The inevitable finally happened. The 2024 GHS freshmen football team has tasted defeat for the first time, losing at home to Van Buren last Thursday in a nailbiter, 21-20. But it wasn’t just their first loss of the season after a 3-0 start, it was literally their first loss ever as a collective group since they began their prep gridiron careers in seventh grade. They went unbeaten then and again as eighth graders before getting off to a hot start in 2024 as ninth graders. But while inevitable, the loss was no less disappointing for both coaches and players.
Head Coach Luke Hales, hardly more than 10 years removed from his own freshman playing days, was clearly unhappy about the “L” and knew that his team did not play up to their full potential against the Jr. Pointers. So the coach was not ready to accept the inevitability of their first loss, knowing his players could have done better.
“It didn’t have to happen, actually,” said Hales. “It’s disappointing to lose, but we were unprepared. Our kids didn’t play very well, and we didn’t coach very well, and the final score showed that. Our kids were unprepared and there’s a direct correlation to the coaches not getting the job done, and that starts with myself. We’ve got to do a better job next week.”
After dismantling and blowing out their first three opponents by a combined score of 134-21, including back-to-back shutouts in their last two wins, the freshmen Bulldogs no doubt entered last week’s game at Smith-Robinson Stadium full of confidence, though they knew Van Buren was likely their toughest opponent to date. As eighth graders, Greenwood defeated the Pointers by a couple touchdowns last season and expected to do so again. But this year’s contest was a struggle from the start, resulting in a 7-7 score at halftime.
Neither team scored on their first possession and both teams made mistakes that resulted in two near fumbles and a missed interception, followed by punts. But it was Van Buren that drew first blood, driving from midfield to score on a 19-yard touchdown sprint by its quarterback. The extra point was good.
But Greenwood responded with a nice drive of its own to tie the game before the opening quarter ended. The possession was set up by a good kick return by Braxton Canada to the GHS 42. After no gain on first down, QB Dabin Gaines tossed a short swing pass to receiver Jevon Tilson for a pickup to the visitors’ 46. Gaines then passed to William Rye at the 39. After making up a first down at the 33, Gaines lobbed a deep ball down the left side of the field into the outstretched hands of Rye, who made an outstanding catch in the end zone. The kick by Grayson Cobbler was good to knot the score at 7-7 with 46 seconds left in the period.
Neither squad scored in the second quarter, though the Bulldogs probably had the best opportunities. First, defensive back Luke Wilson picked off a deflected pass attempt for an interception, returning it to the Van Buren 34 early in the stanza. But the Bulldogs came up short on fourth down at the Pointers’ 14-yard-line. They also got the football back with less than a minute left in the half and tried a couple of long passes down the field, both of which fell incomplete.
But the second half was a different story, with both teams scoring twice, including an intense final few minutes. Greenwood received the opening kickoff and made the first critical mistake of the half, fumbling the ball away at the home 40-yard-line. The Pointers then kept the ball on the ground and drove the tiring GHS defense back, scoring on a 6-yard run. The game was played in summer-like conditions with the temperature in the 80s and high humidity. Several players on both teams had trouble with cramps.
The visitors booted their extra point true, but a penalty forced a re-kick from further back, and Greenwood defensive linemen Jaxen Cepeda broke through and blocked the second effort, keeping the score at 13-7, opening the possibility for some interesting late-game decisions and strategy by both head coaches.
With the tiring defense on the sideline, the GHS offense returned to the field, once again under the guidance of quarterback Dabin Gaines. Canada returned the kick 21 yards to the 34 to start the series. Drew Dickinson rambled nine yards on first down to the 43, and Gaines kept to the 47. He then threw to Canada, reaching Van Buren territory at 45. They reconnected two snaps later at the 32, and again to the 22. Gaines then tossed the ball deep to wide-open receiver Jayden Campbell, who made a diving catch in the end zone for the score. The extra point try was good by Cobbler to put Greenwood on top, 14-13 with :21 left in the quarter.
But the home crowd wasn’t prepared for what happened next, as the visitors kept the football for almost the entire fourth quarter before scoring the go-ahead touchdown with 1:01 remaining. But to even secure that much time left on the clock, the Greenwood defense had to let the ballcarrier score unhindered from inside the 5-yard-line. To make matters worse, the Pointers threw a two-point conversion pass to push their lead to 21-14.
Van Buren then kicked the ball short to avoid a possible long return by Canada, giving Greenwood the ball at its own 41 to start its final desperation drive. On second down, QB Jubal Parks rambled to the 48, but the Bulldogs were out of timeouts and called on Parks to spike the ball to stop the clock, only he didn’t. Instead, with the defense confused and hesitating, he threw a deep ball down the right sideline to a leaping Braxton Canada, who caught the ball and eluded the only defended in the area, scampering in for the score with 14 seconds left in the game.
Coach Hales then had to choose between tying the game with an extra point kick and going into overtime, or trying to win it with a two-point conversion. He chose the latter and called a short pass play to Canada, which he caught and seemed headed to the end zone before being violently met inside the 1-yard-line and stopped just short of the goal line. Trailing 21-20, the Bulldogs followed with an onside kick, which Van Buren fully expected and covered well, allowing them to run out the clock on a 21-20 upset win.
On the bright side, the head coach hailed his defense for their play in the first half, limiting the Pointers to just one score. “On offense we gave our defense bad field position, and Van Buren was able to get a touchdown early, but other than that I thought we played really well in the first half. But in the second half Van Buren was more physical than us on both sides of the ball. They had kids playing both ways and we had kids playing one way, so that tells me we’re out of shape, and we’ve got to fix that problem as well. There are lots of issues to address and lots of problems to fix.”
Asked about the play of his offense against the Pointers, Hales said, “We’re struggling on offense to get the ball to our playmakers, which is really all we need to do.” Asked if the defense purposely allowed the visitors to score to preserve time on the clock, the young head coach played it coy, saying, “It may have appeared that way, but weird circumstances happen toward the end of a game. Our kids executed that situation exactly as they were told. We got the ball back with a chance to score, and we did score on a big play. It was a fake spike. Then we went for two and came up short. We felt like we had a good play called, and our kids wanted to go for it. We’re always going to stay aggressive. We looked them in the eyes and made the decision.”
Asked about the impact of the loss on the conference race, Hales said, “Shiloh Christian beat Van Buren by one point, and the Van Buren coaches told us to go beat Shiloh for them.” That would leave the league race in a three-way tie, barring any other losses. But the conference has some other tough members who might just want to weigh in on the matter, including Greenwood’s next opponent, the Jr. Cardinals of Farmington. The freshmen ‘Dogs will travel there on Thursday night.