The Greenwood Bulldogs hosted the Fayetteville Bulldogs last Thursday in a pre-season scrimmage at Smith-Robinson Stadium. Despite the August heat, a nice crowd turned out on the home side that was partially shaded.

But the scripted tilt was interrupted by lightning and a thunderstorm just as the second half begin. Both teams left the field in the hope that play could be resumed, but that notion was quickly dispelled as a series of storms moved across the area throughout the evening and night.

Both teams did get to play their varsity starters in the first half, narrowly won by Greenwood 21-17, though keeping track of the score was not the object of the scrimmage for either head coach.

The scrum started slowly with the defenses dominating early. Both teams were forced to punt through the first five possessions. But on Greenwood’s third offensive series the Bulldogs cashed in after a big play set up a scoring chance at the Fayetteville 25.

On first down from the GHS 24, junior Caden Brown rumbled 51 yards down the sideline on an end around. Three snaps later, facing third-and-18, senior quarterback Jace Presley connected with senior receiver Caden Taylor near the 15-yard-line, who made the catch and carried in for the score.

Senior kicker Jackson Stewart added the extra point for a 7-0 GHS lead. But the visiting Purple Dogs responded quickly.

Fayetteville scored on its first snap from its own 30-yard-line, completing a deep pass down the middle of the field for a touchdown. The PAT tied the score at 7-7.

The Bulldogs then put together an 11-play drive to retake the lead, sparked by a sliding catch at midfield by senior receiver Lazaro Angel. Presley later completed a pass to junior receiver Peyton Carter for 29 yards to the Fayetteville 7-yard-line.

Junior running back Hunter Wilkinson later scored from one yard out and Stewart added the extra point for a 14-7 GHS advantage.

The next score came early in the second quarter on a mid-range field goal by Fayetteville, cutting the Greenwood lead to 14-10.

The home team scored its final touchdown with 5:24 left before the half after a six-play drive that ended with a 45-yard pass from Presley to Wilkinson. Stewart’s kick made it 21-10.

But Fayetteville rallied with its last touchdown just moments later, completing another deep pass for 48 yards and six points. The extra point made the score 21-17.

The Purple Dogs got close enough to try another field goal in the final seconds of the first half, but the kick fell just short, keeping it a four-point contest before the half expired.

Greenwood Head Coach Rick Jones talked about the scrimmage in a brief interview earlier this week. As one might expect, the longtime and ultra-successful GHS coach saw plenty of areas for improvement by his team with two weeks to go before opening the season at home against Fort Smith Northside.

“It was sort of a mixed bag,” he said. “There were some good things and some things not so good.

“For the most part we threw and caught [the ball] fairly well. But we didn’t run the ball nearly as well as we needed to. We didn’t handle [Fayetteville] very well up front, and we got sacked too many times. Defensively we gave up big plays,” he said.

“It’s impossible to take those plays out, but overall I thought the defense played well,” he added. “They didn’t run the ball consistently on us. [Fayetteville] had a big offensive line, but I thought our guys battled. We competed hard. I think Fayetteville is better than they were last year.”

As for the two big plays surrendered by the GHS defense, Jones said, “It’s part of the way we’ve adapted our defense. We take a little more risk defensively.

“We try to make something happen with a little more aggressive approach. We try to undercut routes and make it difficult for them. But they executed well and made catches. We’ve got to cover better than we did, but that’s going to happen. That’s part of it. It’s the nature of the beast.

“Our offense has to be efficient with the ball. We try to score all the time, but we want to score on at least 50% of our possessions. The defense and offense need to complement each another, and we think we’re doing a better job of that,” he said, referring to the speed of play and the importance of offensive momentum.

“For a first scrimmage, being a week earlier than it was the year before, there was good and bad. It obviously gives us stuff to work on. That’s why we scrimmage good people,” said Jones.

He also spoke about the so-called “zero week” allowing teams to begin their season this coming Friday, August 30th. Both Fayetteville and Northside will play their first games this week, while Greenwood does not play until September 6th.

“It gives us two full weeks to get ready and get everything lined out,” said the coach. “Northside plays zero week, and it’s probably an advantage to have that game under your belt. This Friday Northside is playing Rogers Heritage.

“But everybody’s got 10 games, so I’m not going to worry a lot about when they get scheduled. We just have to play them when they come,” said Jones.

Asked about senior quarterback Jace Presley, Jones was complimentary of his well-seasoned starter who’s been waiting in the wings for a couple of years.”

