The Greenwood Junior High Bulldogs are now in the drivers’ seat in the River Valley Conference (RVC) race after defeating previously unbeaten Harrison (7-1) last Thursday night, 17-13, at Smith-Robinson Stadium. The Jr. ‘Dogs are now 6-1 overall and 5-0 in league play with two regular season games remaining.
Thursday’s contest was played 13 days before Halloween, and the Jr. Goblins came to town as the defending RVC champions, averaging nearly 40 points a game, while yielding less than 10 points per contest. Last season Harrison roared back from a 21-0 deficit to beat visiting Greenwood, 28-27.
The visitors’ won the opening coin toss and chose to start the game on defense, kicking off to the Jr. ‘Dogs, the ball sailing out-of-bounds. Starting at its own 40, Greenwood drove 51 yards in 10 plays, reaching the 9-yard-line. After the next snap left them facing fourth down at the 13, kicker Ben Moy booted a 30-yard field goal to put the home team up 3-0 (3:49). Those three points proved to be pivotal.
During the drive, the Jr. Bulldogs kept the ball on the ground for seven consecutive plays, with Colin Dagget, Cameron Krone, and Noah Jantzen accounting for 17 tough yards against a solid Harrison defense.
But facing fourth-and-three at the Goblins’ 43, Jantzen rolled to his right and fired an off-balance pass downfield to receiver Luke Brewer, who caught the ball while battling a defender for possession at the 17-yard-line. Four snaps later Moy split the uprights for a 3-0 Greenwood lead.
The remainder of the first half was dominated by the opposing defenses. Harrison drove to the Greenwood 9-yard-line on its first possession, but missed a 26-yard field goal that would have tied the score.
The Jr. ‘Dogs also came up with a pair of pass interceptions to keep the visitors off the scoreboard. The first pick was made by Colin Dagget, who snagged a tipped pass deep in Greenwood territory. The second interception was by Bryce Caldwell at the Greenwood goal line after a desperation pass on fourth-and-long by the Jr. Goblins.
After the second pick, the Jr. ‘Dogs drove 94 yards in nine plays to inside the Harrison 10. The biggest play was a deep pass from Jantzen to Caldwell, who made a great fingertip catch at the Goblins’ 20-yard-line. The play down the home sideline covered 54 yards.
But with time running out and only one timeout left, Greenwood failed to score after reaching the 4-yard-line. With seconds remaining, Jantzen fired an incomplete pass in the end zone as the half ended.
Still leading 3-0, Greenwood kicked off to start the second half, and Harrison drove 65 yards in 12 plays to take the lead, 7-3. After converting a fourth-and-three play from the five, the touchdown came on a 1-yard run. The extra point put the visitors up 7-3 (3:33).
Greenwood’s first and only offensive series of the third quarter ended with an interception by Harrison at the visitors’ 28-yard-line, temporarily preserving the Jr. Goblins’ lead. But the home defense was up to the task, forcing a punt and putting the ball back into the hands of the Jr. ‘Dogs’ offense with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Three minutes and nine plays later Greenwood retook the lead with 4:00 left to play. With Colin Dagget sidelined with an injury after returning a Harrison punt, Cameron Krone ran for 15 yards on first down to the home 31-yard-line, then twice more to the 42, giving the offense great momentum.
Five snaps later Greenwood was at the Harrison 42 facing fourth-and-two, when Jantzen faked a handoff to Krone, who was immediately buried in the backfield by two defenders. After a slight hesitation, and with almost everyone in the stadium thinking the play was over, Jantzen took off around right end and followed the right hashmark all the way for the touchdown, beating a lone defender along the way. Moy’s kick put the Bulldogs on top, 10-7.
Still, the contest was far from over, even with less than four minutes remaining. Harrison was more than capable of scoring again to tie the game or retake the lead. But a pass interception by linebacker Fletcher Gill at the 3:16 mark proved to be the defensive play of the night, giving Greenwood the football at the Jr. Goblins’ 32-yard-line.
