The tables have turned for the top two Class 5A teams in the area. Last week’s theme was about Bowling Green and how it would measure up to a team of similar likeness in South Warren.

The Purples answered that with a dominant 43-7 victory Friday, the Spartans’ worst defeat since 2012. Now it’s South Warren (7-2) that has to figure out how to prove it is still a team to be taken seriously for a deep 5A playoff run.

So far, the only thing hurting the Spartans is themselves.

Five turnovers told the story of South Warren’s first running-clock loss since losing to Monroe County 41-0 in 2012.

“We’re not helping ourselves out,” Spartans coach Brandon Smith said. “For us to have a shot, we can’t beat ourselves. We’re doing a lot of things to beat ourselves right now.”

South Warren’s second loss was also the first time it dropped back-to-back games since the 2011 season finale and the 2012 opener. It marked the first back-to-back losses in the same season since the school’s first varsity schedule when it started out 0-5.

Since then, South Warren has had an undefeated 4A state championship season in 2015 and moved up to 5A this year.

Turnovers are what doomed South Warren in its first loss at 6A Ravenwood (Tenn.) on Oct. 6. The Spartans had a chance in a 17-17 tie in the fourth quarter before a fumble and a 6-yard punt resulted in a 14-point loss.

From the Spartans’ five turnovers Friday, Bowling Green scored four touchdowns and missed a field goal on its other opportunity.

South Warren also had eight penalties. The head coach puts all the blame on himself.

“Just my evaluation, we’re a really poorly coached defensive team right now,” Smith said. “That’s me. I do it. There were some backyard type plays that we should be able to recognize, and we did a poor job recognizing that. That comes back on me ultimately. I thought our second and third level guys were unprepared and that’s something that I’ve got to fix.”

The biggest “backyard” play came on the Purples’ second play from scrimmage. Quarterback Beau Buchanan eluded pressure and rolled to his right and hit Nash Hightower streaking down the sideline for a 29-yard touchdown. When Buchanan started rolling, Hightower had finished his route, then improvised and pointed to the end zone, beating cornerback Tryce Jackson there for the touchdown.

Penalty-wise, South Warren trailed by four touchdowns when it had a chance to cut the lead in half late in the third quarter. Facing fourth-and-1 just outside the red zone, Gavin Spurrier zipped a pass to Caleb Lloyd down to the 2-yard line, but a holding penalty negated the play. Spurrier threw an interception in the end zone to the Purples’ Vito Tisdale on the next play.

By the fourth quarter, South Warren had worn down. Bowling Green’s two-platoon system started paying dividends with fresh players on the field. South Warren tries the same approach, but still has a few players on both sides of the ball.

“We try not to play everybody both ways every snap,” Smith said. “I thought we did a poor job of that, too. That’s another thing that falls on me. I felt we got away from that too early. That played into it, but the emotion, intensity and hype of the game, guys don’t know how to control that and they burn out quickly. I thought that plagued us as well.”

South Warren wraps up the regular season at Owensboro Catholic (6-3) on Friday.

PLAYOFF PICTURE

Bowling Green’s Class 5A, District 2 championship will pit it against the No. 4 seed out of District 1 in the first round of the playoffs Nov. 3. The Purples (7-2) will host Owensboro (3-6), a matchup that has traditionally been the second or third-round playoff game.

South Warren will host Graves County (5-4) and, if it advances to the second round, would likely travel to Christian County (9-0). A rematch between the Purples and Spartans in the region final at El Donaldson Stadium is certainly a possibility.

Christian County will host Barren County (1-8), which earned its first win of the year over Grayson County on Friday to earn a playoff spot. Greenwood (3-6) will play at Apollo (7-2).

In Class 4A, District 1, top-seeded Logan County (9-0) will host winless Warren Central (0-9). Franklin-Simpson (6-3), the No. 1 team out of District 2, will host Hopkins County Central (2-7), Warren East (5-4) will host Hopkinsville (3-6) and Allen County-Scottsville (6-3) will travel to Madisonville-North Hopkins (5-4).

In 3A, Edmonson County (5-4) will play at Paducah Tilghman (4-5). Glasgow (7-2) will host Holy Cross (Covington) (0-10) in the first round of the 2A playoffs. Russellville (6-3) will host Fort Knox (2-7) in the first round of the Class A playoffs.

WEEK 10 TOP PERFORMERS

• Greenwood QB Jackson Adams – 22 rushes, 301 yards, 4 TDs; 51 passing yards, TD, INT; 14 tackles (8 solo, 6 assists), 2 pass deflections
• Bowling Green QB Beau Buchanan – 16-21 passing, 336 yards, 5 TDs
• Bowling Green WR Nash Hightower – 7 receptions, 133 yards, 2 TDs
• Bowling Green LB Devan Jackson – 9 tackles, 3 assists, 2 sacks
• Warren East LB Isaiah Boards – 13 tackles
• Franklin-Simpson RB/LB Tre Bass – 134 rushing yards, TD; 35-yard INT return for TD

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