WHITEHOUSE — What a difference a week can make.
One week after playing its best game of the season and getting a big win over its county rival, the
Bowling Green football team saw a lot of what it did well against Perrysburg disappear in a 44-6 loss at
Anthony Wayne. [SEE
PHOTO GALLERY]
The Bobcats, who held the Yellow Jackets to 219 total yards last week, surrendered 361 to the Generals —
336 of which came on the ground — while on offense they were held to 122 yards with only 24 coming from
an air attack that had 151 yards the previous week.
AW scored on five of its first six possessions, including its first four, as running back Jordan Schwerer
had 115 first-half yards on 12 carries and scored all five of the Generals’ touchdowns, who led 37-6 at
the break. Schwerer, the leading rusher in the Northern Lakes League coming into the game, scored on
runs of 4, 36, 21, 3 and 3 yards, as AW improved to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the NLL. The Bobcats fall to
1-5, 1-2.
“(AW) beat us at every part of the game,” BG head coach Jeff Cullen said. “They’re pretty good. They
controlled the line of scrimmage on offense and defense the whole game.”
Schwerer led all rushers with 138 yards on 15 attempts, while Matt Green, the NLL’s second-leading
rusher, added 124 yards on 12 carries, as the Generals posted 256 yards on the ground alone in the first
24 minutes.
“I thought (BG) had a pretty good defense coming in and they’d make it tough on our offense,” AW head
coach Craig Smith said. “But our line just played really hard and we did a nice job of running the
ball.”
Utilizing a tricky, misdirection Wing-T offense that they’ve been running since Smith took over as coach
13 years ago, the Generals had the Bobcats off-balance on defense throughout the game. BG stacked the
box playing four lineman and four linebackers up front, but couldn’t get off the ball quick enough to
get the edge on the Generals’ offensive line that includes 6-foot-7, 290-pound tackle, Andrew Donnal, a
University of Iowa commitment.
“It just didn’t work for us,” Cullen said. “They’re bigger than us and they were more physical than us.”
Right from the start, AW would utilize that line advantage, as Schwerer’s 4-yard touchdown run ended a
6-play, 46-yard drive in which Schwerer accounted for 25 of the yards to put AW up 7-0 just 2:15 into
the game.
The Generals’ next drive would take just three rushing plays, before Schwerer ran 36 yards through the
left side of the line for another six points.
Meanwhile, one three-and-out and one first down and a fumble on their next two possessions, the Bobcats’
offense was struggling to find any rhythm or consistency.
“Our defense was really strong,” Smith said, whose team gave the Bobcats a total of four first downs. “We
play a lot of man-to-man coverage and stack everyone else up there against the run and it’s been working
pretty good for us.”
After three more AW drives ended in Schwerer touchdowns and BG gave up two points when it sent a long
snap out of the back of the end zone on a punt attempt, the Bobcats finally had a break on offense with
just over a minute left before halftime.
On the first play of BG’s final first-half drive, Jonathan Stoner took a Nick Miller handoff and went 53
yards down the right sideline for the Bobcats’ lone score. It was Stoner’s only touch of the game, after
an eight-catch, 95-yard performance against Perrysburg.
“Nothing worked well on offense for us,” Cullen said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do before next week.”
BG was held to 98 yards on the ground and two pass completions on 11 attempts.
The Bobcats will visit Northview next Friday.
ANTHONY WAYNE 44, BGHS 6
BOWLING GREEN
6
—6
ANTHONY WAYNE
21
16
7
—44
AW — Schwerer, 4 run (Barrett kick)
AW — Schwerer, 36 run (Barrett kick)
AW — Schwerer, 21 run (Barrett kick)
AW — Schwerer, 3 run (Barrett kick)
AW — Safety, punt snapped out of the back of end zone
AW — Schwerer, 3 run (Barrett kick)
BG — Stoner, 53 run (kick failed)
AW — M. Bridges, 1 run (Barrett kick)
TEAM STATISTICS
Category
BG
AW
First downs
4
15
by rushing
3
13
by passing
1
2
by penalty
Total net yards
122
361
Rushing
98
336
Passing
24
25
Attempts
11
4
Completions
2
2
Interceptions
Punts/average
7/33.3
3/36.7
Penalties/yards
1/5
3/15
Fumbles/lost
1/1
2/1
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: (BG) Cunningham, 9-25; Miller, 3-(minus 22); Ludwig, 4-13; Spencer, 10-25; Stoner, 1-53;
Wisniewski, 2-4; Steffen, 2-0;
(AW) Plocek, 5-18; Schwerer, 15-138; Green, 12-124; Allen, 1-3; A. Bridges, 9-42; M. Bridges, 3-3; Smith,
2-3; Lindke, 2-(minus 7); Grohowski, 3-0; Valentine, 3-12.
PASSING:
(BG) Miller, 1-6-0—24; Spencer, 1-5-0—0;
(AW) M. Bridges, 1-1-0—11; A. Bridges, 0-1-0—0; Barrett, 1-1-0—14.
RECEIVING:
(BG) Ludwig, 1-24; Peet, 1-0 (AW) A. Bridges, 2-25.
