For Bowling Green senior Grayson Newman it’s one last ride.

A three-year starter on defense, Newman will start in a Class 5A state title game for the third time when the Purples face Cooper at 7 p.m. CST on Saturday at Kroger Field in Lexington.

After a career full of highs and lows, Newman will go out with a chance to help Bowling Green repeat as 5A champions. Newman has no plans to play at the next level, instead focusing on academics. So Saturday will not only be his final game at Bowling Green, but his final football game period.

“It’s definitely starting to come to realization that it is the last go around, last game, last few practices that I will ever experience,” Newman said. “It’s definitely sad, but all good things have to come to an end at some point.”

BG coach Mark Spader said Newman has had a major impact on the program – adding his leadership and intangibles are a big part of his success.

“His teammates believe in him,” Spader said. “He’s just got something about him that guys follow him. Even if he is not having his best game he does a great job of leading our team. And then when you put in some of those games – he had a big pick at Owensboro, blocked punt here or a forced fumble there – he just makes plays. He’s been in so many games, it’s not that you take him for granted, it is that you know what you are going to get from him.”

When Newman arrived as a freshman, he was determined to find his role. By the end of that first season, in which he appeared in six games, he was motivated to do more.

“I knew I wasn’t going to start or get much playing time as a freshman,” Newman said. “I got very little and took that to heart. I said, ‘I gotta work harder. I want to be a three-year starter at Bowling Green High.’ That’s something special. Not many people get to say that. I worked my tail off since then and it has been a blessing.”

The hard work paid off immediately his sophomore season, with Newman recording nine tackles in the season opener against North Hardin. Newman would go on to record 126 tackles his sophomore season with a pair of interceptions.

Newman said it took a little time, but his confidence continued to grow as he settled into a starting role in the secondary at safety.

“It was definitely scary at first,” Newman said. “I was going out there with some big people, big dogs in front of me. Being the little dog was a little scary at times, but it allowed me to jump in the water. I felt the coaches had trust in me, so I felt like I could just go out there and play and started relaxing.”

Newman’s play his sophomore season drew the attention of his teammates with Newman and fellow junior Deuce Bailey voted team captains prior to his junior year. It was an honor that Newman did not take lightly.

“It was a blessing,” Newman said. “I feel honored that my guys can trust me that much to make me and Deuce a captain at the junior level. They want to say seniors are captains, but heck we did it last year and look what we did with it. It felt great. It was an honor.”

Newman led the Bowling Green defense with 101 tackles last season. He added three interceptions and three fumble recoveries, returning two fumbles for touchdowns.

This season he took on more responsibilities going back and forth between safety and edge rusher.

“It is definitely an honor to feel like the coaches trust me that much to give me basically two different roles on defense,” Newman said. “It took a lot this year. I was playing strong safety the last two years. We talked and they were like, ‘You have to come down and play some.’ It was hard for me to process it at first and realize what I was going to have to do, but once I started doing it started coming easy. Now it feels natural.”

Newman enters Saturday’s game with 69 tackles, including 2.5 and five forced turnovers – three interceptions and two fumble recoveries – part of a defense that is once again playing its best at the end of the season.

The biggest challenge yet will come against a Cooper team that has put up 644 points this season. Newman said the defense is excited for the challenge.

Newman admits the game will be a little bittersweet as well, adding it will be hard to hang up the pads but hopefully he can do it as a champion.

“Win or lose it is going to be very rough to leave my guys and leave such a special program that my heart is deeply into,” Newman said. “It’s going to be very hard, but like I said all good things have got to come to an end. I’ve just been blessed and pleased with the career I have had.”