The visiting defense wasn’t about to lay down, however, forcing Greenwood into a fourth down situation at the 30, needing eight yards to move the sticks. Too far away for a field goal, and too close for a punt, the Jr. ‘Dogs lined up in a trick formation, with quarterback Noah Jantzen shifting right to wide receiver and Sebastian Crumb slipping in behind center.
With the snap, Crumb looked deep under pressure as Jantzen streaked down the home sideline inside the 10, making the catch over the shorter defender and falling out-of-bounds at the two. Cameron Krone scored on the next play and Moy’s extra point put Greenwood up 17-7 (1:48).
The game then came to a halt when a Goblins’ player collapsed to the turf near the 15-yard-line following the extra point. Medical staff and coaches from both sidelines converged at the scene and the young man remained on his back for several minutes before an ambulance arrived to take him to a Fort Smith hospital to get checked out with an apparent rib injury.
When played resumed more than 20 minutes later, Greenwood kicked off out-of-bounds, giving the visitors the football at their own 40. Harrison then drove 60 yards in 10 plays, using its last timeout, scoring on a 1-yard-run with 36 seconds left to play. But the extra point failed, leaving Greenwood up 17-13.
All that remained was for the Jr. ‘Dogs to successfully cover the ensuing on-side kick, which they did as Greenwood’s Tyler Crossno grabbed the high-bounding football at midfield to secure the win. Jantzen took one snap and knelt to run out the remaining time.
After the game, Head Coach Shannon Rhea expressed both pleasure and relief at his team’s victory. He began his comments with high praise for Harrison. “That was a good game,” he said. “They battled,” referring to Harrison. “Their team is well-coached, and they get after you.
“[This win] was a compliment [to us],” he continued. “We got down 7-3, then made the turnover (interception), and we could have given up, but we’ve been stressing “finish” this year, and it worked out tonight, because we finished in the fourth quarter.”
Asked about his team’s defensive play, a strength all season, Coach Rhea said, “[Harrison] has so many formations, we had to keep our eyes where they needed to be. We probably misaligned on a lot of [plays], but our kids really played hard and got after the ball. We made it hard for [the Goblins]. They didn’t have anything easy. I’m real proud of our defense.
“We made some mistakes [offensively] in the first half, but we came out in the fourth quarter and made some great drives. Some guys were really tired and sore, but they came through.”
Regarding the two key offensive plays of the second half, the coach was somewhat coy. He said of Jantzen’s long run after a great fake handoff, “Our running back was probably too deep and [Jantzen] just pulled it and ran. It was a great play on his part.”
Asked if that was a called play from the sidelines, Rhea replied with a smile, “I’m not going to say that. It was just a smart play on his part, I’ll say that. The ref told me, ‘Coach, you better be glad we didn’t blow an early whistle, because I didn’t know who had the ball either. So the officials were fooled too.”
As for the game-winning touchdown, Rhea said of the fourth-and-long situation at the 30, “If we punted and it rolls into the end zone, we’re not going to gain [much], so we took a shot. Coach [Josh] Holloway had a great play called, and I said, ‘Go with it.’ We’re here to win, not punt it to them and play defense. We put some special stuff in for this game, and Coach Holloway did a great job calling plays. [Jantzen] is one of our fastest kids, and he turned on the jets and caught it.
Asked about the remainder of the schedule, Coach Rhea said, “We’ve got Van Buren and Alma, and we’ve got to finish, so we’ve got to play [well] and we’ve got to finish it.”
The Jr. ‘Dogs will host Van Buren (3-5, 3-2) next Thursday at 7 p.m. at Smith-Robinson Stadium before closing the season at Alma (6-2, 4-1) on November 1st. Alma beat Van Buren last Thursday, 25-0, and will play at Harrison next week. Should Alma win that game, the Jr. Airedales could be playing Greenwood for the River Valley Conference crown in the season finale.