Last Thursday’s dominant 51-0 Greenwood victory over the visiting Junior Goblins of Harrison was a far cry from the last two years when the rivalry game was decided by a single point. In 2022 Greenwood won at home in a high scoring affair, 36-35, and Harrison won at home last season in controversial fashion, 15-14. But the most recent meeting between the two conference foes wasn’t close from the start, with the GHS freshmen scoring first and often for a 40-0 lead at the half, invoking the mercy rule and a continuously moving clock in the second half. The Jr. ‘Dogs added an additional touchdown and a pair of defensive safeties over the final 16 minutes.
A nice-sized Thursday night crowd turned out at Smith-Robinson Stadium for the game played under warm, dry, but not uncomfortable weather conditions. Greenwood received the opening kick and immediately embarked on a 10-play drive to score the game’s first touchdown, overcoming a long third down situation along the way. Braxton Canada set up the possession with a 28-yard kick return to the home 48-yard-line.
From the 49, quarterback Jubal Parks threw to receiver Lawson Leath for a first down at the Goblins’ 39. But a pair of negative plays pushed the Bulldogs back to the 50 facing third down needing 21 yards to move the sticks again. Parks then passed to receiver Jevin Tilson for a big gain to the Harrison 28, just enough for a first down, breathing new life back into the possession. Another toss to Lawson Leath reached the 20 before Bryer Hackler ran to the 13. Two snaps later, from the 14, Drew Dickinson found a hole in the middle of the defense for a touchdown dash to the end zone. Kicker Grayson Cobbler added the extra point for a 7-0 lead at the 5:09 mark of the opening period.
Harrison’s first possession ended very quickly – three plays and out followed by a punt fair caught at the Greenwood 45. The Goblins would make only one first down in the first half. Six plays later, the Jr. Bulldogs scored again. Their first four plays were all passes to three different receivers. Jayden Campbell caught the first one for 11 yards, Drake Little snagged the second one for three yards, and Lawson Leath grabbed the last two, reaching the 28-yard-line. Little then carried to the 16 before Drew Dickinson ran off right tackle and cut back to the middle for the touchdown. Cobbler’s extra point kick was good (2:44).
But the fun was just getting started for the Junior Bulldogs and their fans. Harrison fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Greenwood’s Seth Wood recovered the loose pigskin at the visitors’ 29-yard-line. Jubal Parks then connected with receiver Ty Karnes near the 25 and he sprinted to the end zone for the score. The younger brother of senior star receiver Grant Karnes, Ty was recently promoted to the freshmen squad from the eighth-grade team. The extra point was good again (2:27).
Still in the first quarter and trailing 21-0, the Harrison freshmen failed again to pick up a first down and punted to the home 33-yard-line. Eight plays and three flags later the Jr. ‘Dogs reached the end zone yet again. On first down a long run was negated by a penalty on Greenwood, pushing the ball back to the 27. Jubal Parks then threw to Jayden Campbell for a big gain to the Harrison 32 then again to the 18. Another toss to Lawson Leath reached the 12-yard-line before the game moved into the second quarter.
The next two plays resulted in lost yardage to the 14, bringing up fourth-and-six before consecutive offsides penalties on Harrison moved the ball to the 4-yard-line, giving Greenwood a first down. Jubal Parks then kept the football off left tackle for the game’s fourth touchdown. Cobbler’s extra point was true again with 6:38 left in the first half.
But if the visitors weren’t already stunned by Greenwood’s scoring onslaught, they soon would be. On third down after the kickoff to the Harrison 25, Drew Dickinson stepped in front of a Goblins’ pass at the 32 and hardly broke stride in his sprint to the end zone for a pick six. But this time the extra point try was blocked, keeping the score at 34-0 (5:09).
Something similar happened on the next Harrison series when Will Houston plucked a loose football out of the air after a completed pass by the Goblins. He also returned the ball for a touchdown only to have the play called back due to a GHS penalty after the turnover. But the Bulldogs would score soon enough. From the visitors’ 39 Greenwood needed just three plays, the first two of which went backwards to the 48. Jubal Parks then found Braxton Canada on a middle screen with the star receiver taking it to the house through the heart of the Harrison secondary. The extra point made the score 40-0 at halftime invoking the mercy rule for the final two quarters.
When both teams returned to the field, the Goblins opened on offense and again were forced to punt with a short return near the home 40 before a penalty moved the ball to the visitors’43. Three snaps later the Bulldogs faced fourth down and long at the 41 before Parks found Braxton Canada once again over the middle for another long TD play. Grayson Cobbler’s extra point made it 47-0 with about 3:50 left in the third quarter with the clock running.
With the GHS coaching staff scrambling to sub in as many reserves as possible in the remaining time, the home defense accounted for the last four points of the game on two safeties. The first one came on Harrison’s next possession when reserve defensive linemen Will Drake rushed the punter and blocked the kick into the end zone. The punter recovered the ball and tried to run, but Greenwood swarmed him for the safety on the final play of the third stanza. On Harrison’s next possession, Greenwood’s Drake Little sacked the Goblins’ quarterback in the end zone to make the final score, 51-0.
“It felt good to beat Harrison,” said Head Coach Luke Hales following the game. “I’m proud of the kids, how physical they played. We ran the ball early with Drew Dickinson, Bryer Hackler, Drake Little, and our quarterback ran the ball when he needed to and scored a touchdown. Jubal Parks did a good job for us tonight. We got the ball to our playmakers and made some big third-and-long plays with Jevin Tilson and Braxton Canada. I was just proud of our kids and their effort tonight rolling into a big game next week with Shiloh Christian.
“[Defensively, Harrison] couldn’t get anything going, and [their offense] lines up in some different stuff,” the coach continued. “I think Coach [Brandon] Godfrey had those guys prepared and we really got after them and played physical. We tackled and swarmed the ball and played a complete game tonight. I think Jacob Pugh had a good game up front. Obviously, our linebackers and defensive line as a whole [played well]. And our offensive line, when we were able to run the ball like that. Walker Fink was out this week with an injury, so Robert Wirth played at left tackle and did a good job, and [Harrison] was bringing some pressure on almost every snap. So we had some guys step up. Hopefully Walker will be back next week.”
Asked for his assessment of where his team is at this point in the season, Hales said, “I think we’re progressing to where we need to be at the right time. But these next two weeks are going to be tough. Shiloh beat Harrison 22-3, and they beat Van Buren by one, then we play Lake Hamilton the week after Shiloh and we have no idea what they have, but they love football. So we’ve got two really big games coming up.”
Greenwood is on the road the next two weeks at Shiloh Christian in Springdale and at Lake Hamilton, their longest travel game of the season. Next week’s contest with the Saints will go a long way toward reshaping the race for the conference title, with Shiloh currently undefeated, one game ahead of both Greenwood and Van Buren. The Lake Hamilton game is a non-conference affair. Greenwood’s next and final home game will be against Siloam Springs on October 24th. They close out their season at Clarksville on Halloween night.