Bowling Green School scored the first 20 points, but Simpson Academy tallied the final 35, in a 35-20 loss by the Buccaneers at home Friday.
Bowling Green took a 20-0 lead with 4:55 left in the first half.
Cameron Brock forced and recovered a fumble at Bowling Green’s 25 in the first quarter. After a penalty and a 14-yard run by Larry Dillon, Johntae McDowell ran 66 yards to pay dirt with 3:54 left in the first quarter to give the Bucs a 6-0 lead after the two-point conversion was no good.
Steven Cooper set up the second tally by recovering a fumble at Simpson’s 24. The Bucs were pushed back by a penalty, but Bowling Green added to its lead on the next play when Dillon went left, got into the open field, and picked up two blocks at the end of a run of about 35 yards. The two-point conversion was no good, keeping it 12-0 at with 8:34 left.
Cameron Bell recovered an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff and the Bucs scored once more, as this time McDowell connected with Rashaan Duke for 19 yards. A penalty pushed the extra-point attempt back to the 18, but McDowell threw a short pass to Dillon and he ran the rest of the way for two and a 20-0 lead with 4:35 left.
Simpson scored with 49.8 seconds to go in the first half on Caleb Garner’s 11-yard run. Garner converted the two and it was 20-8 at halftime.
That began a 35-point run by Simpson Academy.
Turnovers on Bowling Green’s first two second-half drives led to a pair of touchdowns. Hooks Harvey threw to Hunter Cline for a 38-yard touchdown. Harvey hit the extra point, making it a five-point game with 10:28 left in the third.
Corbin Hosey scored on a 3-yard run. The two-point conversion was no good, but Simpson had a 21-20 lead with 7:48 left.
They scored once more in the third quarter on a Michael Winstead 58-yard run and Harvey’s point after made it 28-20 at the 4:28 mark.
The final tally came on a 92-yard run by Winstead and Harvey’s extra point for the 35-20 final.
“A lot of my kids showed a lot of courage. We had a lot of adversity we faced this week internally. We had a lot of problems we had to overcome,” Bowling Green coach Boomer Nunez said. “I’m proud of my guys who stepped up. Guys who hadn’t been playing that filled in for some guys and guys who had been playing just stepped up and played for each other.
“I mean, we’re on the losing side of this, but we’ve got to find some positives on this too and I’m going to make sure I tell them that too, because they played hard.”
The Bucs are 6-3 this season and will close out the regular season on Thursday with a road game against Columbia Academy.