Bowling Green senior slotback Ja’ceous Shannon carries the ball around the right end in the Bobcats’ 21-14 win over Sylvania Southview at Bobcat Stadium Friday. (Photo by Kieran Percival)
Early in the season, Bowling Green football was depending mostly on its offensive line and three different senior backs toting the rock.
Now, bring in 6-foot-2, 212-pound senior Jamison Horst back from an injury, and all of a sudden, it’s four backs and the OL, and opponents don’t know who or what is coming at them next.
“We’re just trying to keep people off balance,” said BG coach Shawn Kiss.
Those four backs, plus freshman quarterback Grant Gillispie, led the Bobcats to a 21-14 Northern Lakes League Cardinal Division victory on Homecoming night over Sylvania Southview Friday on Steve Beattie Field at Bobcat Stadium.
BG improves to 4-3 overall and 1-1 in the NLL Cardinal Division, while the Cougars fall to 3-4 and 0-1.
BG’s four senior backs are Horst, slotbacks Ja’ceous Shannon and Jackson Shafer and tailback Brogan Pasley.
Shannon carried the ball 14 times for 92 yards and two touchdowns, Horst had 18 carries for 74 yards, and Shafer had nine carries for 63 yards. Shannon scored the game’s only first half touchdown on a 10-yard run, giving the Bobcats a 7-0 lead at halftime, plus he scored the Bobcats’ third TD on a four-yard run to finish a game-winning drive.
“I think we can give the ball to anyone. We can trust anyone on our offense,” Horst said. “There is not a single person on our offense that we cannot trust. We trust our brothers, and that is how we do stuff like this. Man, the last drive we just trusted each other and it came out nice.”
Horst was BG’s quarterback last year, and the plan was for him to be the signal caller again this year, but when he got injured, Gillispie got his chance. When Horst returned a couple weeks later, Gillispie stayed at QB, and likes became a running back and defensive lineman.
“It’s where the team needs me and if that’s where the team needs me I am going to do that and I’m going to play the best I can,” Horst said. “Shout out to the O-line — they’ve been making it so fun.”
It helps that the Bobcats have 6-4, 278-pound senior right tackle Navoia Ragin, 6-3, 227-pound junior right guard Owen Rath, 6-0, 227-pound senior center Drew Erekson, 6-0, 300-pound senior left guard Hunter Kazlowicz, and 6-1, 231-pound left tackle A.J. Miller to push opposing defenses out of the way.
Plus, Gillispie completed 7-of-10 passes for 74 yards with one TD with no interceptions, including three to Shafer for 38 yards, a 22-yard TD pass to Shannon, and two completions to sophomore slotback Kayden Torres for 12 yards.
Kiss said keeping Gillispie behind center and having Horst play more of a fullback position just made sense.
“You know what, it’s a move to make the team get better as a whole,” Kiss said. “Jamison is really important to us on defense, and he’s a big-bodied kid so he can tote the rock and put him in other places.
“And Grant is a savvy kid. He’s played really well since the beginning of the year, and he’s earned every single one of these playing times. He played great tonight.”
To get the win, BG had to piece together a 12-play, 68-yard drive after the Cougars tied the game on a 21-yard pass from senior quarterback Will Mayzes to senior receiver Dalen Selmon with 6:21 remaining, tying the score at 14-14.
All 68 yards, actually 78 when you consider there was a holding call along the way, were accounted for on the ground by Horst, Shafer and Shannon.
Shannon punched it in off right tackle from four yards out with 1:29 remaining, and junior Alex Wiseman-Esparza added his third conversion kick in as many tries. Shannon knew what it meant to his teammates to finish that drive.
“You know, going into that drive, we knew we could have won us the game,” Shannon said. “We knew our defense had been playing well all game. We needed to do it on this drive, and we all understood that, and we all played hard on every play, which we needed to do. Then we got it and that’s what got us the ‘W.’”
The Cougars had time to tie or take the lead, quickly getting a first down and advancing to their own 41-yard line. The speedy Mayzes is not only a sharp passer on most nights, he broke away for a 55-yard touchdown run to put the Cougars on the board in the third quarter.
However, BG senior defensive back Joey Kline stepped in front of a sideline pass and intercepted with 1:03 left to end the Cougars’ threat.
Until Kline made his game-ending play, Southview coach Steve Hardy was confident in Mayzes’ ability to lead the team downfield in just over a minute.
“It’s not that we didn’t have time, we just had an interception,” Hardy said. “I liked our chances with a minute left, and we were moving down the field. I thought the fourth quarter we had them on their heels and we had a bad play at the wrong time.”
It was one of three turnovers the BG defense forced, including an interception by senior DB Carter Earl and a fumble recovery by Horst from his defensive line position. Horst said the Bobcats made a statement by intercepting two Mayzes’ passes.
“Mayzes is a heck of a player, but we had to stop him,” Horst said. “Our defense got it done — Carter (Earl), Joey (Kline), Grant (Gillispie), they really shut it out. The last week we played (24-22 loss to Clay) they missed those, and we got them this week. We’ve got more to go.”
Kiss says the Bobcats have come a long ways since opening the season suffering a 41-7 loss to Otsego.
“We took a long, hard look at ourselves after week one, about the way we prepare, the way we look at games, the way we look at days, one play at a time, don’t get ahead of yourself, don’t get behind yourself. Just keep the ship steady and just keep moving forward and that’s what we’re doing,” Kiss said.
Next Friday, the Bobcats take a week off from NLL play, traveling to Toledo to take on a winless Woodward squad (0-7) for a 6 p.m. kickoff.
