NationalHSFootball.com – Dallas Jackson, NationalHSFootball.com
If Bowling Green (Kent.) High head football coach Kevin Wallace has an ulterior motive for paying $5,000 to buy out the second year of a contract with Murfreesboro (Tenn.) Blackman he isn’t letting anyone know.
Bowling Green will not be coming to Tennessee in 2014.
Then Wallace issued this statement and went silent:
“Bowling Green High School will not be playing at Blackman High School in 2014. No public school funds were used to negate the contract. Bowling Green has a verbal agreement with a Kentucky school to replace the game on it’s 2014 schedule.
“When that contract is finalized, a release of the 2014 BGHS football schedule will follow.”
Wallace did not comment to his local newspapers and calls placed by NationalHSFootball.com were not returned.
While Wallace and Bowling Green were working within the confines of the agreement to buy-out speculation surrounds the timing of the decision.
Blackman coach Philip Shadowens told The Daily News-Journal sports editor Tom Kreager he was unhappy that Bowling Green left his program in the lurch.
“If they had no intentions on coming back to Blackman High to fulfill the contract why not contact us two months ago?,” he said. “It’s almost March.
“If we hadn’t contacted them, I’m not sure they would have contacted us at all. It’s disappointing that one of the best programs around in Kentucky handles their business this way.”
Blackman agreed to play the first game on the road last season in order to protect its 10-game regular season even at the cost of playing six games on the road; with the buy-out money there is limited time to find a replacement and Shadowens estimated a potential loss of nearly $20,000 if his team is forced to enter the season with just four home games again.
“We put a buyout in contracts for emergency cases,” Shadowens told Kreager. “I’ve never seen anyone take that, though. We will have a substantial financial loss.”
In the loss last year, Blackman was flagged for 12 penalties and 125 yards compared to three penalties for 15 yards against the Purples.
Half of its dozen penalties were unsportsmanlike conduct flags, including on back-to-back possessions in the second half with Bowling Green trailing, 19-13.
Shadowens was on the offensive about the officiating in the aftermath of the loss, commenting harshly on WGNS Coaches Corner podcast.
“It was a joke,” Shadowens said. “It was pathetic. It was not about the kids, which is what high school sports is supposed to be about. It was a shame to see that happen. I thought our kids and their kids played with great effort.
Blackman head coach Philip Shadowens. HELEN COMER/DNJ
The potential for retribution calls against Bowling Green and sportsmanship issues have fueled internet speculation. As has the protection of the Bowling Green winning streak.
The Purples are currently on a 44-game run of success — an active number which trails only Bellevue (Wash.) High and its 54-straight among nationally relevant programs — but is third all-time in Kentucky. Bowling Green only need to win its first seven games to surpass Louisville (Kent.) Trinity for the top spot within the annals of the state record book by advancing to 51 consecutive victories.
A game with Blackman would be two weeks after achieving that number.
“I told them we had to have a two-year contract, and they had no problem with it. So I took the game,” Shadowens told Kreager. “That came at a great cost because it was our sixth away game.
“But I did that knowing they’d come back to us. Now, we don’t have a 10th game.”
Blackman ended 2013 as the No. 4 team in Tennessee and is likely to begin near that same ranking.
It will continue to search of a game to fill its Oct. 31 opening.
