For the second straight year the Greenwood Bulldogs have concluded an unbeaten regular season slate after Friday’s 42-0 blanking of the Mountain Home Bombers. The 2024 regular season finale was played at Smith-Robinson Stadium under the worst weather conditions of the season. The temperature was cool, a brisk wind was blowing at times, and a steady light rain fell throughout the first half, forcing both teams to keep the football on the ground, suppressing Greenwood’s vaunted passing game. Even still, the hometown Bulldogs led 14-0 at halftime on senior night.
Prior to the contest, dozens of GHS seniors from the band and football team were honored, along with their family members. That included the family of Isaiah Arrington, the recently deceased star receiver who tragically perished in a house fire along with his mother and sister. They were laid to rest earlier in the week after a funeral service at H.B. Stewart Arena on the GHS campus. To honor their fallen teammate, the Bulldogs wore his name on the back of their jerseys just above their number.
Regarding the loss of Arrington, Head Coach Chris Young said, “We buried a teammate this week. But we’re not moving on, we are moving forward.” The late senior receiver would certainly be proud of how his fellow Bulldogs and the community have responded to his passing. His teammates have posted two wins over Southside and Mountain Home and the Greenwood community has donated over $35,000 to his family and thousands more to the Isaiah Arrington Memorial Scholarship Fund to support GHS athletes who want to walk on at the college of their choice. It was announced during the game that Mountain Home had also donated $3,000 to the scholarship fund, drawing a round of well-deserved cheers from the GHS faithful.
The Bombers entered Friday’s contest positioned to control their own postseason destiny. At 6-1 in conference play, their only loss to Shiloh Christian, a win over Greenwood would make Mountain Home conference champions and give them the #1 seed from the 6A West. A loss would likely drop them into a three-way tie for second place with Shiloh and Lake Hamilton. So they had a lot to play for, something the Bombers’ football program hasn’t had in a long while. But the Bulldogs also had something to play for, especially after losing a teammate just 10 days before, and they wouldn’t be stopped.
With the rain coming down, both teams elected to depend on their ground game in the first half Friday night, which on the surface would seem to benefit the visiting Bombers. But the Bulldogs turned some of their outstanding receivers into running backs and benefitted from the speed and shiftiness of quarterback Kane Archer to dominate the first half. They even used a pair of defensive stars on offense to score their first touchdown.
Mountain Home won the coin toss and chose to kick off to start the game, attempting an onside kick that went out-of-bounds at the home 37. On first down, Wesley Raggio carried to the 42 before Archer turned the corner on the right side all the way to the Bombers’ 35. Receiver Champ Davis then carried to the 31 before a penalty pushed the ball back to the 36.
That’s when things got a little strange, as defensive starters Kaylor Jasna and Cash Archer, both seniors, entered the game on offense, lining up in a stacked formation on the left side of the line. With the elder Archer leading the way as a blocker, Jasna got the handoff and rumbled ahead to the 28-yard-line. On the next snap, Jasna skirted around left end and found a seam in the defense all the way to the end zone. Senior kicker Hudson Meeker added the extra point to make it 7-0 at the 10:59 mark.
That would also be the score at the end of the first quarter as the GHS defense held the line against the Bombers’ offense, despite Greenwood losing a fumble on its second possession. But Cash Archer returned the favor a little later by picking off an errant Mountain Home pass, returning it 16 yards to the 50. The Bombers also stopped the Bulldogs on fourth down and short at the Mountain Home 40, thwarting another possible GHS scoring drive.
When the visitors failed on a fourth down play at the home 24, the Bulldogs took over with about 10½ minutes remaining the second quarter. It took almost exactly five minutes, but the hometown heroes drove for their second score of the half in 13 plays. The first of those plays was a QB keeper by Kane Archer that reached the GHS 40. After running twice more to the 48, Archer handed off to Champ Davis for three yards, crossing the 50 to the Bombers’ 49. Two snaps later, Archer ran for 15 yards to the 33 before Mario Dunbar rumbled to the 23.
Archer then got three yards before flipping the ball to Champ Davis for a five-yard gain to the 15. A similar flip pass to Grant Karnes gained six more yards to the Bombers’ 9-yard-line. After he was sacked at the 14, Archer scrambled around right end on the next play for the touchdown. Meeker’s kick made it 14-0 with 5:30 left in the first half.
The Greenwood defense then proved its worth again by stopping the Bombers on their last scoring threat in the final minutes and seconds of the half. Mountain Home drove to inside the GHS 5-yard-line with 16 seconds left. After a loss back to the five and a timeout, the visitors threw incomplete to bring up fourth down with three seconds remaining. The Bombers then lined up for a field goal, but the snap was errant, and a desperation pass was intercepted by Greenwood’s Cash Archer, his second pick of the half.
When both teams returned for the second half, the rain had slowed to a light mist and eventually ceased altogether, allowing the Bulldogs’ offense to ramp up and return to its high-flying ways. Greenwood scored on four consecutive possessions, including a dynamic punt return for a touchdown by Champ Davis. During the half, Kane Archer crossed over 140 yards rushing for the game while also throwing for over 160 yards and a touchdown, invoking the mercy rule early in the fourth quarter.
The Bombers received the opening kick of the third quarter and drove to midfield before punting the ball away to the GHS 5-yard-line. The Bulldogs immediately began to pick apart the Mountain Home defense with its relentless passing game. Kane Archer threw to Grant Karnes for 10 yards to the 15, then again to the 25. Another short pass to Karnes reached the 28. Two plays later the GHS quarterback ran for 21 yards to the 50. Short passes to Cooper Bland and Ben Hossley reached the 40 before another completion to Champ Davis that was nullified by a holding penalty, pushing the ball back to the 50.