In addition to three years of junior high football, Presley has started the last two years on the junior varsity team, while also splitting reps with varsity starter Peyton Holt during the pre-season last year.

“He was good for his first time out. He got a ton of reps last year. In terms of reps he’s about as ready as anybody can be,” said Jones. “He kept his composure. But it was frustrating giving up the sacks.”

The starting QBs from both teams donned yellow jerseys for protection and could not be tackled, but a simple touch by a defensive player or scrambling out of the pocket led to a quick whistle by the officials.

Jones was also impressed by a handful of players, all receivers, who shined in the scrimmage.

“We had some guys – Caden Taylor, Caden Brown, and Justice Randolph – step up and make some plays,” he said. The coach also saw what he expected from his frontline receivers, Lazaro Angel and Peyton Carter, who will be depended on heavily during the season.

The coach also had an encouraging update on last year’s top receiver, senior Treyton Dawson, who is recovering from off-season surgery and should be ready by the start of conference play.

“We’ll get Treyton back in a [few] weeks,” said Jones. “He’s doing well. He’s running routes and he’s on schedule. We’ll get Jordan Hanna back too. He got hurt in wrestling and had surgery in the off season,” referring to his missing defensive end.

“I don’t think we blocked very well up front,” observed Jones, resuming his critique of the scrimmage. “I give them credit. [Fayetteville’s] linebackers are really good and their upfront guys are active and move around, and we didn’t handle it well.

“It was a good even scrimmage. We got after it. I wish we could have finished it because we had some [junior varsity] guys we really wanted to see get reps. They scrimmaged against each other the next day, but that’s not the same.”

The coach then answered a question about the play of his defensive line. “Fayetteville has a pretty good offensive line. But I thought our guys did pretty well.

“[But] we didn’t tackle very well,” lamented Jones. “The speed of the game is different. Our pad level needs to get better. We have to adjust to those kinds of things. But we need to tackle better, especially in the secondary.”

Asked about pressuring the Fayetteville QB, Jones said, “I don’t think there’s ever enough pressure on the quarterback. We did some, but not great. Our guys rushed hard, but we would like to have more pressure.”

Asked about his running backs, Jones remained positive and hopeful that good results will come with better offensive line play, which always seems to be the case in the pre-season.

“If they don’t have somewhere to run, that’s not on the backs,” said the coach. “I think our backs will be fine. Hunter [Wilkinson] is not going to make a lot of people miss, but when he hits holes full speed with his shoulder low, he’s a force to be reckoned with, and he’s hard to catch when he gets open.”

Wilkinson was the starter last season, but will have a lot more support in 2019 with senior Aaron Ligon and junior Caden Franks backing him up.

“[Aaron] Ligon has done a fantastic job,” said Jones. “He’s a great kid who works hard and falls forward every time.” Ligon is the son of GHS head basketball coach Donnie Husband.

Asked if he was satisfied with his team’s progress to this point in the pre-season, Jones was both candid and blunt. “No, not really at all. I think we have vast improvement we better make,” he said.

“Running the football is one thing, and protecting the quarterback is another. I’ve challenged our offensive line – we’ve got to keep our quarterback upright and clean. Giving up five sacks is not what we’re looking for,” he added. The Bulldogs now have just over a week remaining to get things right.

Concluding the interview, Coach Jones had some interesting things to say about the rest of the competition in the 6A West and across the state.

“The [teams] that are obvious are going to be really good,” he said, referring to highly ranked Benton, El Dorado, and Russellville, all members of the 6A West, along with Greenwood.

“I’ve heard that Sheridan is a lot better than they were last year. They have a lot of kids back,” said Jones. The Yellowjackets have more returning starters than any team in the league this season.

“You never know about Jonesboro. They have some big-time talent rolling through there,” added the coach. The Hurricane play in the 6A East, along with the West Memphis Blue Devils.

“West Memphis got like five Division-I players transferred in there the last several weeks, so that will be interesting to see how that all works out,” said Jones.

Asked to explain his comment, the coach simply said, “It’s a long story. But we’d love to get a chance to play them, because that means we made the playoffs.”

Jones was referring to an August 12th news article in the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper describing the transfer of five highly acclaimed players to West Memphis after being denied a transfer to Memphis Central High School.

All five will be eligible to play this season, including senior Chris Morris, the nation’s #2 ranked college prospect at guard. The other four players are underclassmen, but already have college offers.

For now, the former national coach of the year has his hands full getting ready for the Grizzlies. “We’ll just try to worry about Northside,” said Jones. “I’m not smart enough to worry about that other stuff.”