For much of the first half Friday night, the Madisonville-North Hopkins Maroons looked like they were going to have a shot at knocking off Bowling Green on the Purples’ home field. Then there was that little pesky issue of the biggest 14 seconds of the night. And, it turned out to be the key stretch of the game.
Bowling Green scored two touchdowns in those 14 seconds and turned a 7-0 lead into a 21-0 lead going into the break and then went on to take a 35-7 win over the Maroons to advance to the second week of the Class 5A playoffs.
The Purples were holding a tenuous 7-0 lead when Deuce Bailey hit Christopher Sweeney for a 55-yard pass. Three plays later Nick Graham ran it in from one yard out to make it 14-0 with 2:29 to go in the half.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Purples found a hole in the Maroon return team and pooched the kickoff right into that gap. Bowling Green recovered the ball at the Madisonville 25-yard line. On the very next play, Bailey connected with Trevy Barber for a 25-yard score and in just a matter of 14 seconds the lead had gone from 7-0 to 21-0 and the Maroons were now officially in a bunch of trouble.
Bowling Green had taken the 7-0 lead on its second possession of the night. The Purples capped off an 8-play, 42-yard drive on a 6-yard touchdown run from Nick Graham.
The Purples nearly extended the lead late in the opening quarter. However, Ryder Sandidge came up with an interception in the end zone to turn back a Bowling Green threat and keep the lead at 7-0.
The Maroon offense had its struggles in the first 24 minutes of the game. The first three possessions for Madisonville-North Hopkins generated negative 1 yards of total offense and no first downs. The Maroons would end the half trailing 21-0 and with just 84 yards of total offense.
The Purples looked as if they might make a short night of it after their opening possession of the second half. Deuce Bailey struck again, this time on a 37-yard touchdown pass to Jaxen Smith and the lead was 28–0.
But the Maroons would not go down without a fight in this one. The next two drives were the Maroons’ best of the night. Two long, sustained drives that chewed up 6:10 and 8:08 off the game clock. The problem was that they needed several scores and out of those two long drives they scored only one touchdown.
Markezz Hightower closed out the 6:10 drive with a 3-yard touchdown run that brought the Maroons to within 28-7. After stopping the Purples, Madisonville went on another long drive but this one ended with an interception after the Maroons had eaten more than 8 minutes off the clock.
Bowling Green would add a score in the final minute of the game to get to the final 35-7 margin.
The Maroons finished the game with 235 yards of total offense, 151 rushing and 84 passing. Bowling Green ended up with 416 total yards, 126 rushing and 290 passing.
Markezz Hightower led the Maroons on the ground with 118 yards. Kanyon Johnson added 36.
Johnson ended the game 8 of 16 through the air for 84 yards and one interception.
Madisonville-North Hopkins sees its season end at 7-4.
Bowling Green improves to 9-2 and moves on to next week’s second round.
