The 2021 gridiron season is over for the Greenwood Bulldogs after last Saturday’s 10-point loss to the El Dorado Wildcats, 27-17. The 6A state championship game started shortly after noon under an overcast sky on the damp turf at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Greenwood’s “home-away-from-home” for the past 25 years.
The Bulldogs played and lost their first title game there in 1996, returning to win it all in 2000 under then head coach Ronnie Peacock. But it was under former head coach Rick Jones that Greenwood practically took out a lease on the digs at War Memorial Stadium, returning 11 more times between 2004 and 2018, winning an additional eight championships.
Current head coach Chris Young kept the tradition going by taking Greenwood to its tenth state title in his first year at the helm in 2020, an unbeaten season no less. The 2021 team returned several key players from that championship team and was picked by many informed observers to retain their title this fall. But the game is played between the lines, not on paper, and no one can accurately predict all the variables that determine success or failure on the gridiron.
This was not Greenwood’s year to take home the crown, but not for lack of trying, because this group of Bulldogs battled their butts off despite being pummeled by injuries to key players week after week throughout the season. Then just when it appeared the injury bug had moved on during the latter third of the schedule, it came back with a vengeance during the playoffs, severely hampering Greenwood’s efforts to win its fourth title in five years.
But injuries weren’t the only issues that crippled the Bulldogs last Saturday. There were also five turnovers, nine penalties for 66 yards, and a very good El Dorado defense that stifled Greenwood’s normally potent offense. Likewise, it was the Bulldogs’ tenacious defense that kept Greenwood in the game until the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs trailed 13-10 at the half and 20-17 with 9:25 left to play before giving up a late touchdown to seal the win for El Dorado.
The game was expected to be an offensive slugfest between two teams that averaged more than 40 points per game during the regular season, but it’s clear that neither team played its best Saturday, combining for 25 penalties and a total of nine turnovers. Due to the many penalties, injury timeouts, and incomplete passes, the game took almost three hours to complete, and the Bulldogs competed to the very end.
Still, El Dorado’s chances of winning were enhanced significantly when Greenwood lost starting running back Javon Williamson to a fractured leg in the semi-finals against Little Rock Parkview. The Bulldogs were already without the services of #1 running back Jake Glover, injured in mid-season. Depth at running back, a plus in the pre-season, quickly became a liability with precious little time to make adjustments. Reserve running back Cameron Krone saw limited action on Saturday, and fellow senior Dylan Tucker, used mostly in short yardage goal line situations, did not appear at all.
Then Greenwood lost starting quarterback Hunter Houston late in the first half after being sacked hard in the end zone. He needed assistance to walk off the field and did not return. Next, the ‘Dogs found themselves without top receiver L.J. Robins in the third quarter when he injured his right leg. Freshman receiver Grant Karnes could also be seen limping late in the game, trying to tough it out and stay on the field. The medical staff was quite busy on game day.
But the Bulldogs have battled an unprecedented rash of injuries all season and have followed the “next man up” philosophy to the best of their ability, and several younger players have stepped up to fill in for their older, more experienced teammates.
Sophomore Braden Skaggs is one such player, assuming a starting role when junior safety Storm Scherrey had shoulder surgery late in the regular season. On Saturday Skaggs had an incredible three pass interceptions to help keep his team in the game. His was the best individual performance of the day for the Bulldogs and tied a state championship game record.
“He was great today,” said Coach Young after Saturday’s contest. “It’s just a great example of a kid getting an opportunity to play and then comes in there and makes plays. The defense played well enough for us to win, and that’s the frustrating part about it. We didn’t get it done offensively, and you can’t win a ballgame if you can’t score points.”
Characteristically, Young accepted responsibility for the loss. “They [Wildcats] were prepared and executed their game plan, that's why they won today," he said nobly. "This is coaching. This is my fault. We weren't prepared for their [defensive] pressure. They were [rushing] six and we had five [blockers] and we didn't make the necessary adjustments.
“Their defense was the difference in the ballgame,” he continued. “Their quarterback is a good player, but I thought our defense played outstanding. But their defense just shut us down and our offense couldn’t do anything. But all our kids competed today. We’ve got to do a better job of preparing them, and that’s on me.”
Greenwood won the coin toss and chose to play defense first, kicking off to the Wildcats. Guiding El Dorado’s offense was senior quarterback Sharmon Rester, responsible for over 4,400 yards of combined offense this season and 51 touchdowns, 40 passing and 11 rushing. But the Cats managed only one first down before a bad snap and a quarterback sack sabotaged their first possession, forcing a punt to the GHS 44.
