The Greenwood Junior High Bulldogs hope an extra week of practice will better prepare them for Thursday’s season opener at Farmington. Head Coach Luke Hales and his staff have been working hard since July 31st to mold this year’s crop of ninth graders into a cohesive unit to compete in their conference-heavy schedule that includes only one non-league opponent, Sallisaw, Oklahoma, on September 28th. Greenwood will play nine conference contests this fall, starting with Farmington.
Unlike the GHS varsity Bulldogs, the freshmen ‘Dogs did not play last week – week zero – but got an extra week of pre-season practice instead. That also means there will be no open week this season for the Jr. Bulldogs, which is fine with Coach Hales and his team. In the past an open week was a rarity in prep football. Due to the heat, the team has held many recent practices indoors at the GMAC facility to keep players out of the direct sunlight.
Of genuine concern for Hales and his staff is the possibility that Greenwood’s toughest conference opponent could well be the Jr. Cardinals this week. Other league games this season include Prairie Grove, Dardanelle, Van Buren, Harrison, Siloam Springs, Pea Ridge, Shiloh Christian, and Alma. The young head coach knows his team has a tall task ahead of them. Kickoff Thursday is set for 7 p.m.
Hales recently talked with the Greenwood Dog Pound about his team and the upcoming season, including a few comments about his team’s performance against Fayetteville in their pre-season scrimmage on August 15th. Entering his second season at the helm of the Jr. Bulldogs, Hales continues to be assisted by coaches Eric Daniel, Brian Sims, and Easton Barrett.
Hales, who turns 25 in October, was asked about lessons he learned in his first year as head coach in 2022 after being promoted late in the pre-season due to the unexpected departure of former head coach Shannon Rhea. The former GHS star quarterback quickly credited his staff of assistant coaches, particularly Daniel and Sims, for helping him make the transition.
“I learned a lot about managing the game, working the clock, setting up practice plans, and communicating with players – all kinds of stuff. It’s really been a great experience, and having guys on staff that have been head coaches, in Coach Sims and Coach Daniel, has been really beneficial for me. They coach me up and show me what it’s supposed to look like. It’s been awesome.”
But the head coach was not pleased with the offensive performance of his squad against Fayetteville, a 7A school with access to a much larger pool of athletes. “It was not good,” he said without elaborating. “Our defense did really well, but our offense not so well. We found some things we needed to work on [offensively], but we’re really pleased with our defense. Coach Daniel is doing an awesome job getting those guys to play hard for him.”
When asked about his roster, Hales said, “We’ve got 48 players in ninth grade, and a really good group of kids that work hard and do well in the classroom. We have a higher grade point average than the past two years since I’ve been on staff. They’re just an awesome group of kids to coach.” Numbers across the entire junior high have been on the rise in football, with the seventh and eighth graders having about 70 players each, all of which bodes well for the future of GHS football.
“Our bye week is this week,” said Hales when queried about not playing in week zero like the varsity. “We had a bye week scheduled for middle or late September, but we were able to move Sallisaw to that date, so we’re going to play ten straight weeks. We had to get a non-conference game and it just worked out best for them and us on that date.” That decision gave the Jr. Bulldogs an extra week of pre-season practice, a full two weeks before and after their Fayetteville scrimmage.
“I see that as a huge positive,” said the coach. “We saw a lot of things that we did well in the scrimmage and a lot of things we need to work on, so having two-plus weeks between the scrimmage and our first game to work on those things is awesome. We’ve really been getting after it [the last two weeks].” Not having an open date in the middle of the season isn’t a major concern for Hales, his staff, or players. “These kids need to play,” he said. “If they would let us play 11 or 12 games, I would do it. We expect our high school kids to play 14 games every year.”
The coach then went down the list of known of potential starters, beginning with his defense. “Jacob Berry is going to be our main defensive end,” said Hales. “He’s a really talented kid that will be the anchor of our defense. He’s probably 6’4” or 6’5”. He’s super tall and long and he’s gotten quite muscular this offseason. He’s filled out a little this year, and we’re really excited about him, and I know the high school coaches are too. Jacob is #95. Also on the D-line we will have Braxton Moore, Charlie Hudnall, Tatum Fair, Ethan Schumate – we’ve got a bunch of guys we can rotate up front on the defensive side of the ball.
