[DragonFire]

If these two teams meet again, I think the Purples would be well served to take to the air more. They had decent success doing so, far more than they did running. They got 139 through the air, 59 on the ground, 46 of which came from Hollis. In other words, Scooter Hollis accounted for 93% of Bowling Green's total offense on the game. Nacarius Fant had a huge game, and that kid is going to be a superstar. Only a freshman, had almost 100 yards receiving, a TD, and a 41 yard catch in double coverage. I was very impressed.

Coach Wallace said on his coach's show that they attempted to run so much because they didn't want to fall into the trap they did last year, where they threw the ball incomplete so much, giving Central the ball back and letting them dominate the clock. They obviously weren't able to do that, though they did manage to bleed 8 minutes off the clock in their major third quarter drive for a nearly game-winning TD. They converted several third downs on that drive, and it could have been the backbreaker. Fortunately, WC fought back and BG's offense wasn't able to do enough from that point forward.

On the subject of the decision to go for it on 4th Down, Coach Wallace indicated he had lost track of the down. That may be, but the reality is it still would have been a 46 yard FG. I know May is capable of getting that, but it was no chippy, and not all that different from a 50 yard FG that came nowhere near being good. I think it was very justifiable to go for it, they just didn't get it. That wasn't what killed them, the fumble on their own 37 is what killed them. At that point WC was down 7 with around 7 minutes left in the game, and they made the most of their good starting position. It meant that instead of having to use up clock to go for the tying score, they got the tie quickly, and left time to drive for the win once they got the ball back after the Bowling Green miss.

Warren Central for their part seemed to really stun Bowling Green with how well they ran the ball. I'd talked to a few people who indicated that Coach Grif would never allow Warren Central to go off for 200+ rushing again. Central not only did that, they rushed for 48 more yards than they did last year. They outgained the Purples by 79 yards, and the only thing they did not do right most of the night was finish off the drives in the first half. And that's been a problem for the Dragons in tougher games this year, finishing drives. Against both Christian County and Nelson County, they usually drove well until they hit the 20-30 yard line, and then stalled. The killer Friday was usually penalties, as well as a turnover. They threw an INT on a badly underthrown ball on their first drive, had a chop block to negate a TD on their second, and the worst came on their fourth drive. They started from their own 34, and Demonte Smith broke a run up to around the Bowling Green 25. They got a block in the back call around the BG 40 (legitimate - I saw it), and then one of the coaches got a personal foul arguing it, which was one of the dumbest things I'd ever seen. I swear I wanted to strangle that coach to death, costing the team 15 yards like that. Long and short of it is that it left them with a 1st and 25 on their own 33 instead of being at least around midfield. That helped give Bowling Green the ball back with enough time to score before the end of the half. Central only had one real possession in the third, which was the turnover that led to the BG attempt on 4th down. But when they got into the 4th Quarter, they finally finished drives, scoring on each possession on drives of 73 (TD), 34 (TD), and 64 (FG) yards. All three of Warren Central's running backs averaged better than 5.7 YPC, with Eric Brown topping out at 8.1 YPC and Demonte Smith leading the team with 126 yards on the ground.

Overall, I felt Warren Central outplayed Bowling Green, as they did the previous year. Whether that's coaching or whatever, I don't know. I do know that you would not expect Warren Central to dominate Bowling Green's rushing game with the size of BG's line, but they did. The Dragons were the more physical team, and in the 4th Quarter that catapulted them to victory. The day could have easily been Bowling Green's, so these two teams are fairly even. I just want the Dragons to start getting the respect I think they deserve. Sure, I thought Bowling Green would win, but you'd think that Warren Central wasn't a top 10 team by the surprise of some at the result. It's like earlier in the year when we were talking 5A teams that could make noise and someone listed Greenwood without any thought of Warren Central. The Dragons under Coach Rogers are very, very dangerous. He has done this with the tatter remnants of a program that had fallen very far. Right now the numbers are still not up where he wants them, and I'm excited to see what he may have when he gets them.

The Purples will be fine, but they do have a more difficult path now, having to travel to Christian County (probably) in the second round, before getting the Warren Central/Owensboro/Grayson County survivor in the region. They've got to get Green healthy again, and figure out how to run the ball better against the likes of Warren Central. But as I said at the top, I think their passing game is where it's at. Very impressed by it. The CC/BG game should be a war.