The Greenwood Bulldogs traveled to Washington County last Thursday to engage the Fayetteville Purple Dogs in a pre-season football scrimmage prior to the start of the 2020 campaign. The sky was clear, the sun was shining, and the weather was hot for the 6 p.m. kickoff.
And while first-year GHS head coach Chris Young had some good things to say about his team’s performance, he was not happy with two critical first-half turnovers that led to both of Fayetteville’s early touchdowns. Still, the Purple Dogs narrowly won the scrimmage on the scoreboard, 22-21, aided by a safety that gave them a 16-7 lead after one half.
But neither coaching staff cared much about the score, since the scrimmage was played by special rules, including protecting yellow-clad quarterbacks from contact and not returning kickoffs or punts. Both teams employed their top players in the first half, followed by mostly junior varsity players in the second half, mixing in a few starters.
Fayetteville’s head coach is Casey Dick, the former Arkansas Razorback quarterback who took the job in 2019 after beginning his coaching career at Van Buren. On his staff as defensive coordinator is Kenneth Chick, a longtime GHS assistant and defensive coordinator for recently departed head coach Rick Jones.
Each quarter was 12 minutes long, but without the usual starts and stops of the clock as in a normal game, and the scrimmage lasted about two hours in real time. There was also a junior high scrimmage before the varsity players took the field. The Jr. Bulldogs won their contest handily, 42-20.
Greenwood’s opening possession was piloted by senior quarterback L.D. Richmond and consisted of 11 plays and a trio of first downs before turning the ball over after a failed fourth down pass attempt at the Fayetteville 25.
After the GHS defense forced a three-and-out by the Purple Dogs’ offense, Greenwood’s second possession ended with a pass interception and return to the Fayetteville 41. Five snaps later, the home team connected on a 45-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open receiver. The point after was good for a 7-0 lead.
The next two possessions ended with punts by each team, but Greenwood’s fourth offensive series ended with a fumble after a completed pass to senior receiver Peyton Carter. Fayetteville recovered the ball at its own 42-yard-line. Seven plays later the Purple Dogs scored on a 30-yard touchdown pass. The kick made it 14-0 early in the second quarter.
The Bulldogs finally scored on their next possession after an 80-yard drive of 10 plays. The points came on a 14-yard toss from Richmond to senior receiver Jase Strozier. With Jayden Jasna holding, senior kicker Luis Morales added the extra point, cutting the Fayetteville lead in half at 14-7.
Just over three minutes later, Richmond suffered a phantom sack when he was whistled down by the officials in the Greenwood end zone for a safety. The scenario was set up when the Bulldogs failed to field a punt that rolled dead inside the 1-yard-line. The starters ended their half of play with Fayetteville up 16-7.
The visitors used several quarterbacks in the second half, starting with sophomore Hunter Houston. But Fayetteville’s junior varsity struck first, scoring late in the third quarter on a 22-yard pass, making the score 22-7, failing on the subsequent two-point try. It was the Purple Dogs’ final score of the scrimmage.
Greenwood’s comeback began three possessions later, starting with a 44-yard drive led by sophomore QB Joe Trusty. Junior Cameron Krone rushed three times for 10 yards, while Trusty ran once for eight yards and completed passes to sophomore Storm Scherrey and senior Caden Brown, the latter of which covered five yards and resulted in a touchdown. Junior kicker Ben Moy added the PAT, cutting the Fayetteville lead to 22-14 with about eight minutes left in the scrimmage.
The GHS defense then did its job again, forcing a quick punt by the Purple Dogs, giving the ball back to the Bulldogs’ offense at their own 32-yard-line with plenty of time remaining. Houston re-entered the game to direct Greenwood’s final scoring drive. Storm Scherrey had also taken a few snaps earlier in the second half.
The possession included nine plays, seven of which were passes, six of them complete from Houston to Scherrey, senior Camden Carter, sophomore Aiden Kennon, and junior Bryce Caldwell. The touchdown came on a five-yard toss from Houston to Kennon. The extra point made the final score, 22-21, in favor of the Purple Dogs.
Less than 24 hours later, Coach Young gave an interview to the Dog Pound, analyzing the scrimmage results and providing a position-by-position overview of the 2020 Bulldogs (related article to follow). Even with the departure of Coach Jones, Greenwood is still one of the favorites to compete for the 6A state title under Young and his revamped and highly qualified staff.
“In the first half of the scrimmage, [Fayetteville] scored two touchdowns and we scored one,” said Young, “and they scored both touchdowns off turnovers. We turned the ball over twice on first down. Once on an interception. The quarterback was trying to make a play and made a bad decision, but it’s his first game in three years as a quarterback, so those things are going to happen. That’s why we have scrimmages.
“The second turnover was after a [pass] completion to Peyton Carter, who ran for a first down, but the ball got knocked out. So we need to do a better job getting a second hand on the ball. Both of those turnovers led to touchdowns for Fayetteville. That’s what we talked to our kids about this morning. Not only does a turnover keep us from scoring, but it gives the other team a big advantage. So we’ve got to do a better job of protecting the football.”
Asked how the loss of spring football and the long layoff caused by the pandemic has impacted his team, Young said, “We can make that excuse, but Fayetteville was in the same boat. The thing we’re behind on is game reps for our quarterbacks. We’ve got four quarterbacks who have worked hard for us, but those guys have not played on a Friday night, any of them. So we’ve got to get those reps.