But the ‘Dogs had even worse luck, suffering a penalty, a deflected pass, and a fumble recovered by El Dorado and returned to the Greenwood 20-yard-line. On their first snap, the Wildcats ran a draw play with running back Shadarious Plummer taking it to the house unmolested. The extra point was good, making the score 7-0 at the 8:16 mark.
El Dorado then attempted an onside kick, but it failed to go the necessary 10 yards, giving the Bulldogs excellent field position at the Wildcats’ 39-yard-line after the penalty. But atypically, Greenwood’s second offensive possession also ended with a lost fumble, this time at the opposition’s 22-yard-line. Thankfully, the GHS defense came to the rescue, forcing a quick three-and-out and a Wildcats’ punt to the GHS 38.
A pass interference penalty soon followed against El Dorado, advancing the ball across midfield to the Cats’ 47. After an incompletion, Hunter Houston then dumped the ball off to L.J. Robins, who got a nice block from senior Jeremiah Presson and found plenty of open real estate all the way to the end zone for Greenwood’s first score (4:37). Senior kicker Ben Moy added the extra point to knot the score at 7-all.
Presson was later named as the Greenwood recipient of the annual Brandon Burlsworth award for the most outstanding high school lineman from each team in the title game per classification. On a related note, former GHS star and current Arkansas Razorback linebacker Grant Morgan was also selected this past Monday as the winner of the Burlsworth Trophy for the nation’s most outstanding college player who began his career as a walk-on. Congratulations Grant!
Back to the game, Braden Skaggs’ first interception set up the Bulldogs’ next scoring opportunity, giving Greenwood its only lead of the contest. His pick happened near midfield and was followed by a pass from Houston to Robins to the El Dorado 16-yard-line. But the short-lived drive stalled at the 15, forcing Coach Young to call for a field goal try. The 33-yard kick by Ben Moy was good, giving the Bulldogs a 10-7 lead with 2:16 left in the opening period.
But the Wildcats responded with a drive of 49 yards into GHS territory and were threatening to score before Braden Skaggs ended the threat with his second interception, this time on a diving catch in the end zone early in the second quarter. Unfortunately, the sophomore’s heroics only delayed El Dorado’s efforts to retake the lead.
Moments later a deflected pass from Hunter Houston was plucked out of the air by El Dorado lineman Josh Hill, who returned it a short distance to the GHS 16. Shadarious Plummer then ran twice, the second time for the two-yard touchdown (10:40), but the extra point was blocked by Greenwood senior Levi Russell, leaving the score at 13-10.
The GHS defense then provided one of the remaining highlights of the first half, holding the Wildcats out of the end zone when a touchdown seemed inevitable. Facing a second-and-two situation at the Greenwood 3-yard-line, El Dorado suffered a loss when Bulldogs’ senior linebacker Colt Owenby made a tackle behind the line for a negative three yards.
A QB scramble reached the 2-yard-line, bringing up fourth-and-one, but El Dorado head coach Steven Jones chose not to kick a field goal, even after a delay-of-game penalty moved the ball back to the 7-yard-line. However, the pass from Rester into the end zone was high and incomplete, giving the ball back to the Bulldogs on downs.
The two teams then traded punts over the final five minutes of the half, but along the way Hunter Houston got pounded in the end zone and appeared to bang his head on the turf, forcing him to the sideline and out of the game. Throughout the game the Wildcats put a lot of pressure on Greenwood’s two quarterbacks, who suffered eight total sacks.
One of those punts was mishandled by the Wildcats and scooped up in stride by Greenwood’s Evan Williams at the GHS 27, thwarting yet another El Dorado scoring opportunity. Unfortunately, high school rules prohibit the return of a fumbled punt, frustrating Williams and dashing the hopes of hundreds of GHS fans in attendance.
On the half’s final play, the Wildcats did offer some comic relief, completing a pass then trying to lateral the ball down the field to avoid being tackled. But the second lateral ended up in the hands of offensive lineman Cameron Davis, who at 339 pounds couldn’t run out of sight in a week, bless his heart, and the half ended with El Dorado still on top, 13-10.
L.J. Robins returned the opening kick of the second half for 23 yards to the GHS 33-yard-line, and #2 quarterback Slade Dean came out firing, completing two passes to Luke Brewer sandwiched between a pair of incompletions. From the Wildcats’ 36, Dean then found Robins wide-open for a catch and long run to the end zone, almost.
Just inside the 5-yard-line Robins was caught by an El Dorado defensive back who swiped at the ball and knocked it loose. He then scooped it up and tried to run it out of the end zone, but an inadvertent whistle by a nearby official blew the play dead and the ball was placed at the El Dorado 20, giving the Wildcats possession. More importantly, had Greenwood scored on the play the Bulldogs would have retaken the lead at 17-13 and seized the early momentum in the second half.
