Bowling Green drops State Championship game

Cassville was able to do something no one else had done to Bowling Green all season long. Beat them.

At the Class 3 State final at the Edward Jones Dome in downtown St. Louis, the Cassville Wildcats (14-1) became back-to-back State Champions with a 24-7 win against the Bowling Green Bobcats.

Big plays and long drives did in the Bobcats (14-1). A chance at a perfect season looked like a real possibility for Bowing Green after scoring first after a 13-play 67-yard drive to open the game. Bowling Green quarterback Ryan Cox hit Zach Pease for an 11-yard score to put the Bobcats up 7-0.

“Our offense was clicking and our defense got a stop — it felt like everything was going our way,” Bowling Green head coach Jimmy Tucker said.

After that, the Wildcats reeled off 24 unanswered points.

Cassville’s first score did more than tie the game up, it took the energy from the Bobcats. Early in the second quarter at its own 15-yard line, Cassville ran a simple sweep with running back Joseph Gouvion. Hitting the edge with speed, Gouvion kicked it into high gear as he scampered down the sideline for an 85-yard score.

“Joseph is, by far, the fastest running back I’ve ever had,” Cassville head coach David Large said.

After the score, the Bobcats hung their heads — a characteristic the team hadn’t shown all season long.

“Them turning around and scoring on us, that’s what killed us,” Cox said. “That’s what killed our momentum.”

Cassville’s second score was just as damaging to the Bowling Green momentum. Cassville punt return-man Trevor Tanner got a little too aggressive and tried to play a punt at his own two-yard line. The Bobcats dropped Tanner and pinned the Wildcats deep.

The Wildcats were going to open the drive with a special play that hadn’t been used all season called, appropriately enough for the holiday season, “Turkey.” The play, a triple-reverse pass had to wait a few plays as the Wildcats tried to dig out of big hole. Once Cassville got some breathing room, Turkey was unleashed. Tanner hit Travis Northern for a 63-yard gain.

“I was a little nervous because we hadn’t run it against an actual defense yet,” Tanner said. “It seemed to work a little bit.”

Tanner would later punch in a one-yard score to conclude a 98-yard drive.

“All year we’ve come back, but they were just a better team and they kept us down,” Cox said.

Bowling Green tried to get back in the game, but never could. Tucker went to his Wildcat offense that had hit so many times this season, but even it couldn’t jump start the Bowling Green offense.

“I’m not sure what they did [to stop it],” Tucker said. “… They were just big physical and they had the best linebackers we had seen all year. They just did a good job making plays.”

The Cassville defense applied pressure on Cox all day long and hit him with frequency. Many of the hits came because no one was open downfield. Even when Cox had time, many of his passes were overthrown, underthrown or dropped. He finished the day 18-of-37 for 158 yards and a score. He also threw two interceptions.

In 14 games leading up to the Dome-showdown, Bowling Green had given up just 120 points, an average of just more than eight a game. Cassville had little trouble with the Bobcats putting up 24 points and 406 yards of total offense.

With the loss, the best season in Bowling Green history comes to a close. Prior to 2009, the Bobcats hadn’t even won a single playoff game. This season alone, Bowling Green won four post-season games.

They wanted five.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Tucker said. “I wanted them to fulfill their dreams, I felt like they deserved to be State Champions.”