“I think L.D. [Richmond] has won the [starting] job and is going to be a good quarterback for us. But he’s got to get those reps to get better. He played the first half [in the scrimmage]. Right now, he’s our #1, and Hunter Houston is #2,” said the new head coach and 20-year veteran of GHS football.
“The other ones we have not given up on by any means. We just feel like they can play right now on Friday night at other positions. We will continue to work them at quarterback. Coach Watson will work with them after practice and on weekends. [But] we think Storm [Scherrey] can make a difference at running back and Joe [Trusty] can make a difference at defensive end. The defensive [coaches] love him. He’s explosive off the ball and he’s a great athlete. They are two of our best athletes and we don’t want to keep them as a third or fourth quarterback on the sideline.”
Regarding Richmond’s performance at Fayetteville, he added, “At times [L.D.] was really good, but at times his decision-making – obviously the interception – it was first down and he’s just trying to make a play. But [wearing] a yellow jersey hurts L.D. It takes away his athleticism. We think he’s going to be great when plays break down. That’s going to be the strength of his game.
“I’m not sure, from a coaching standpoint, that we put our kids in the best position with the yellow jerseys. It caused us some issues defensively with guys slowing down. It’s hard for officials to know whether to blow [the play] dead or keep it going. There’s some uncertainty there. I think in the future we’re probably going to open [things] up and not do that again. The flip side is you want to keep your quarterback healthy in the scrimmage, so there’s some give and take, and that’s something we will discuss next year.
“We [also] did not do a good job up front in pass protection, so he was on the move a lot. He made a couple poor decisions, but he made some good plays too. We knew there were going to be some growing pains, but we have no concerns about him down the road. We think [L.D.] is going to be a good player for us.”
Critiquing his receivers, Young said, “We lost Luke Brewer, who probably had the best fall camp of all our guys. He sprained his wrist the day before the scrimmage, so we held [him] out. He’ll be back, but we put [senior] Camden Carter in and were really impressed with how he played. He caught the ball well and blocked great on the edge. We were very happy with him.
“[Senior] Jase Strozier made a great play on the touchdown catch and blocked well. [But] our other guys have got to play better. Peyton [Carter] had the fumble and a couple drops. Caden Brown, we’ve got to find a way to get the ball in his hands in space, because he’s such a deep threat. I think we will see those two play much better moving forward. They have the ability to be difference-makers for us. We’ve got to get them the ball and they’ve got to do something with it.
“The young wide receivers I thought were great. Aiden Kennon and Tanner McKusker both caught several balls and made plays after the catch. I think those guys are going to battle for a backup position. Those guys were really #3s and they kind of moved their way up and have a chance to play for us on Friday nights.”
Asked about senior running back Hunter Wilkinson, Young said, “We’re going to limit Hunter’s touches early in the year, but we were happy with how he played. He’s very physical. He ran physical and made some good cuts. He did a great job on the fly sweep around the edge for Caden [Brown]. He had the one bust on pass protection on the safety.
“Hunter’s going to be a good player for us. We’re really concerned with finding guys to take reps away from him right now – guys that can rest him for [a few] plays here and there. I think Storm [Scherrey] and Cameron Krone and Caden Brown in the backfield we can steal some reps. We moved [Storm] to running back. We see him being able to give [Wilkinson] a break, but also do some things with both of them in the backfield. With Hunter and Storm, and L.D. at quarterback, we’ve got three great athletes in the backfield. That will probably be a package we’ll work on going forward.”
Young also answered a question about the second half comeback by his Bulldogs against Fayetteville. “That was really our young guys like Aiden Kennon, Tanner McKusker, and two different quarterbacks (Houston and Trusty) that led scoring drives. Storm came in and made some great plays. So we were really happy with our young guys late and their ability to move the ball and put some points on the board.”
As for his defense, Coach Young said, “I thought against the run they played very well. We were happy with how they played. I thought the defensive front really controlled [Fayetteville’s] running game. Obviously, we got beat deep on those two [pass] plays, [so] we’ve got to do better, and we’ve got to get a pass rush too, so the quarterback doesn’t have time.”
The coach also wasn’t too concerned about some of the missed tackles in the scrimmage. “You’re going to have missed tackles,” he said. “That’s the first time we’ve been live, and I think tackling will improve every week. There’s going to be some missed tackles, but at the same time we’ve got to make guys miss, and we didn’t do that offensively. That’s an area we’ve got to improve in.”
When asked about the overall quality of play statewide this season, Young said, “I think we’ll probably see more mistakes early. But I think we will catch up very quickly. I think the first couple weeks you will see a little bit of rust. But I think we’ll improve in a hurry and we’ll play much better. You’ll see a ton of improvement in week one and the same thing in week two. But it’s everybody, so it’s relative.”
The Bulldogs open their season on September 4th at Fort Smith Southside. They will then host three consecutive games starting with Fort Smith Northside on the 11th, followed by Choctaw, Oklahoma on the 18th, and Little Rock Parkview on the 25th, concluding the month. The Parkview game is the first of seven 6A West conference contests including games with Mountain Home, Siloam Springs, Russellville, Benton, Van Buren, and Lake Hamilton.