LOUISVILLE – Mark Spader had no idea who would trot out for the field goal.

Would it be Eli Burwash, the sophomore who handled kicking duties in Week 2. Or would it be Dalton Major, the starting place-kicker – also on the soccer team – who took last week off to recover from sore muscles.

Either way, Spader knew the cards fell perfectly for Bowling Green to seize the moment in overtime.

It turned out to be a major victory.

“It was like a normal PAT,” Major said. “(I knew) that it was golden.”

Everything was perfect. The snap, the hold, the kick – even the Purples’ record now.

Bowling Green roared back from a two-score deficit to force overtime and Major’s 27-yard field goal gave the Purples a 24-21 victory over Kevin Wallace’s St. Xavier Tigers on Friday night at Brother Thomas More Page Stadium.

Bowling Green (3-0) trailed 14-0 at halftime. Junior running back DeVito Tisdale scored three touchdowns in the second half to force overtime in the first meeting between Wallace and the program he coached for over two decades.

St. Xavier kicker Jeffrey Sexton missed a field goal in the first series of overtime, then Major drilled his field goal for the Purples’ win.

“I trusted our kickers,” Spader said. “I just felt like we were going to hit it and I have all the confidence in the world in them. Coach (Tyreon) Clark does a great job with special teams and (Major) nailed it.”

The result lived up to the hype in a tale of two halves and one swing of Major’s right leg. With the former Bowling Green coach standing on the opposite sideline, the Purples showed the program is still rolling, even if it took overtime to prove it.

Bowling Green was simply dull in the first half while St. Xavier (0-2) jumped out to a 14-0 lead. Tisdale scored two third quarter touchdowns and St. X responded to take the lead back by a score. In the fourth quarter, Tisdale scored his third TD with 11:17 to go before teams traded punts to end regulation.

The Purples made a defensive stand to start overtime. Sexton missed a 20-yard field goal wide left and the Bowling Green sideline erupted.

“I felt better,” Major said about his reaction to Sexton’s miss. “I felt better about myself, about my kick. I just knew it would go in.”

Four plays later, Major drilled the field goal to give Bowling Green its sixth win in the last eight meetings against the Tigers, who drop to 0-2 under Wallace. The coach who won 254 games and five state championships in 22 seasons at Bowling Green will have to wait another week to earn career win No. 300.

“I don’t know if it gets into the emotions of coach Wallace being over there or not,” Spader said. “It’s a tough opponent in St. X. Our team comes from behind. It’s a tough team to come back. A formidable opponent that handled us in the first half, that’s what I will remember. Not that it was coach Wallace or not. It’s St. X, it’s our team down 14-0 on the road and we proved we can pull up our boot straps and go to work. Even when I thought they got momentum in the second half, we fought right back and gave ourselves a chance.”

Nothing went right offensively for Bowling Green in the first half.

Beau Buchanan’s rough night started with an interception on the opening drive. Two punts and two stalled drives at the St. X 28 and 12 summed up an inefficient half.

Buchanan was 4-of-19 passing in the first 24 minutes with the single highlight coming on a 45-yard completion in the left seam to Harrison Riggs to convert a third-and-long.

Bowling Green appeared to shift momentum when Miles Smith intercepted a halfback pass and returned it 71 yards for a score, but a holding penalty negated the score and brought the Purples back to their own 35. That drive ended with Jordan Dingle standing wide open in the end zone, but he dropped the pass to turn it over on downs.

The Purples finally got moving before halftime with a drive to the St. X 12. Buchanan threw four straight incompletions to turn it over on downs with 13 seconds left.

Meanwhile, Keegan Sullivan orchestrated St. X to a pair of solid scoring drives. Running back Anthony Moretti scored on an 8-yard run in the first quarter.

Sullivan went 6-for-6 on a second-quarter drive ending with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Zack Johnston to go up 14-0 with 2:19 left in the first half.

“We came out slow,” Tisdale said. “We weren’t ready. I guess we got caught up in the hype of the game, but we came out and calmed down and finished the game.”

Bowling Green caught a break to set up its first score when St. X was penalized for pass interference on a Buchanan fourth-down pass attempt. Two plays later, Tisdale scored from three yards out for the Purples’ first score.

Bowling Green tied it on its next drive when Tisdale took a swing pass right, found a seam and raced 50 yards untouched to the end zone with 3:21 left in the third quarter.

The tie was short-lived as Sullivan hit Andre Coleman for a 57-yard TD pass on the next drive to give St. X a 21-14 lead going into the fourth quarter.

But Bowling Green was already going to work before the quarter ended, using three quick Buchanan completions to Scotty Brown and Harrison Riggs to set up inside the red zone to start the last 12 minutes.

The Purples went with a wildcat formation for two plays and Tisdale scored on an 11-yard run with 11:17 to play. Tisdale finished with 26 carries and just over 140 yards.

“We gave up some big plays,” Wallace said.

The former Purples coach said once the game kicked off, emotions weren’t a factor in playing his former team.

“Once it starts, it’s a football game,” Wallace said. “I love our kids and I hurt for them now and I wish I could have the words to go in and make it feel better for them. It’s going to take an awful lot of character and a lot of maturity to want to come back and believe in each other and that we need to get better.”

Bowling Green travels to Owensboro next week.

“I think our kids came out and played with some emotion and played physical in the second half and decided we want to try to get back in this,” Spader said. “That’s why we play teams like St. X. We’re trying to get ready for district and trying to get ready for playoffs and we know the level of play and it’s tough to beat them.”

Bowling Green 0 0 14 7 3 – 24

St. Xavier 7 7 0 7 0 – 21

First quarter

STX – Moretti 8 run (Jeffrey Sexton kick), 0:20

Second quarter

STX – Johnston 10 pass from Sullivan (Sexton kick), 2:19

Third quarter

BG – Tisdale 3 run (Dalton Major kick), 6:38

BG – Tisdale 50 run (Major kick), 3:21

STX – Coleman 51 pass from Sullivan (Sexton kick), 1:01

Fourth quarter

BG – Tisdale 11 run (Major kick), 11:17

Overtime

BG – Major 27 kick{&end}