Bowling Green wasn’t home Monday night, but they should sure made themselves comfortable.
In the second round of the State playoffs, Trinity Catholic High School in St. Louis hosted the Bowling Green Bobcats. The Bobcats attacked the Titans through the air and on the ground. Trinity couldn’t stop either. Bowling Green entered the game without a blemish in the loss column, and the Bobcats left the game the same way, winning 41-0.
“It was awesome,” Bowling Green head coach Jimmy Tucker said. “It was total team performance — both offensively and defensively it was total domination.
With the win, Bowling Green (12-0) lives to play another game. The Bobcats will take on Fulton at home in the third round as it continues its march to the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis for the State Championship.
After two possessions for each team Monday night, Bowling Green had more touchdowns than Trinity had first downs. The Bobcats moved with ease on the Titans’ defense. Running for big gains and passing with equal success, Bowling Green found itself up 7-0 three-and-a-half minutes into the contest on a short run by Roger Walkley.
“Running and passing — we’ve been that way all year,” Tucker said. “We’re a very balanced team.”
The Bobcats’ defense forced a three-and-out and it was time for Bowling Green to strike again. Nursing the clock a little more, Bowling Green methodically went down the field before quarterback Ryan Cox hit Zach Pease with a 14-yard touchdown pass.
The Bowling Green defense again forced a three-and-out and again Cox lead the Bobcats on a scoring drive. From 24-yards out, Cox hit Huntley Leverenz who plowed into the end zone for the score early in the second quarter.
Late in the first half, it was Cox’s turn to score. On the Titan’s 10-yard line, Cox rolled to his left and took off for the end zone. Nursing an elbow injury, Cox could’ve slid or stepped out of bounds. Instead the senior signal caller lowered his shoulders and bulldozed his way for the score to put BG up 28-0 at the break.
Cox finished the game with one rushing score, two passing touchdowns and just one interception to blemish his line.
“With Cox getting hurt last week, it was good to see him bounce back,” Tucker said.
With Bowling Green controlling the play on both sides of the ball in the first half, Trinity faced an uphill battle after the midway break. Bowling Green kept applying the pressure an added seven points in the third on a 24-yard run by Jeff Pease. In the fourth, the Bobcats got six more after a 52-yard scamper by Pease.
On defense, Bowling Green stayed strong. Shutting down Trinity’s Marquise Hill, a recruit by Div. I University of Minnesota, Bowling Green forced the Titans to pass and were able to keep them off the score board for 48 minutes.
“We wanted to stop the running game and put them in throwing situations, and we did a great job of that,” Tucker said. “We just took it to them. We covered, we sacked the quarterback and we made Hill look like he didn’t want to run any more.”
Bowling Green has five days off before returning home to take on Mexico on Saturday. After never having won a playoff game in school history, Bowling Green finds itself in uncharted territory.
“We’ve never even won a playoff game, and here we are in the quarterfinals,” Tucker said. “It’s just awesome.”
Florissant, MO —
