Bowling Green freshman quarterback Grant Gillespie (15) leads the blocking for senior running back Ja’ceous Shannon (1) during the Bobcats’ 28-0 win over Sylvania Northview Friday. (Drake Harlett | Sentinel-Tribune)
By Ben Shanahan
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
BOWLING GREEN — Behind elite running back play, Bowling Green shut out Sylvania Northview 28-0 in a Northern Lakes League divisional crossover game at Bobcat Stadium on Friday.
Despite the shutout, Bowling Green coach Shawn Kiss thought his team could have played better but was happy with how his team finished a tough game.
“We gutted it out. We did not play great,” Kiss said. “We shot ourselves in the foot a lot, which is frustrating. Kids gutted it out. We played hard in the second half. We started to move the ball around and put them away. They played tough and had a great scheme for us.”
Bowling Green won its second straight game, outscoring opponents 62-7 over the last two games, and improves to 3-2 heading into the NLL Cardinal Division opener at Clay (3-2) next Friday.
BG senior running back Ja’ceous Shannon ran for 285 yards on 14 carries, averaging over 20 yards per carry, and he scored two touchdowns to lead the Bobcats’ attack.
“I just want to be a reliable player, and I know when a big play is needed, the coach trusts me, and I trust my boys to block for me,” Shannon said. “They give me room to work, and when I get room to work, just end of story.”
For the Bobcats, senior back Jackson Shafer ran for 71 yards on 12 carries, senior back Brogan Pasley ran for 56 yards on 13 carries, freshman quarterback Grant Gillespie ran for 49 yards on six carries, and Jamison Horst ran for 35 yards on five carries. As a team, the Bobcats accumulated 496 yards on the ground.
Northview was shutout for the fourth time this season and remains winless in five games, which presents challenges to coach Greg Silm.
“They played hard. Just too many mistakes,” Silm said. “Drops killed us. We can’t sustain drives with drop balls. We just did not make enough plays. We have guys who are hurt, so we had guys playing both ways, which made us just run out of gas in the second half.”
Both offenses struggled the first half with three punts and one interception from the Northview offense and two turnovers on downs and one interception coming from the Bowling Green offense.
The only offense to punch the ball into the end zone in the first half belonged to the Bobcats’. The drive got started after BG senior defensive back Joey Kline intercepted the Wildcats
The interception led to BG freshman quarterback Grant Gillispie calling his own number and running nine yards into the end zone. The Bobcats would follow that up with senior Jamison Horst running in the two-point conversion and BG was up 8-0 with 9:44 remaining in the half.
BG had another chance to score, but a drive ended when Northview senior Nick Schantz intercepted a pass in the end zone as time expired.
Both defenses came out of the break firing, causing each team to punt on first possessions. BG extended their lead on their second possession after they kept the ball on the ground for a 6-play, 60-yard drive, capped off by a one-yard run into the end zone by senior back Ja’ceous Shannon.
From there, BG scored on their next two possessions to put the game away. The first score came after a 9-play, 66-yard drive, ending in a two-yard run by senior Brogan Pasley.
That was followed up by another Shannon touchdown, whose 8-yard run capped off an 11-play, 91-yard drive to make it 28-0 with 2:17 remaining.
The Bobcats’ defense secured the shutout with 35 seconds left as senior Carter Earl intercepted the Wildcats.
BG’s offense accumulated a total of 527 yards on 63 plays, averaging 8.4 yards per play, with 21 first downs. Junior Alex Wiseman-Esparza was a perfect 4-for-4 on conversion kicks.
Gillespie completed 4-of-13 passes for 31 yards, including one to Earl for 10 yards, one to Horst for eight yards, one to Shafer for seven yards, and one to Joey Kline for six yards.
