It took the fifth-best team in the state to end North Callaway’s winning streak Friday night.

Bowling Green, who was ranked No. 5 in Class 2, clinched its third straight Eastern Missouri Conference title and second straight undefeated regular season by defeating North Callaway 61-12. The Thunderbirds allowed 408 yards on the ground, including 231 yards and five touchdowns (of a total six touchdowns) on 16 carries from Marcus Starks, and trailed 48-6 at halftime.

Still, the 61 points is a season-low for the Bobcats that have averaged 70.9 points per game (a 20-point increase from last year) and allowed 7.9 points per game, which is half of what they surrendered a season ago. On Senior Night, senior quarterback Braydn O’Neal threw for 157 yards and two touchdowns on 15-for-32 passing while being intercepted three times. Senior AJ Siegel, who finished with 92 yards on six catches, caught the first touchdown pass in the back of the end zone early in the second quarter that made it 24-6 at the time. Lane Kimbley caught the second touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Head coach Kevin O’Neal said he is proud of his players not quitting considering the physicality that comes with facing Bowling Green.

“I thought our kids played hard,” O’Neal said. “We knew Bowling Green was going to be a physical team, and I thought we matched that physicality up front. We just didn’t execute like we needed to.”

O’Neal said the little mistakes add up against good teams, especially Bowling Green, who can turn little mistakes into big gains and then leads. Penalties, missed blocks and erroneous routes are just some of the issues he said that derailed some nice drives early on by the Thunderbird offense.

Starks had two touchdown runs that total 62 yards halfway through the first quarter and then Bleyne Bryant scored from 41 yards out following the first of North Callaway’s three interceptions, making it 24-0 after one quarter.

“They’re very physical on the line of scrimmage,” O’Neal said. “Starks is a very good running back. He has good speed, good vision and runs the ball hard. It’s a mentality that they have, and I thought we didn’t back down.”

The Thunderbirds finished with a season-low 37 yards on 21 carries but will look forward to the first-round of the Class 2 District 2 Tournament. North Callaway goes in as the No. 5 seed and will visit No. 4 Father Tolton (7-2), who defeated Fayette 40-36 at home in Week 9, at 7 p.m. Friday. Blair Oaks (9-0) sits atop as the No. 1 seed.

“I think we learned a lot about ourselves tonight,” O’Neal said. “We can compete at times with good football teams, and hopefully we can build off of that.”