Now three games into his first season as a head coach, Greenwood’s Chris Young is still riding the wave of an unbeaten record, 3-0 in non-conference play that has his Bulldogs perched at the top of the state’s Class 6A rankings. But remaining unbeaten won’t be an easy chore as high school football moves into conference play starting this week, or at least that was the plan.
Greenwood’s first league opponent was slated to be the Little Rock Parkview Patriots, one of only three undefeated teams left in Class 6A, all of them from the 6A West. Besides Greenwood and Parkview, the other unbeaten team is Lake Hamilton, and that’s not to mention the Benton Panthers (1-2), who were picked #1 by Hooten’s Arkansas Football magazine during the pre-season. Both of their losses have come at the hands of 7A schools Bryant and Little Rock Catholic.
But instead of Parkview, the Bulldogs will now be hosting the Wolverines of Bentonville-West after Parkview cancelled its trip to Greenwood due to a Covid-19 outbreak at the school. Likewise, Bentonville-West’s scheduled opponent was Fayetteville, which also cancelled for the same reason, leaving both the Bulldogs and Wolverines looking for new opponents at the last minute. Thankfully, they found each other.
The matchup was especially needed by Bentonville-West, which had an open date last week after starting its season August 29th with a nationally televised 50-23 loss at Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Since then the Wolverines defeated Muskogee (OK) 41-0 and topped Little Rock Central, 35-12. Head Coach Brian Pratt surely didn’t want his players going two weeks without a game.
For Greenwood, this is already the second time in four weeks the opponent has suddenly changed. The first happened when Fort Smith Northside cancelled its trip to Greenwood on September 11th, again due to coronavirus concerns. Taking the Grizzlies’ spot was Springdale Har-Ber, and the result was a somewhat surprising 33-0 shutout for the ‘Dogs.
In the pre-season, Har-Ber was picked second in the powerful 7A West by Hooten’s Arkansas Football magazine, though the Wildcats have gotten off to a rocky 0-3 start against a killer non-conference schedule. Bentonville-West is also from the 7A West and was picked third by Hooten’s prior to the season. Greenwood is now a 10-point favorite over the Wolverines, according to the Hooten’s website. It should be an entertaining game.
The Wolverines have an experienced quarterback in senior Dalton McDonald (5-11, 175), who has completed 60 of 102 pass attempts this season for 677 yards and four touchdowns, with three interceptions. The senior, who also plays basketball and is light on his feet, threw for almost 2,000 yards last season in a run-oriented attack, connecting for 16 touchdowns. But he also threw 13 picks in 2019, a tendency Greenwood’s defense may be able to exploit.
The Bulldogs’ newest opponent returned 12 starters from last season, including experience at running back and receiver. Senior tailback Carlos Hall has 183 rushing yards and three touchdowns this season, while senior inside receiver Stephen Dyson had a big game against Broken Arrow with 15 catches for 185 yards.
Bentonville-West has reached the Class 7A state semi-finals each of the last two seasons under Coach Pratt, who started the Wolverines program five years ago when Bentonville split into two high schools. Overall, the Wolverines are also quite young this season, with 62 sophomores reporting for duty in June.
The Bulldogs remain unbeaten with wins over two Class 7A schools, Ft. Smith Southside and Har-Ber, plus last week’s victory over a very good Choctaw team highly ranked among Oklahoma’s Class 6A schools. Last Friday’s win also occurred without starting senior quarterback L.D. Richmond taking a snap, replaced by a pair of sophomores, Hunter Houston and Joe Trusty. Senior running back Hunter Wilkinson and senior defensive back and kick return specialist Jayden Jasna were also banged up and left the game in the first half as a precaution.
Prior to the contest, Coach Young had already determined that Richmond would not play. Whatever else it may have accomplished, the move effectively protected him from possible injury before the scheduled start of league play. It might have been surprising or disappointing for those who expected Richmond to play, but it did give his two sophomore backups a chance to showcase their skills and gain some experience. They are both talented, but still young and untested.
Hunter Houston, who got the start, and Joe Trusty, who relieved Houston later in the second half, played well at times, and both will continue to get reps in practice and during junior varsity games. But their inexperience showed at other times, including a pair of interceptions. Fortunately, the GHS defense kept the opposition at bay and ensured the win.
“It was a coaches’ decision,” said Young in explaining Richmond’s absence, adding that Houston was fully aware he would be the starter throughout the week of practice before the game. Houston, Trusty, and Storm Scherrey, all gifted sophomores, were in the QB mix throughout the summer and during pre-season drills before Richmond won the job.
Houston remained as the #2 QB while Trusty and Scherrey moved to other positions to utilize their talents elsewhere. But all that changed when Scherrey suffered a broken collarbone that will keep him out of action for most of the regular season, forcing the coaching staff to move Trusty back to quarterback for insurance. Thank goodness for depth.
On paper, Houston and Trusty put up good numbers, except for Houston’s two errant throws that ended up as interceptions. Houston completed 18 of 27 passes for 212 yards and three touchdowns, while Trusty completed four of his five attempts for 43 yards, including a 38-yard connection that set up Greenwood’s final score. Both players showed promise.
At the top of Greenwood’s receiving stats were junior Luke Brewer and senior Caden Brown with six catches each. Brewer led with 105 yards while Brown had 35, including two touchdowns. Senior receiver Peyton Carter and running back Hunter Wilkinson both had four catches, Carter for 72 yards and a touchdown and Wilkinson for 20 yards. Senior Jase Strozier also had a pair of grabs for 23 yards. Altogether the team had 255 yards through the air.
