North Callaway was even with its state-ranked conference foe on Friday night at home.
Then Class 2 No. 2 Bowling Green (according to state poll this week) was Bowling Green as the Bobcats scored …
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North Callaway was even with its state-ranked conference foe on Friday night at home.
Then Class 2 No. 2 Bowling Green (according to state poll this week) was Bowling Green as the Bobcats scored three touchdowns in the remaining 1:51 of the first half to break free from a tie at 8 and to eventually hand North Callaway a 50-8 loss at home. Bowling Green ran for 427 yards with four touchdowns.
Head coach Kevin O’Neal said, when Bowling Green hit, it hit hard as its shortest touchdown run was 41 yards in the first quarter. In North Callaway’s three previous losses to the Bobcats, the Thunderbirds were outscored 190-26 so the points can come quickly when facing Bowling Green.
“You have to be fundamentally sound,” O’Neal said. “One guy doesn’t fit where he’s supposed to fit and then they do a good job of taking advantage of that. Once their backs get into space, they’re pretty fast.”
O’Neal said Bowling Green is “big and physical” up front, and North Callaway was worn down in the second half as a result.
On North Callaway’s lone scoring drive, O’Neal said the Thunderbirds had a good mix of run and pass and capped it with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Coltyn O’Neal to Tristan Petty. North Callaway had 57 passing yards and a season-low 82 rushing yards. In the previous three weeks, Jaiden Galbreath surpassed 150 rushing yards alone but had just over 40 yards this time.
“In the second quarter, we put a long drive together but just couldn’t finish it,” O’Neal said. “We turned the ball over on a fumble (on another drive).”
North Callaway reawakens a matchup at Palmyra (3-1) after its most recent meeting was a loss in districts in 2015. O’Neal said Palmyra is another good football program and can take some positives from Bowling Green for hopefully a better result at 7 p.m. Friday.
“I knew they were big and going to be physical,” O’Neal said. “I’m proud of how our kids came out and fought in that first half. We proved some stuff to ourselves that we can play with a really good team, but we also showed we aren’t quite there yet.”