“At linebacker, Elijah Rillamas is one of our best guys. He’s a great tackler. He’s very physical and kind of gets us lined up. He’s one of the leaders of our defense. He’s #44. We’re also really pleased with a kid named Brock Shepard, who moved in from Memphis. He’s a really good player and a good kid. He’s come on really fast. We’re super pleased with those two guys at linebacker, as well as Griffin Mourton. He’s a great kid the high school coaches are really excited about. We’ll also try to work Ty Freeman, Rodney Wirth, and some other guys at linebacker as well.
“We have a plethora of guys in the secondary, I hope,” said the coach. “At safeties we have Bailey Thibodeau and Thomas Newcity. Those are two great kids that are really good for us. Austin Williams is another guy who can rotate and play anywhere. Kyler Scott is another player that’s developed well for us, and we like him on the defensive side of the ball. Brody Pass is another kid who will play in the secondary for us.” The coach also mentioned A.J. Saengsatheuane, who will serve in a hybrid role somewhere between the secondary and linebacker. He wears #32.
As for his offense, the coach took some of the blame for their poor performance in the scrimmage, saying, “It starts with myself and the offensive coaches. We’ve got to do a better job coaching these kids up, and that’s totally on us. But these kids are going to do some really good stuff for us this year.
“At quarterback is Braden Brewer. He’s #9. Then at receiver we have Ty Holt, Cooper Webb, and Brayden Renick. Hagen Moses joined the team in the off-season, and he’s done well. Ty Freeman will play some at receiver also. Our running back is a really good player. We might be more excited about him than anybody on offense, and that’s Mario Dunbar. I know Coach Holloway is excited to get him up there (varsity) next year. He’s not tall, but he’s very strong. He’s one of the strongest kids we have in the weight room. He is really built and protects the ball well and is hard to bring down. If we can create some holes for him up front, I think he’s going to have a great year. Another running back that will play for us is Danh Nguyen.”
Backing up Brewer at the QB position are several players, according to Hales. “Ty Holt played quarterback in seventh grade, so he can do it. Brayden Renick has repped some at quarterback, but those guys mainly play other positions, so hopefully we won’t have to use them at quarterback. But Brayden [Brewer] is a leader and a great kid. This will be his second year playing the position. He played receiver in the seventh grade. He’s an awesome kid. He’s got a really strong arm. He’s a big, tall, strong kid who can throw it a mile. He just needs to keep developing.”
Finally, the coach talked about his offensive line. “Charlie Hudnall will be a leader for us at left tackle. He’s going to play both sides of the ball some, but [mostly] at left tackle. In the middle we have Jacob Releford. He’s really improved over the last three years, and we’re pleased with how he’s developed. He’s a good kid. Hunter Wallace will play some guard for us. Alex Vanderwatt is a kid we picked up in the offseason that will do really well for us, we think, along with Jacob Wright, who is a big, tall, strong kid we’re working with at right tackle. Hal Davis is a big right guard who is doing a really good job for us.
“We’ve got some size,” said the coach. “We don’t have these younger kids measured, but we were big last year. We were huge last year. I don’t know if we will be quite that big up front, but it seems like these kids have grown up a lot since January. We’re going to be a developmental group, but that’s what makes it fun. We’re going to get better as we go, and these kids just continue to show up and put in the work, and they will have an awesome year.”
Asked about team depth and his ability to play kids just one way, either on offense or defense, Hales said, “We hope so. We want to start 22 kids. That’s the goal for the junior high program, to start 22 kids in each grade. But we’ll see. Also wrapped up in that is trying to compete and give our team the best opportunity to win. But we want to start 22 and we’ll do our best to do that.” The coach also mentioned that Landon Franklin will be the team’s kicker this season. “He’s a good one,” said Hales. The punting position is still unsettled.
As for the 2023 schedule, Coach Hales expects Farmington, Harrison, Van Buren, Alma, and Shiloh Christian to be among the toughest teams in conference play. “They have an awesome junior high program, and they had one of the best eighth grade teams we played last year,” said Hales of Farmington. “So we’ve got to be ready to roll and hit the ground running, because we may play the best team we face all year in our very first game.