Greenwood’s rushing game is still a work in progress with Wilkinson suffering minor injuries that have limited his play early this season. Besides his four pass receptions, the senior tailback also ran 11 times for 51 yards. Senior backup Ty Moose replaced Wilkinson and ran 12 times for 43 yards. Hunter Houston kept the ball twice for 25 yards and Caden Brown had five yards on two touches. Subtract the 46 yards in losses and the ‘Dogs had a total of 78 positive yards on the ground, or 333 yards in total offense.
Defensively, the Bulldogs were led by senior linebacker Jordan Hanna with four solo tackles and 12 assists. Senior end Beau Asher had a pair of solo stops and eight assisted tackles, while junior defensive back Sebastian Crumb had three solo tackles and seven assists.
Junior linebacker Colt Owenby clocked in with three unassisted stops and six assists. Nose guard Tyler Crossno, a junior, had one solo tackle and seven assists, while seniors Tatum Sadler (DB) and Conner Marvin (LB) were in on six tackles each. Jordan Hanna was credited with three quarterback sacks, while Owenby had an interception and recovered a fumble.
“In the first half I thought our defense played really well,” said Coach Young. “The offense put them in some bad situations early on, but I thought [our defense] played well the first half. The second half they got a little tired and we gave up some long plays, which is uncharacteristic of us. I think there were four plays, that if you take [those] away, it was 200 yards of offense [for Choctaw]. I thought [our] offense picked it up the second half and began to move the ball and do some good things.”
As for withholding Richmond from the game, Young said, “That was a coaches’ decision. It was our last non-conference game and we wanted to get Hunter [Houston] some work, [but] L.D. is our starter. [And] I was proud of Hunter and how he played and the reps he got. He’s a sophomore, and that’s a tough environment for your first start, but we were pleased with how he played. It’s a tough situation to put a kid in for his first game [against a team] as athletic as Choctaw, with a safety going to OU. It’s a challenge, but I was really proud of how he responded.
“He threw three touchdown passes and had the two interceptions,” continued Young. “He got pressure and made a bad decision on a deep ball. [But] the one really bad decision was on the goal line when he underthrew it to Peyton [Carter]. That’s one he’d like to have back. But he seemed very poised. He kept himself under control and stepped up in the pocket and made some good runs with his feet. He’s going to be a good player for us. He’s a smart kid with a good arm, and he understands our offense.
“Then [Hunter] gets knocked out of the game and Joe Trusty comes in, another sophomore with a big arm. Hunter’s helmet came off earlier in the game and we brought Joe in. Everybody thinks we’re going to hand the ball off, so we knew we were going to get a loaded box [on defense], and we took a shot and Joe made a good throw.” The play set up a Greenwood’s touchdown.
“Joe throws the deep ball really well,” said his coach. “We know that as a coaching staff, and we felt like that was going to be an opportunity to take a shot. He got his chance and did a great job. Joe did some good things. He made a couple mistakes, but made some good throws as well. It was good experience for both those guys. They made some good plays and some bad plays, but that’s to be expected with young quarterbacks. But overall, we were pleased with them.”
Young also updated Houston’s status after the game. “Hunter took a good hit and we pulled him out as a precaution. We just wanted to be careful. He’s fine now, and he’ll be at practice Monday. We’ll be at full speed with our quarterbacks. All three of those guys will be back,” referring also to Richmond and Trusty.
“[Jayden Jasna] got a little banged up [shoulder], and hopefully we’ll have him back this week. Hunter [Wilkinson] got banged up, but we expect to have those guys back this week. [They] came in for treatment [on Saturday], and obviously they are still sore, but hopefully they will be ready to go [this week].”
Asked about the performance of senior running back Ty Moose, a state championship wrestler playing his first season on the gridiron, Young said, “Ty hasn’t played a lot of football, so he’s going to get better every game he plays. He came in and did a great job. The big thing with Ty is ball protection, and he did a great job holding on to the football and making some good cuts.”
As for the 6A West conference outlook, Young made his comments before the Parkview game was cancelled. It will be considered a “no contest”, which is too bad, considering the two teams are among the best in the state in Class 6A. How the missing game will impact the league standings and the playoffs at the end of the season remains to be seen.
“We knew our conference was going to be tough this year, with a lot of good football teams coming back,” he said. “Then you add in [new teams] Van Buren and Parkview. [I think] Van Buren would be undefeated if their quarterback hadn’t missed the last game. We know we’re in a loaded conference, but it will be fun.”
Indeed, the 6A West is loaded with good teams. Mountain Home and Siloam Springs are both improved at 2-1, as is Van Buren, which just dropped down from Class 7A this season. According to Hooten’s week four rankings, the league is home to the state’s top five 6A programs, starting with Greenwood and followed by Little Rock Parkview, Lake Hamilton, Benton, and Van Buren, with Siloam Springs eighth.
Friday’s contest with Bentonville-West will be played at Greenwood’s Smith-Robinson Stadium, still operating under Covid-19 restrictions that limit crowd size and require social distancing and the wearing of masks by all attendees. It will be the last home game until October 16th against Russellville, followed by Benton on the 23rd to close out the regular season home schedule.
Despite playing before smaller than normal crowds this season, Coach Young said his players always look forward to performing before their families, friends, and fans. “We enjoy playing at home in front of our crowd, so it will be a good environment,” he said. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
For fans unable to attend the game live, the Greenwood Dog Pound live stream broadcast is available for free, usually starting at 6:30 with the pre-game show. So far this season more than 5,000 viewers have tuned in for each internet telecast, representing over 60 countries worldwide. Tim Terry is the play-by-play announcer for the games. Go to www.greenwooddogpound.com and click on the “Watch Live” tab at the top of the page to follow the Bulldogs live every Friday night in 2020.