to start the second half, Bowling Green turned to their backup quarterback, Max Payne, to run the offense. Like a well-oiled machine, the offense did not miss a beat as they drove 69 yards on 4 plays that was capped by a 46-yard touchdown run by Ja’vyon Collins. Payne’s second drive showed him use his legs as he had multiple long rushes and finished with a 13-yard touchdown run to make it 55-0 at the end of the third quarter.
The first drive of the fourth quarter was the most successful for Grayson County as they moved the ball on three plays into Bowling Green territory. The fourth play saw Bullock take a shot down the field one-on-one with McHenry in which the sophomore beat the corner and walked into the endzone to put the Cougars on the board 55-8.
The Cougars’ kickoff was low and taken by Evan Spader and the junior returned it 75-yards for a Bowling Green touchdown to give the Purples a 62-8 lead. After the Cougars went three and out for the sixth time, the Purples got the ball back again with great field position after a low snap forced Logan Kopp to just fall on the ball to stop it from being blocked.
It took Bowling Green only two plays to score their final touchdown giving them a 68-8 lead. The Purples then attempted a fake extra point to try and hit the 70-point mark, but the Cougars weren’t fooled and were able to stop the play from converting.
With the loss, the Cougars fell to 4-3 on the season and 0-2 in district play. They will be off next week before welcoming the Greenwood Gators to Cougar Stadium on October 12th. Our coverage will begin that night with the Locker Room beginning at 6:30.
By Sam Gormley, Play-By-Play Announcer/Local Sports
Reach Sam at sam@k105.com
(Featured Picture is from the Ohio County game)
Scoring Summary
GCHS 0 0 0 8 – 8
BGHS 21 20 14 13– 68
First quarter
BG- Jamil Smith 3 yard run (Major kick), 10:13
BG- Buchanan to FoFanah 23 yard (Major kick), 9:01
BG- Buchanan to Drobosky 3 yard (Major kick), 3:24
Second quarter
BG- Buchanan to Smith 4 yard (Major kick), 10:15
BG- Buchanan to Smith 36 yard (Major kick), 6:46
BG- Buchanan to Brassell 25 yard (Kick missed), 1:15
Third quarter
BG- Collins 46 yard run (Major kick), 8:00
BG- Payne 13 yard run (Major kick), 1:46
Fourth quarter
GC- Bullock to McHenry 44 yard (McHenry run), 9:35
BG- Spader 75 yard kickoff return (Major kick), 7:30
BG- Franklin 8 yard run (Two-Point Conversion Failed)