But once again the GHS defense rose up and stopped the Wildcats from taking advantage of the turnover, allowing just a single first down before forcing a punt to the Greenwood 37. But that’s when things took a decided turn for the worse for the Bulldogs. On first down, Dean connected with Robins again on a long gainer that resulted in two negative outcomes. First, the positive yardage was wiped out by a holding penalty, and second, Robins was hurt on the play and left the game with an injured right leg and did not return, removing yet another offensive weapon for the ‘Dogs. He was later seen on the sideline using crutches. Two snaps later the Wildcats picked off a Greenwood pass and returned it to the Bulldogs’ 48, setting up El Dorado’s next scoring drive.
Keeping the ball mostly on the ground, the Cats needed eight plays and just a bit of luck to score. Fortune smiled on the El Dorado quarterback when the second of his two passes on the drive was swatted right back to him by a Greenwood defender leading to a nine-yard pickup. Shadarious Plummer scored on the next snap from one yard out. The extra point kick was good, making the score 20-10 with 5:53 left in the third quarter.
But despite the mounting body count (injuries), the Bulldogs weren’t done yet, and continued to battle despite being severely undermanned. However, a promising start to their next possession, Grant Karnes’ long kick return to midfield, was wiped out by a holding penalty. Soon after the ‘Dogs were also flagged for offensive pass interference and had to punt, allowing the Wildcats to maintain their momentum as the final minutes drained away in the third quarter.
But after driving from their own 35 to the Greenwood 14, El Dorado suffered a self-inflicted wound when the shotgun snap sailed over the QB’s head and bounded all the way back to the 37-yard-line. Then on the first play of the fourth quarter Braden Skaggs got his third interception of the game on a diving catch near the 20-yard-line, breathing life back into his teammates and GHS fans.
Slade Dean and company then took their cue and marched downfield in nine plays to score a touchdown, overcoming a 5-yard penalty and two quarterback sacks along the way. They were also helped by a pass interference penalty on El Dorado and a great diving catch by Luke Brewer of about 30 yards, later adding a 7-yard reception. Aiden Kennon also had a 12-yard catch and Grant Karnes came up huge on fourth-and-20 with a 33-yard grab to the Wildcats’ 7-yard-line. Dean then ran twice, scoring from two yards out. Ben Moy added the extra point, cutting the margin to 20-17, keeping the Bulldogs in the fight with 9:25 remaining.
But the El Dorado running game was just too much to contain for a wearied GHS defense, and the Wildcats pounded the ball on the ground for their final touchdown to put the game on ice. The 11-play drive included just one pass on a fourth down conversion. A second fourth down situation arose at the Greenwood 35, but Plummer got far more than the two yards needed to move the sticks, galloping all the way to the end zone. The El Dorado tailback was named the game's Most Valuable Player with 26 carries for 181 yards and all four touchdowns. The PAT made the final score 27-17.
Just 2:36 remained on the clock, and on another day the Bulldogs might have made a run at a miracle comeback, but last Saturday was not that day. The El Dorado defense sacked Slade Dean twice and the Bulldogs were penalized once before a fourth down pass fell incomplete, ending any hope for a Greenwood rally.
Statistically, the Bulldogs had zero success moving the ball on the ground. With all the QB sacks, they finished the game with negative rushing yardage, due to their depleted running back corps and El Dorado’s stifling defense. Offensively, Hunter Houston completed 10 of 20 pass attempts for 106 yards before being injured. Slade Dean connected on eight of 15 passes for 161 yards. L.J. Robins had nine catches for 117 yards, Luke Brewer had four grabs for 71 yards, and Aiden Kennon had four receptions for 51 yards. Overall, Greenwood had 223 yards in offense to 336 for El Dorado.
After the game, both teams met at midfield and later received their team trophy. It was El Dorado’s tenth state title overall, tying Greenwood, which also has ten, all earned since the year 2000. Of the Bulldogs’ ten championships, four have been won since joining Class 6A in 2012. Nor will it be the last title for two of the most storied programs in the state. But next year the plot thickens with reclassification and the realignment of conferences.
Pulaski Academy and Little Rock Christian, both private schools with excellent football teams, are moving up to 6A, while Little Rock Catholic is also moving down from 7A. That will put 19 teams in Class 6A instead of the normal 16, resulting in unbalanced conferences and some curious travel and scheduling challenges. The Arkansas Activities Association will make its final determination sometime after the first of the new year. It should be interesting to say the least. But whatever the outcome, the 2022 Bulldogs will be back contending for yet another state championship. It’s just what they do.