Bowling Green suffered a 42-14 loss to Simpson Academy in a road game Friday night.
The Buccaneers trailed 35-0 at halftime.
The touchdowns came on long runs by Larry Dillon and Cameron Brock. Dillon scored on a 68-yard run in the third quarter. Brock tallied on a 61-yarder during the fourth.
Joe Skladany hit both extra points.
Brock ran for 78 yards on five carries while Dillon posted 84 yards on nine attempts. C.J. Smith posted 17 yards on the ground on seven rushes.
Quarterback Jace Schexnider was injured in the first quarter, but returned in the second half.
Charles Panksley threw for 31 yards on 1-for-2 passing.
Bowling Green returns to action tomorrow night to host Columbia Academy on Senior Night to cap off the regular season in District 4AAA play. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.
Bowling Green enters with an 0-9 overall record and 0-1 record in district.
Buccaneers coach David Currier said that Columbia is a good team, and that the Bucs are battling a lack of depth, but the young players are getting better.
“Those young guys are coming around, but it’ll take a little longer. We’re not quite as physical offensively and defensively as we need to be right now, but we’re slowly improving,” Currier said.
Columbia enters this season with a 4-5 overall record and 1-0 in district play. Currier said that Columbia has played a tough schedule.
“I look at them and I find it hard to believe their record. They’re very explosive offensively,” Currier said. “They’ve got decent size and they’ve got guys that can run. We’ll have to play well defensively and we’ll have to tackle well. That’s one thing we had trouble doing earlier this year was tackling guys in space. Offensively, we’ll have to hold onto the ball, protect the football and keep their offense off the field.”
Columbia has not turned the ball over since Sept. 22, and has gone three complete games without a turnover.
This is a big week for Columbia. A win tomorrow and the team will capture the district title, which means a top five seed in the Class AAA playoffs.
Columbia won its district opener over Wayne Academy, 60-14, last week.
The quarterback is sophomore Ras Pace, who coach Randy Butler said has had a tremendous year in his first year at starting. Butler said Pace has gotten better each week.
This season, he has thrown for 1,807 yards on 124-of-208 with 24 touchdowns and six interceptions.
The team has three running backs in Drew Harvard, Jake Brewer and Riles Stuart.
Brewer, who also plays defensive end, hasn’t played in two weeks because of injury, but Butler is hoping he will return this week.
Stuart started last year at wide receiver last year and still plays at that position, but also sees time at running back when Harvard needs a rest.
Harvard is the team leader in rushing yards at 722. He has 126 carries and has scored five touchdowns. Harvard has also caught 13 passes for 119 yards and a touchdown.
Brewer is at 226 yards on 35 attempts with a touchdown.
Stuart enters with 413 yards on 49 carries and six scores. He also has 15 catches for 224 yards and two touchdowns.
Wide receiver Aaron Thomas had six catches for 199 yards and a touchdown last Friday. He also starts at free safety. This season he is extremely close to 1,000 yards. He has 61 catches for 974 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Tight end Owen Harper caught 40 passes last year. Butler said he doesn’t have many this year, but the team is running the ball more effectively. Butler said Harper’s blocking has improved since last year and added that Harper can be dominant with his blocking.
Harper begins the week with 16 catches for 243 yards and five scores.
The top defenders are strongside linebacker Hayden Fornea, end Hill Johnson, free safety Thomas, strong safety Harvard and corner backs Harrison Hartzog and Brent Mitchell.
Butler said Johnson has really emerged the last two weeks. He recovered a fumble last week and intercepted a pass two weeks ago. Mitchell had a pick-six last week.
Fornea is second on the team with 57 tackles.
Johnson has 48 stops. Harvard is at 26 tackles. Hartzog enters at 18. Mitchell has 17. Thomas and Stuart begin with 10 tackles each.
Patrick Gill is the team’s leading tackler with 61.