14 in 14: Purples strike for two quick TDs to pull away from Maroons

Published 11:30 pm Friday, November 8, 2024

by Jeff Nations

By JEFF NATIONS / jeff.nations@bgdailynews.com

It wasn’t looking too bad for Madisonville-North Hopkins on Friday night.

The Maroons were hanging tough with host Bowling Green in a Class 5A state football playoff first-round matchup, trailing by just a touchdown late in the second quarter.

Then the Purples scored 14 points — in 14 seconds — to take control en route to a 35-7 win.

Bowling Green (9-2) had managed just one productive drive in its first four possessions on offense — an eight-play, 42-yard drive finished off with a 6-yard touchdown run by Nick Graham in the first quarter — before the Purples doubled that lead late in the second.

Senior quarterback Deuce Bailey fired up the BG offense with a pinpoint deep throw to Christopher Sweeney for a 56-yard completion, then connected with Trevy Barber on a 15-yard strike before Graham again got in the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown run with 2:29 left in the first half.

It was one of several deadly accurate deep balls thrown by Bailey, a Missouri State commit who was 19-of-24 passing for 280 yards and three touchdowns.

“Over this offseason, me and my QB coach just went to work on the deep ball,” Bailey said.

Now up 14-0, the Purples poked at a vulnerability on special teams they saw on the Maroons’ game film, as BG senior kicker Braden Widener landed a directional kick in what was essentially no-man’s land. As the MNH kick-coverage unit milled about in the general vicinity of the ball, Bowling Green’s AJ Woodard swooped in to cover it for a freakishly long onside kick at the MNH 25-yard line.

“(Widener’s) a soccer player and he’s really good at placing the ball,” Bowling Green coach Mark Spader said. “We knew they were kind of over-shifting and we saw a hole over there. We’ve kind of practiced it and our special teams coach — coach Clay Stephens — made the call, said ‘Hey, we’ve got it here. I think we can get us one.’ And that was big. Thank goodness we did get that one.”

On the next play, Bailey scrambled out of the pocket and sent a dart to Barber for a 25-yard touchdown pass to put his team up 21-0 with 2:15 left in the half.

“I had a slant route,” Barber said. “Play broke down, I went to the back of the end zone, rolled out with Deuce as he was scrambling. We were on the same page. He found me in the back of the end zone.”

The Purples threatened one more time in the first half after forcing another punt, but the Maroons’ Markeez Hightower came up with an interception near the goal line on the final play of the second quarter.

Bowling Green got a short field to start the second half after covering a squib kick at its own 43, and a brisk five-play scoring drive followed with Bailey hooking up with Jaxen Smith on a 37-yard touchdown pass to push the lead to four touchdowns early in the third.

The Maroons, featuring a pair of 1,000-yard rushers in Hightower at running back and quarterback Kanyon Johnson, finally broke through for a score on their ensuing drive. It took a fake punt to keep that march going as Johnson, also the team’s punter, found Ryder Sandidge for a 9-yard completion for first down. The grinding 15-play, 80-drive was finished off with a Hightower 3-yard touchdown run with 3:39 left in the third.

MNH then forced a three-and-out possession by BG and proceeded to go on another plodding march down the field. Starting at their own 10 — and needing another successful fake punt turned pass completion to keep the drive alive — the Maroons worked all the way down to the Bowling Green 12 before two negative plays lost 15 yards, then the Purples’ Brandon Gurley came up with a drive-killing interception at the 19.

“The game kind of shaped up exactly how I thought it would,” Spader said. “They’re a tough team, they’re excellent running the ball. They’re well-coached up front with their offensive line. I’m disappointed with a couple of our defensive series’ there in the second half. I think it was a 19-play drive there and we get the pick.”

The Purples went back the other way, but quicker — an eight-play drive ended with another 25-yard touchdown pass from Bailey to Barber to set the final score with 1:39 left.

“I loved how our offense just took the ball and ran it down the field before the last touchdown pass,” Spader said. “Overall, we survive and advance. But we didn’t have a great week of practice and I hope we learn from that and are polished up and ready to go because we’re going on the road to a much-improved Owensboro team.”

Barber finished with six catches for 94 yards and two touchdowns, Sweeney had eight receptions for 115 yards and Jaxen Smith tallied three catches for 54 yards and a score — Smith also led the Purples in rushing with 78 yards on 14 carries, while Graham added his two TD runs.

Bowling Green will travel to Owensboro (8-3) for this coming Friday’s second-round playoff matchup. The Red Devils beat Ohio County 58-0 in their first-round playoff game. The Purples beat visiting Owensboro 35-14 on Aug. 30.

MNHHS 0 0 7 0 — 7

BGHS 7 14 7 7 — 35

First quarter

BGHS — Nick Graham 6 run (Braden Widener kick), 4:21

Second quarter

BGHS — Graham 1 run (Widener kick), 2:29

BGHS — Trevy Barber 25 pass from Deuce Bailey (Widener kick), 2:15

Third quarter

BGHS — Jaxen Smith 37 pass from Bailey (Widener kick), 9:49

MNHHS — Markezz Hightower 3 run (Noah Mays kick), 3:39

Fourth quarter

BGHS — Barber 25 pass from Bailey (Widener kick), 1:39

About Jeff Nations

Sports Editor, Bowling Green Daily News

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