10-8-04 By: Brian Vaughn
Greenwood- Anytime the Harrison Goblins and the Greenwood Bulldogs hook up you know it's going to be a fight.
This year was no different as the Bulldogs revenged last years defeat with a 22-10 victory over Harrison at Smith-Robinson Stadium.
As much as it was the offense that carried the Bulldogs to a win over Vilonia it was the Bulldog defense that stepped up big for the win over Harrison.
"Sometimes you have to find away to win games and we found away to win and I was proud of our kids," said Bulldog head coach Rick Jones. "There was some ugly things obviously. The Defense gave us the ball over over and over and we did not capitalize on it. Sometimes in a game the defense saves you, sometimes the kicking game saves you, sometimes the offense does. If you have all three groups pulling together good things happen. We got a win, it was an ugly win, but it was a win just the same. I was proud of how our kids fought, especially our defense."
With 2:00 to go in the ball game, Harrison Coach Tommy Tice decided to roll the dice on 4th and 13 from their own 25-yard line.
The Greenwood defense would have no part of it as Justin Fuchs busted through and sacked the Harrison quarterback to secure the win for the Bulldogs.
That was the second big sack for Fuchs for the night as the Bulldog defense had a great night that included an interception by Micah Fritsche and a blocked punt by Zach Brooks.
Greenwood (3-0, 5-1) didn't have their best offensive showing of the season even with the defense giving them short field most of the night, the scoring was hard to come by as twice during the game the Bulldogs stalled and went for field goals and came up empty.
The Bulldog's who had been causing the turnovers in their previous games turned the ball over themselves three times in this contest with two interceptions and a fumble.
Harrison (1-2, 2-4) would have an even rougher night dealing with the Bulldog defense and finding the end zone.
The Stegall to Miller connection once again started off the scoring for the Bulldogs as Daniel Stegall found Lucas Miller for a 26-yard reception late in the first quarter to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead at the end of the quarter after Mason Knox's PAT was good.
Greenwood's defensive unit held Harrison to just 60 total yards of offense in the first half as the Bulldogs took a 13-0 lead after a 3-yard run by Stegall in the second quarter.
The teams would exchange score in the third quarter with Greenwood's Daniel Stegall scoring first cutting down the Greenwood sideline for 53-yards at the 11:09 mark to put the Bulldogs up 19-0 after the two-point conversion attempt failed.
Harrison found the end zone on a quarterback keeper with 5:13 to go in the third quarter to cut the lead to 19-10.
Harrison added a 34-yard field goal to pull the Goblins to within 9 with 52 ticks left in the third quarter 19-10.
Zach Brooks set the Bulldog offense up for the final score of the night after blocking a Harrison punt giving the Bulldogs excellent field position.
Greenwood kicker Mason Knox who had missed two field goals earlier in the game put one straight through the uprights from 33-yards out midway through the 4th quarter.
Daniel Stegall who quarter backed his first complete game of the season, led the rushing yards once again with 159-yards, averaging 7.5 yards per carry, with two touchdowns.
Stegall completed 14 of 24 attempts passing for 129-yards, with two interceptions thrown.
So far this season Stegall has rushed for 506-yards and thrown for 770 and scored 15 touchdowns.
Eric Melton carried 10 times for 34-yards for the Bulldogs.
It was Jacob Mills who stepped up this week in the Greenwood receiver group hauling in 7 catches for 64-yards.
Austin Efurd had 3 catches for 35-yards, while Lucas Miller brought in 2 catches for 36-yards and a touchdown.
Miller for the season has caught 29 passes for 484-yards and 6 touchdowns.
The Bulldogs are averaging 33 points per game so far this season while holding their opponents to just 13 points per game.
Greenwood heads down interstate 40 this week to battle the Devil Dogs at Morrilton and Coach Chris Hill.
Two of the last three games between these two have been decided either in the final minute of the game or in overtime, and despite Morrilton's 0-3 conference record and 1-5 overall record they are considered to be a very dangerous team and will put up a fight against Greenwood, who they haven't defeated since 1995.
"I've seen Morrilton on film already and they have a really really fast football team," said Coach Jones. "They have some guys that can really cause you problems and I know we're going to really have a tough game there."
It is a big game week in the AAAA-West as Greenwood travels to Morrilton, Alma travels to Harrison and Vilonia makes the trip to Siloam Springs.
Greenwood, Alma and Siloam Springs are all tied at first place in the West currently at 3-0, while Greenbrier, Huntsville and Morrilton are all 0-3 in league play.
