The unbeaten Greenwood Bulldogs continued their gridiron dominance last Friday, taking down the feisty Russellville Cyclones in 6A West conference play, 42-20. The ‘Dogs are now 7-0 overall and 4-0 in league play.
Despite their 1-5 record coming into the contest, the Cyclones were obviously up for the game with the top-ranked Bulldogs. Russellville’s aggressive blitzing defense and pass-happy offense, coupled with several turnovers and a pair of long kick returns made for an exciting and entertaining first half.
Russellville received the opening kick and the home offense got a gift on first down when a Greenwood defensive back got tangled up with a wide receiver and drew a flag for pass interference. Four plays later the Cyclones scored on a long pass play of 35 yards. The extra point made it 7-0 Russellville.
But it didn’t take long for the Bulldogs to respond. Jayden Jasna took the ensuing kickoff back 84 yards for a touchdown right up the middle of the field, almost untouched. Jackson Stewart added the PAT to tie the score (9:04).
After a series of punts, two by Russellville and one by Greenwood, the Bulldogs took possession of the football at their own 34 with 5:29 left in the quarter. A nine-play drive followed, aided by a defensive holding penalty on the Cyclones.
Senior quarterback Jace Presley completed all four of his passes for 29 yards, picked up seven yards on a QB draw, then was sacked for a four-yard loss. But his final effort on the drive was to give the ball to running back Hunter Wilkinson for a 21-yard touchdown run through the heart of the home defense. The kick by Stewart made it 14-7 Greenwood (3:18).
As the game moved into the second quarter Russellville gave up the ball on downs at the GHS 30, but a pair of turnovers followed, an interception by the Cyclones followed three plays later by a fumble recovered by Greenwood.
Soon after the Bulldogs were threatening to score again when Presley’s pass was picked off in the end zone. But the GHS defense got the ball back quickly, forcing a punt returned nicely by Jasna to the Russellville 42.
Wilkinson ran for seven yards on first down then caught a short pass for nine more to the 26. After a penalty to the 31 and a sack at the 37, Presley passed to Treyton Dawson to the 24. After a loss to the 29 and facing fourth-and-long, Presley passed over the middle to big receiver Peyton Carter, who caught the ball inside the 15 and carried down to the 3-yard-line. Two snaps later Wilkinson scored from two yards out.
Stewart’s kick made the score 21-7 with 2:29 left in the half, but neither team could mount a serious scoring threat in the time remaining. Despite a ragged first half, the Bulldogs headed to their locker room up by 14 points.
Greenwood received the opening kick of the second half, but the offense failed to move the ball, leading to a punt. Moments later defensive lineman Tayshaun Leader intercepted a Russellville screen pass attempt at the Cyclones’ 30.
On the seventh play of the drive, all on the ground, Hunter Wilkinson scored from one yard out. The junior carried on five of the seven snaps, with Aaron Ligon running twice for seven yards. Stewart’s kick made it 28-7 with 7:07 left in the third quarter.
Just over a minute later the Bulldogs found the end zone again. After a quick punt by the Cyclones, the ‘Dogs offense set up at the Russellville 41 and needed just two snaps to score.
The first snap ended with a holding penalty to the 48, but the second one resulted in a deep pass to Caden Brown down the middle for the touchdown. The kick by Stewart was true at the 5:50 mark of the third period.
Leading 35-7, it looked for a time that the Bulldogs might pull ahead and invoke the mercy rule, but the offense sputtered on its next three possessions while the Cyclones scored twice, making it a 35-20 game with just under 10 minutes left to play.
A long pass play covering 34 yards set up a one-yard touchdown run for Russellville late in the third quarter, but the extra point failed, leaving the score 35-13. Following another Greenwood punt, the Cyclones scored again early in the fourth quarter on an eight-play drive aided by a facemask penalty against the Bulldogs. The TD came on another long pass of 43 yards. The extra point cut the GHS lead to 35-20 (9:50).
