The Greenwood freshmen Bulldogs concluded their season last Thursday on Halloween night with a dominating performance on the road at Clarksville, winning 47-0 to finish with a 9-1 overall record and a possible conference championship. They finished tied with Van Buren and Shiloh Christian, all at 7-1, but Greenwood’s advantage in scoring may give the Jr. Bulldogs the nod in the tiebreaker. Greenwood lost to Van Buren after a failed two-point conversion try for the win.
The victory at Clarksville was built on a foundation of strong defense and a series of short offensive possessions and big plays that led to seven touchdowns and Greenwood’s fourth shutout victory this season. Going 8-2 in each of his first two seasons as head coach, Luke Hales is now 25-5 overall after three years, and the next three classes of varsity Bulldogs will have played for Coach Hales and his staff, including assistants Brian Sims, Easton Barrett, and Brandon Godfrey.
Coach Godfrey’s defense completely throttled the Panthers’ offense on almost every possession. Clarksville crossed midfield only a couple times and never really threatened to score on Greenwood, which scored early and often and led 27-0 at the half. Those touchdowns came on big plays of 20, 10, 19, and 33 yards on two passes and two runs.
Clarksville received the opening kick but failed to pick up a first down in four tries, turning the ball over to Greenwood at the home 37. Quarterback Jubal Parks then passed to William Rye to the 23 and Drake Little ran to the 19. Two snaps later, from the 20, Braxton Canada took a direct snap from center and burst through the middle of the Clarksville defense for the game’s first score. Kicker Grayson Cobbler added the extra point for a 7-0 Greenwood lead (4:41).
The Jr. Panthers’ next possession ended prematurely with an overthrown pass that was intercepted by Greenwood’s Luke Wilson, who returned it 20 yards to the Clarksville 33-yard-line. Once again, Jubal Parks threw to William Rye for 10 yards to the 23, and again to the 16 on the final play of the first quarter. Drake Little then ran twice to the 10 before Bryer Hackler carried around left end to the pylon for the touchdown, but the extra point failed.
Trailing 13-0, the Panthers started their next possession at their own 13 but were pushed back to the 6-yard-line by the visiting defense. Forced to punt from their own end zone, the kick was shanked to the left and sailed out-of-bounds at the 12-yard-line. Following a quarterback sack at the 19 and another snap for no gain, Jubal Parks passed to William Rye for Greenwood’s third touchdown. Grayson Cobbler’s extra point try was good, making the score 20-0 (4:04).
The Panthers finally crossed midfield on their next offensive series, but quickly turned the ball over after a bad pitch led to a recovery by Greenwood’s Luke Wilson at the Clarksville 33 with 1:04 remaining in the first half. After Coach Hales called a timeout, Jubal Parks passed the ball backwards to Braxton Canada, who threw downfield to William Rye, who made the catch near the 10-yard-line before scoring the touchdown. Cobbler’s kick was good, making the score 27-0 at the half.
With nothing to lose, the home team attempted an onside kick to start the third quarter, but the ball went out-of-bounds at the visitors’ 45. After a gain to the 48, Braxton Canada took a delayed handoff and rumbled for a touchdown that was called back due to a penalty, putting the ball at the Greenwood 38. But on the next snap, Jubal Parks tossed a short pass to receiver Ty Karnes on a wide receiver screen. The eighth grader made the grab and raced between a couple Clarksville defenders all the way to the end zone. The extra point kick was good, making the score 34-0 (6:51).
Another failed possession by the Panthers gave Greenwood the ball again in Clarksville territory at the 43. Parks then passed to Coltin Lacy at the 34 and Joshua Childers carried to the 15. The next play was a scoring pass to Lawson Leath for the touchdown, invoking the mercy rule for the remainder of the game. Grayson Cobbler’s kick was good, making it 41-0.
The visitors’ final score came after another defensive play by the Bulldogs when Coltin Lacy scooped up a fumble near the 40 and returned it to the home 23. With quarterback Dabin Gaines at the controls, Greenwood flipped a short pass to Jasper Meeker whose nice run after the catch was nullified by a penalty back to the 24-yard-line on the last play of the third quarter. Another pass and penalty pushed the ball back to the 29 before the Bulldogs finally got moving in the right direction on their next snap. Gaines passed to Coltin Lacy at the 35, who spun away from a tackler in the backfield and raced down the right sideline for the touchdown. The extra point failed, making the final score 47-0.
In his last interview before he and his staff join the varsity coaches and players in their quest for another state title, Coach Hales talked about his team’s win over Clarksville and their success this season, centered around a strong defense. “The addition of Coach Brandon Godfrey was absolutely huge for us,” said Hales of his defensive coordinator. “Our kids really bought in to the things he has installed along with Coach Easton Barrett on the defensive side. They just did a great job. I think about our players like Drew Dickinson and Bryer Hackler, Hunter Crawford and Gunner Flanary. Those guys were absolute difference-makers all season long. They really set the tone and the standard for the junior high defense the next couple of years. So I’m super proud of those guys and the job they did on defense this year.”
