The Greenwood Junior High Bulldogs are nearly a third of the way through their 2019 schedule and own a 2-1 overall record after last Thursday’s 27-10 victory over the Russellville Whirlwinds. The game was played at Smith-Robinson Stadium and was the first home contest for the team this season.
A week earlier the Jr. ‘Dogs fell to an excellent North Little Rock team, 35-19, after opening the season on September 5th with a 14-6 win at Shiloh Christian in Springdale. Greenwood opens River Valley Conference play next Thursday at home against Fort Smith Ramsey.
North Little Rock
The Wildcats are one of the top junior high teams in the state and have proved it by defeating Greenwood twice in 2018-19. Head Coach Shannon Rhea scheduled the games because of difficulty in finding quality non-conference opponents for his Jr. Bulldogs in recent years due to their own success against other teams in the region.
The Greenwood freshmen battled hard against the physically dominant Wildcats, trailing 21-6 at the half before cutting their deficit to just eight points, 27-19, before North Little Rock added a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns.
All three of the Bulldogs’ scores came via the pass, all from quarterback Hunter Houston. The first touchdown was a 70-yard reception-and-run by Storm Scherrey in the first half.
The second score was a 65-yard strike to Aiden Kennon in the third quarter, followed by another aerial connection between Houston and Kennon later in the second half. That play covered 20 yards.
Following the loss, Coach Rhea talked about his team and their tough North Little Rock opponents. He tipped his hat to the Wildcats and made observations about his team’s successes and need for improvement.
“It was a neat place to play. They’ve got a nice stadium,” said Rhea. “They’re real good athletes. We’re not going to see anybody [else] that physically looks like them.
“But I was proud of the way our kids battled. They could have laid down, but they kept on plugging away, and we got it pretty close in the second half. We didn’t make it easy on them, I know that. It really showed what we need to work on.
“We competed,” said the coach, “but we’ve just got to clean up some things and make sure we’ve got the guys where they need to be,” referring to some issues with substitution patterns.
Russellville
This past Thursday a couple of afternoon showers cooled the late summer September heat, allowing for much better playing conditions at kickoff. The game time temperature was a welcome 79 degrees.
It was a strange game – disjointed due to a plethora of penalties – and weird because Greenwood took only six offensive snaps in the entire first half, yet led 13-10 at the break.
The Jr. ‘Dogs also had a touchdown called back due to penalty, dropped another touchdown pass, and had a potential touchdown nullified by an inadvertent whistle from the officiating crew.
After giving up a touchdown to the Whirlwinds on the game’s opening possession, the Greenwood defense tightened up and allowed only a second period field goal. The home defense also had two pass interceptions, one of which was returned for a first half score.
Russellville marched 60 yards in 13 plays on their opening drive, scoring on a fourth down TD pass from 14 yards out. The extra point was good, and the visitors led 7-0 at the 1:59 mark of the opening quarter.
The Whirlwinds then executed an on-side kick, getting a perfect high hop that bounced off a Greenwood player and was recovered by Russellville at its own 44. But after reaching the 49, the visitors turned the ball over when a pass was tipped by the intended receiver and was picked off by Greenwood’s Adian Gray.
Gray grabbed the ball at the home 38 and found open ground ahead of him down the Greenwood sideline, picking up blockers as he went. With his teammates’ assistance, Gray eluded the only defender to get near him and strutted into the end zone with a defensive touchdown. Kicker J.T. Stanfill added the extra point to tie the game at 7-all.
After Russellville was forced to punt, the Greenwood offense finally got on the field early in the second quarter, and appeared to score a touchdown on their first snap, a swing pass to running back Javon Williamson that went down the Russellville sideline for 59 yards. But a holding penalty nullified the play.
A Greenwood punt was then blocked, but the home defense picked up the offense by stuffing a fourth down try by the the Whirlwinds, giving the football back to the Bulldogs. After taking a loss on first down, quarterback Hunter Houston found a wide-open Aiden Kennon over the middle near mid-field for a 72-yard scoring strike.
The extra point failed, but Greenwood led 13-7 with just under three minutes remaining in the half, and that’s when things got weird. Russellville marched 51 yards to the home 16-yard-line with three ticks left on the clock, setting up a 33-yard field goal try, which was blocked by Greenwood’s Adian Gray and picked up by Evan Williams.
But apparently one of the officials blew an inadvertent whistle while the clock also failed to run, leaving players and coaches wondering what had happened. Williams haltingly walked, then trotted his way to the end zone, for what should have been a Greenwood touchdown, but the play was called back.
After a huddle by the officials, Russellville was given the option to try another field goal, which they made, cutting the Greenwood lead to 13-10 at the intermission. Despite the confusion, it would be the visitor’s last points of the game.
The Jr. ‘Dogs scored twice more and missed another scoring chance in the second half, while the home defense continued its dominance of the Russellville offense.
Greenwood’s second offensive possession of the half started at the home 24-yard-line after a penalty. A pair of running plays netted eight yards to the 32 before Houston faked a handoff and kept the ball himself, finding an open lane through the middle of the defense all the way to the end zone, a 68-yard scoring play. The PAT was good.
Leading 20-10, the Jr. Bulldogs traded punts with Russellville as the game moved into the fourth quarter. Early in the period the home team missed out on another score when a potential touchdown pass was dropped, but then added their final score minutes later after the defense grabbed another interception.
Evan Williams picked off the Russellville pass at the home 23 and returned it all the way to the Russellville 20. Then on first down quarterback Storm Scherrey found Kennon for yet another touchdown in the left front corner of the end zone. Stanfill added the extra point to make the final score, 27-10.
Afterward, Coach Rhea spoke highly of Russellville. “They’ve got some athletes,” he said. “That quarterback is pretty good and their line is physical. It was a game. We had too many penalties and shot ourselves in the foot too many times, but we overcame it. We made stops when we had to.”
The coach also talked about the halting nature of the contest, with both teams passing the ball, stopping the clock, plus the numerous penalties. “There was a lot of down time. It wasn’t smooth. But I’m glad our guys kept their poise and played. They could have gotten up tight, but they did a good job of staying in the game.
“Our defense got a pick (interception) and scored, then we had an inadvertent whistle. They blew the ball dead and [Russellville] got their choice. They had to replay the down because the clock didn’t run either,” Rhea explained.
Rhea also talked about his passing game and the big plays that have accounted for most of his team’s points so far this season. “Our receivers and quarterbacks have been doing well hitting the long ball,” he said. “That’s been saving us, but we’ve got to get better running the ball and more physical on the line. We’ve got to have some guys step up and play.”
As for his defense, Rhea remains pleased with what he’s seen so far this season. “They were on the field a long time tonight, but I was proud of them. [Russellville] got their 10 points in the first half, but [our defense] sucked it up and made some plays.
“Storm Scherrey had some real good hits on the quarterback. He did a real good job of coming off the edge. We put Colton Castillow in at middle linebacker. He’s probably the smallest guy on the team, but he’s just a ball player. He’s got good instincts and he’s a good tackler,” said Rhea.
“Offensively we did some good things too,” he added. “We’ve just got to get our running game going, and we will. [Russellville] did a good job of shooting off the edges and shutting us down, but that left the passing game open too.”