The Bowie Volunteers have turned into a perennial playoff team under coach Kenny Perry.
File photo by Jim Redman
It was a long week for
Bowie (Arlington, Texas) football coach
Kenny Perry, but not too long for a victory, a truly hard-earned 38-36 win over previously unbeaten Skyline late Friday night.
According to the
Arlington Voice, the Homecoming game lasted until 11:10 p.m. We're talking longer than four hours. And it didn't even go overtime.
Kenny Perry, Bowie
Courtesy photo
For his team's upset victory, and Perry's overtime work, he was selected as the Dallas coach of the week presented by Comerica Bank.
"We just wanted a win," Perry told the Voice afterward. "I couldn't care less if the game went 24 hours."
It was a hallow win in some ways for Perry because his son and starting quarterback
Keaton Perry wasn't in the game. He sustained a season-ending knee injury the week before.
But the Volunteers (2-1) rallied behind his replacement
Tony James, only a sophomore, who accounted for 296 yards and all five of his team's touchdowns. His first scoring pass to
Jordan Versey resulted in three celebration/unsportsmanlike penalties, though it didn't really seem to bother Perry.
"I told the players to go out and have fun tonight," he told The Voice. "They were playing for each other and we knew we were going to make this
work."
They did despite nearly squandering a three-touchdown lead. Skyline came all the way back to 38-36 late, but Bowie knocked away a two-point conversion try with 2:08 left then ran out the clock for the emotional victory.
Bowie is 2-1 thus far and is
expected to make a deep playoff
run this season.
File photo by Jim Redman
"I couldn't be more proud of Tony James and the way he played," he told the Voice. "We've been through so much this week, but now we're going back to what we've done the last six or seven years."
Winning wasn't always a part of Bowie's football tradition. Quite the opposite until Perry arrived.
In 2006, the Volunteers went 7-3 overall and 5-2 in district play - in second place behind eventual state 5A-II winner Cedar Hill. Bowie made its first berth in the playoffs.
He's now led Bowie to the playoffs four of the last six years. The Volunteers were the outright district champ in 2008 and co-champs in 2007 and 2009.
"He's a very high-energy guy and a terrific motivator whose players love to play for," said Dallas Morning News columnist Matt Wixon. "Arlington Bowie was a perennial loser before he got there and he's made it one of the top programs in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. They are always a scary opponent in the playoffs."
