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Been trying to watch some highlights on Hudi,Who is the QB from BG?

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First-year starter Payne quarterbacks Purples to state title game
Cousin of former QB Hayes has thrown for 31 TDs

BRAD STEPHENS [email]bstephens@bgdailynews.com[/email] 1 hr ago 0

Coach Kevin Wallace was talking about his Bowling Green team recently and the factors that allowed the Purples to reach Saturday’s Class 5A state championship game.

He mentioned two position groups where “we thought we would be good but we didn’t have any idea we’d get the production we have received.”

One was the secondary, where senior cornerback Tre Fant has led a ballhawking bunch with his eight interceptions.

The other position he mentioned was quarterback, where first-year starter Clark Payne has thrived.

The junior has piloted a Purples team that’s back in the Class 5A state championship game for the fourth time since 2011. BGHS (13-1) will face Pulaski County (13-1) at 8 p.m. Saturday at Houchens-Smith Stadium.

“It’s what we’ve dreamed of all season, what we’ve put in work for all year, to get to this point,” Payne said. “… When you play for a school like Bowling Green, I think (a state title) is your goal every year.”

Payne has been an important reason the Purples are in position to capture the fifth state title in school history.

He’s completed 176 of his 270 passing attempts this year, good for a 65.2 percent clip. Those throws have gone for 2,361 yards with 31 touchdowns against just six interceptions.

Payne threw for all three touchdowns last week in a 21-0 BGHS state semifinal win against Fern Creek.

“He’s done such a good job maturing and not forcing balls down the field and hitting people that are open and finding his check-down,” Wallace said. “At the same, time he makes big plays when we have to have him throw the ball deep.”

Payne is continuing a family legacy when it comes to quarterbacking the Purples.

His cousin is Devin Hayes, who led Bowling Green to state championships in 2012 and ’13. Hayes threw for 3,304 yards and 43 touchdowns two seasons ago and 2,544 yards and 38 TDs the year before that.

“He’s got everything here, every record you could have,” Payne said of Hayes. “You want to see if you can do what he did and be better than him if you can. It’s what everybody should strive to do.”

Payne was a freshman during Hayes’ senior year and got to watch his cousin up close.

“We had a guy here in ’12 and ’13 that’s as good as I’ve seen… of staying the pocket and understanding reads and going through progressions,” Wallace said. “Clark as a freshman got to sit in that meeting room and hear us talk about that all the time.

“You really never knew how much of that sunk in, but I’m really pleased with how he’s handled the way we’ve asked him to play quarterback.”

According to teammates and coaches, Payne wasn’t always the steady pocket passer he is today.

Senior running back Jacob Yates said he remembers watching Payne play on the JV level and said he’d look to tuck and run when under pressure.

“I can tell he’s more calm now,” Yates said. “He still has his times where he’ll scramble a little bit, but back in his younger days he’d just take off running. Now he knows that he’s got to stay on his reads and dish the ball out.”

Payne said he worked on the mental aspects of the position this offseason as he took over the starting job.

To his advantage was the fact he had several years’ experience playing with many of his offensive teammates, notably junior running back Jamale Carothers and junior wide receiver Deangelo Wilson.

Wilson has caught 15 touchdowns this season, while Carothers has caught six and run for 20.

Yates is a year older than Payne and so they didn’t play on the same field until this season. But they’ve also developed a good connection, with Yates hauling in five TD catches – including a 53-yard strike last week.

“They’re all great athletes and great guys to throw the ball to, hand the ball off,” Payne said. “It makes it better when you’ve grown up with those kids and you see them celebrating and you can all just realize what you’re actually accomplishing here.”

Payne’s play the last two weeks has demonstrated the comfort he has both with his receivers and the offense, Wallace said.

Payne bounced back from an interception he threw in the quarterfinals against Owensboro and found Wilson for two scores.

One of those was a 41-yard catch-and-run. Wallace called for a screen pass to Wilson on that play, but a Red Devils blitz forced Payne to duck the pressure.

Payne bought time with his feet and then found a window through which he shoveled the ball to Wilson, who took it the rest of the way for a touchdown. That score made the Purples’ lead 34-12 on their way to a 41-12 victory.

“Even though it looked like a haphazard play, he was smart enough to get it to the guy that the screen was set up for,” Wallace said. “… It actually was a smarter play than what it looked like just from the eye.”

Last week he threw three TD passes in three very different ways – one on a hook-and-ladder to Carothers, one on a long pass to Yates and another on a check-down that Carothers ran for a long score.

“It’s a great offense and I love being in this offense,” Payne said. “If you’re a defense going against it, you might not know what you’ll get every game.

“Having guys like Jamale running the ball, setting up D to catch the ball, everybody in this system bonds together knowing it’s not on one person’s shoulders. It’s a team effort. Everybody’s got to give a part if we’re going to win a game.”

When football season ends Payne will join coach D.G. Sherrill’s Purples’ basketball team. He also plays for coach Dan Mosier’s baseball team in the spring.

But Payne said football is his first love. Saturday night he’ll quarterback Bowling Green on the state’s biggest stage for a shot at a championship.

“Hopefully we can do what we’ve done all year,” Payne said, “and come out with a win on Saturday.