Hopkinsville High School had its football home opener and a picture-perfect start both spoiled by Bowling Green on Friday, as the unbeaten Purples rallied to win 35-6 at Stadium of Champions.
Tigers senior Daisjuan Mercer caught a 78-yard touchdown pass on the game’s second play from scrimmage, and then snagged his first interception of the season on BG’s ensuing possession, staking a confident Hoptown squad out to an early 6-0 advantage through one quarter of play.
The Class 5A Purples, playing their first true road game of the year, would answer, however, rattling off three touchdowns in the second quarter — including one of three TD passes from sophomore quarterback Deuce Bailey with 11 seconds remaining — and scoring 35 unanswered points to earn its first 4-0 start to a season since 2018.
A 5-yard touchdown run by Javen Huddleston — one of three running backs in the Purples’ tiered attack — gave BGHS the lead for good with 10:27 to go in the second quarter. Huddleston finished with 47 yards rushing and helped Bowling Green outgain Hoptown 449-225.
Hopkinsville, which came into the contest with the 35th best pass defense in the state by allowing an average of 64 passing yards per game, bottled up Bailey during most of the first 20 minutes of the contest. With 4:50 to go in the first half, though, the speedy dual-threat QB found Easton Barlow for a 59-yard touchdown to give Bowling Green a 14-6 lead. Bailey, who also had a rushing TD and a game-high 62 rushing yards, finished 17-of-33 for 272 yards and four total scores.
Barlow made the most of his opportunities through the air, scoring TDs on two of his three catches. The junior WR finished with 103 receiving yards and finished off the game’s scoring with a 32-yard touchdown reception to start the fourth quarter.
Bowling Green kicker Colin Fratus, who came in ranked third in the state in field goals (3-for-3) and 18th in the state for PATs (13-of-14), drilled all five of his extra point attempts in Friday’s victory. Moss missed his only attempt after throwing the long TD pass to Mercer less than a minute into the game.
Mercer, a Miami (Ohio) commit, had another monster night for Hopkinsville, finishing with three catches for 114 yards and the aforementioned touchdown. The Mr. Football hopeful now has 315 receiving yards and a trio of TDs in four games. HHS QB Zach Moss completed 10 of his 23 passes for 193 yards. Trushaun Matt added five catches for 47 yards.
The Tigers were forced to punt eight times in the loss, dropping them to 1-3 in 2022. Hopkinsville (15) and Bowling Green (10) combined for 25 penalties in the game. Incredibly, both finished with 121 yards each in penalty yardage
Despite the loss, Hoptown still leads the all-time series against Bowling Green by a count of 34-29-4. The Tigers now look ahead to next week’s Braggin’ Rights matchup against crosstown rival Christian County. The Colonels also dropped to 1-3 Friday after a 35-19 loss at Madisonville.
Scoring summary
BGHS (4-0) 0 21 7 7 — 35
HHS (1-3) 6 0 0 0 — 6
Scoring plays
HHS (1Q, 11:03): Daisjuan Mercer 78-yard catch from Zach Moss (PAT no good)
BGHS (2Q, 10:27): Javen Huddleston 5-yard run (Colin Fratus PAT)
BGHS (2Q, 4:50): Easton Barlow 59-yard catch from Deuce Bailey (Fratus PAT)
BGHS (2Q, 0:11): Dillon Maners 11-yard catch from Bailey (Fratus PAT)
BGHS (3Q, 3:08): Bailey 14-yard run (Fratus PAT)
BGHS (4Q, 11:54): Barlow 32-yard catch from Bailey (Fratus PAT)