That’s when Archer had his longest run of the game, a 41-yard gallop down the right sideline to the Bombers’ 9-yard-line, putting him over 130 yards rushing for the game. Cooper Goodwin then ran twice, first to the three, then in for the score. Meeker’s extra point kick was good again, making it 21-0 at the 4:34 mark.
When the GHS defense stopped the Bombers again on their next possession, they punted the ball away to Champ Davis, who fielded the hop perfectly before breaking to his left and gaining blockers all the way to the end zone for another Greenwood score. The play covered 68 yards and Meeker’s kick made it 28-0 with 1:19 remaining in the third quarter.
After another Mountain Home punt on the Bombers’ next possession, Greenwood took over at the visitors’ 49 and needed six plays to trigger the mercy rule. Four of those plays were passes with Archer connecting with Champ Davis twice for 12 yards, Cooper Bland for seven yards, and Grant Karnes for 16 yards. Archer also ran for 11 yards to further pad his rushing total. Finally, Cooper Goodwin carried in from three yards out for the touchdown. The extra point was good again with 10:04 left in the game, accelerating the game clock.
Greenwood’s final score came four minutes later after another Mountain Home punt, this one rolling dead at the home 46. After crossing midfield on a short pass to Davis, Archer threw to Ben Hossley to the 37. The GHS quarterback then rolled to his right, buying time, before locating Grant Karnes downfield near the goal line. The senior receiver made the catch, leaping above a nearby defender for the touchdown. The extra point made it 42-0 with about six minutes remaining.
After the game, Coach Young talked with his team and with members of the media. When asked about his team’s tribute to their fallen teammate, he said, "It was neat seeing Arrington all over the field again tonight. We've seen that for the last two years out here. To see [his name] all over the field was special." The Bulldogs have dedicated the remainder of their season to their fallen teammate, hoping to honor him by winning another state title.
The coach also talked about his team’s offensive plans based on the weather. “The weather was tough early on,” he said. “I thought our defense did a phenomenal job. They were on the field a long time and I was worried about that. But our defense continued to respond. We had to adjust pretty quickly," he added. "We were monitoring the weather all day, and [offensive coordinator Stephen] Hogan had a wet plan and a dry plan, so we were cautious. The way our defense was playing, we didn't want to take a chance throwing the ball and turning it over. We just knew something bad could happen with this weather. We did what we had to do to win, and when the weather dried up, we were able to score some points. I thought [Kane] made huge plays in the first half with his legs. Then in the second half the [rain stopped] and we got after it a bit.”
The GHS quarterback threw an incompletion on his second pass attempt of the evening, then hit 15 straight and finished the game 16 of 17 for 162 yards with a touchdown, along with 11 rushes for 143 yards and a touchdown, unofficially. He also used his legs and running ability throughout the contest to keep drives alive and the GHS offense on the field. He has also expanded his targets with the loss of Arrington, throwing to several of Greenwood’s capable receivers not named Karnes or Davis. They include Cooper Bland, Scott Holland, Hudson Meeker, Ben Hossley, or Cooper Goodwin.
Courtesy of Ross Fujibayashi, father of GHS center Akira Fujibayashi and sports writer for the Greenwood Resident, Kane Archer finished his regular season with only 44 incompletions while also throwing for 44 touchdowns. At present, Archer has 189 completions on 233 attempts for 2870 yards. His 81% completion rate, if it holds for the playoffs, would set a state record. It would break the mark set by Greenwood’s Hayden Smith (75.5%) in 2011. Greenwood’s Jabe Burgess is #2 on that list (73.9%). Also, receiver Champ Davis is eight touchdowns away from breaking Josh Bell’s school season record of 24 set in the year 2000. Drew Morgan is second with 23. Good company indeed.
With the victory, the Bulldogs earned yet another league championship, a #1 seed in the playoffs, and remained unbeaten on the season at 10-0. They also earned a bye week in the opening round of the playoffs awaiting the winner of the El Dorado – Russellville game. El Dorado is the #4 seed from the East while Russellville is the #5 seed from the West. The winner will travel to Greenwood on November 22nd. On the same side of the bracket is #2 seed Little Rock Catholic from the East plus Mountain Home (W#3) and Sheridan (E#6).
On the other side, Benton (W#1) and Shiloh Christian (W#2) have first round byes. Lake Hamilton (W#4) will take on Jonesboro (E#5) while Marion (E#3) and Van Buren (W#6) will do battle in week one for the right to advance to the next round. Greenwood is the lone unbeaten team in the playoffs and only Benton and Catholic have just one loss, so the Bulldogs are the clear favorites to repeat at state champions.
Greenwood has scored more points (561) and given up fewer points (148) than any other team in Class 6A. Benton is second with a 518/194 ratio. It is also entirely possible the Bulldogs could face three 6A West teams in the playoffs if Russellville beats El Dorado, Mountain Home beats Sheridan and LR Catholic, and Shiloh Christian survives to reach the state finals opposite Greenwood. For context, in the regular season, the Bulldogs defeated those three conference foes by a combined score of 133-31. The most competitive of those games was with Shiloh, a 28-17 Greenwood victory. That contest was played at Shiloh and GHS starting quarterback Kane Archer was injured before halftime and did not return.
As a reward for their victory over Mountain Home and a perfect regular season record, Coach Young gave his Bulldogs a couple extra days off this week to unwind and decompress from all they’ve dealt with over the past two weeks. They will return to the practice field by midweek to begin preparations for their first-round playoff contest against either El Dorado or Russellville.