Still in the game with almost 10 minutes to play, Russellville Head Coach Jeff Weaver called for his second consecutive onside kick, which almost worked. But the Bulldogs recovered, though the offense was still unable to sustain a drive and was forced to punt once again. Moments later, after a Cyclones’ punt, the GHS offense redeemed itself.
Starting from the Russellville 41, the Bulldogs required just five plays to score, all of them on the ground. Wilkinson had an 18-yard jaunt on third down, and two plays later scored on another 18-yard run out of a full house backfield. Stewart’s kick was good to boost the visitors’ lead to 42-20.
With just over four minutes left, Russellville picked up a pair of first downs and moved into Greenwood territory, but ultimately turned the ball over on downs, allowing Presley to receive a couple of snaps and take a knee to end the game. Afterward, Coach Jones talked with members of the media.
“Once we got to [a 28-point lead], if we could just hold [Russellville] and score one more time, we could run the clock (mercy rule) and it was going to be a happy night,” said Jones.
“But we made crucial penalties. We turned the ball over twice. We had penalty after penalty and got sacked. We ended up with second-and-long and third-and-long. We just did not play very good football,” he added.
“But I will give Russellville credit. They did a nice job. They mixed it up and came with some [defensive] pressure. They did some good stuff offensively to keep us off balance. They were ready to go, and their kids played hard.”
Jones also talked about his team’s running game, something that’s been a concern all season but has shown signs of improvement lately. Aaron Ligon ran for over 100 yards against Siloam Springs, and Hunter Wilkinson cruised for 138 yards on 18 carries against the Cyclones.
Asked about the improved ground game, Jones said, “We really needed one, because it was tough to throw on those guys tonight,” referring to Greenwood’s anemic passing game against Russellville. Jace Presley completed just 12 of 20 pass attempts for 129 yards and one touchdown. He was also sacked eight times.
But the coach continued to praise the work of his defensive line, the strength of the GHS defense all season. “They got pressure on the quarterback, because we were giving up some big [passes] on the back end.”
Caden Brown led GHS receivers with three catches for 55 yards and a touchdown. Peyton Carter made four receptions for 34 yards, Lazaro Angel had two catches for 20 yards, and Treyton Dawson had two grabs for 11 yards.
It was the 19th straight win for the Bulldogs, dating back to their season opening loss at Fort Smith Northside last fall. They finished the 2018 campaign with 12 consecutive victories to win their second state title in succession. Currently ranked #1 among 6A teams in the state, they appear to be on course for another championship run.
Standing in the way are Greenwood’s three remaining regular season opponents, Benton, Sheridan, and Lake Hamilton, in that order. Two of those games – Benton and Lake Hamilton – are on the road.
The Benton Panthers were pre-season picks to compete with the Bulldogs for the state title. The same two teams played in the state finals last December with Greenwood coming out on top to claim the 6A crown.
The Panthers started their season 0-3 against championship caliber competition but have now won four straight in league play. They will host Greenwood next Friday at 7 p.m.
Benton defeated Russellville, Siloam Springs, Little Rock Hall, and El Dorado by a combined 65 points, 48 of those coming against Hall alone. By comparison, Greenwood has a scoring differential of 122 points against those teams with 42 points coming against Hall.
Defensively, the Bulldogs allowed 57 points to those four opponents, while the Panthers yielded 88 points. On paper the advantage goes to Greenwood, but Benton will be playing at home.
Both Sheridan and Lake Hamilton have enjoyed resurgent seasons this fall. The Yellowjackets are 5-2 overall, 3-1 in league play. The Lake Hamilton Wolves are the surprise of the league. They remain unbeaten at 7-0, 4-0, and host the Bulldogs in the regular season finale on November 8th.
These same four teams should finish in the top four in the 6A West standings with two more slots still up for grabs to make the playoffs. Of the remaining four teams, only Siloam Springs has a conference win so far. Russellville, Hall, and El Dorado are all winless in league play at 0-4.
Twelve teams qualify for the post-season, six each from the 6A West and 6A East. Searcy currently rules the roost in the East with a 7-0 record, followed by Jonesboro (5-2, 3-1).