A couple players who made a difference against Clarksville were Luke Wilson and Coltin Lacy, both of whom came up with turnovers. “Luke Wilson had three or four interceptions for us this season. He had a great year in the secondary,” said his head coach. Wilson also had a pick against the Panthers and recovered a fumble. “Coltin Lacy [also] recovered a fumble for us,” Hales added. “He’s been on our kickoff team and he’s one of those guys right on the edge when it comes to defense, and he will develop over the next couple years in high school. He made some big tackles against Shiloh [Christian] and another one against Clarksville.”
Shifting gears to the offense, Coach Hales talked about Jubal Parks, who took over behind center the past several games after starting the season as one of three Greenwood QBs, also including Dabin Gaines and Braxton Canada. While Gaines was sidelined for several games by an injury, Canada was used as an all-purpose weapon on offense and special teams.
“I think all three of those guys did a good job for us,” said Hales, a former quarterback himself. “Jubal became the guy as the season went on and did a good job running the ball and just getting it to our [playmakers]. Braxton played almost every position on the field on offense and did a really good job. He’s just a special kid the way he competes and wants to win. He’s really fun to be around and fun to coach. So we’re looking forward to seeing those guys on the high school level the next couple of years. They’re going to be special players.”
Indeed, Hales began the season talking about how talented his 2024 squad was, comparable to his first season as offensive coordinator in 2021. Those freshmen are now seniors on the #1 ranked and still unbeaten varsity Bulldogs (9-0, 6-0), players like Grant Karnes, Cash Archer, Ashton Stein, and several others, including the recently deceased Isaiah Arrington who died in a tragic house fire last week along with his mother and little sister. The three were memorialized in a funeral service at H.B. Steward Arena on Tuesday. Privately, Coach Hales spoke of Isaiah with great affection as both a person and a football player.
The coach also talked about his offensive line. “We had two of the best tackles I’ve seen in junior high football in a while with Jaxen Cepeda and Walker Fink,” said Hales. “Our center, Aden Brazel, broke his elbow right before the season and missed the Fayetteville scrimmage, but came back and started every game from then on. So He did a great job for us. Thomas Ball was coming on at right guard but sustained an injury and had to miss some games, and Bruce Davis was really consistent at left guard for us and worked on the D-line as well along with Cepeda.”
As for his running backs, the coach mentioned Bryer Hackler, Drew Dickinson, and Drake Little. “Bryer came on throughout the season on both sides of the ball. He’s a talented kid. And I want to emphasize how awesome Dickinson ran the ball for us. He really carried us in the Shiloh game at times. He made runs that other guys can’t make and really played almost two years of ninth grade football, him and Braxton Canada and William Rye. Drake Little ran the ball quite a bit this year and did a good job. He’s a kid we see developing on the high school level over the next three years as well. I’m just excited about this group.”
Asked about Rye, who shined on offense as a receiver in the second half of the season, Hales said, “He’s played defense all along. He started at cornerback since he was an eighth grader, when he had four interceptions on the ninth grade team and four or five more this season. [The high school coaches] are really excited about him on both sides of the ball as he continues to progress.”
When asked about the possibility of winning the conference championship through the tiebreaking procedure, the young head coach professed, “I really have no idea. I’m sure that something will come out once the year is over,” he said, adding that he believes both Shiloh Christian and Van Buren won their games last week as well, leaving the three teams in a first-place tie.
Hales also confessed that he used the possibility of a conference championship to motivate his players before the Clarksville game. Ever since the dissolution of the River Valley Conference in favor of the new alignment, it’s been very difficult to keep track of the league standings and the win-loss records of conference members. Apparently, there is currently no central authority to keep track of such things on the junior high level, something that really needs to change in the future.
Asked if his current group of freshmen had the potential to make some noise on the varsity squad as sophomores, Hales agreed that the talent was there. “We have competition around here and everybody is going to have a chance. We’re going to play the best players, and I think some of [my] guys will have a chance to play next year. They’ve got to work in the off-season and learn the system and develop, and not many guys do play as sophomores, but every year we have a couple. I know Coach Josh Holloway is excited to get them on special teams, and that’s where a lot of sophomores have an opportunity to show what they can do.”
Asked about his three seasons as head coach and his impressive winning record, Hales said, “It’s been awesome. We’ve got the best group of young men. We’re just lucky to be a part of this and we’re thankful to be here.” The coach added that the junior high program played 28 games this season and lost only twice. The ninth grade finished 9-1, the eighth grade also went 9-1, while the seventh grade finished undefeated at 8-0.