PulaskiRobinson04

11-26-04 By: Brian Vaughn
  Greenwood-  "To The Rock! To The Rock !To The Rock!" chanted the Bulldogs and fans right after the semifinal victory over previously unbeaten Pulaski Robinson Friday night in front of a packed Smith-Robinson Stadium crowd.
   The Greenwood Bulldogs punched their way into the AAAA State Championship game this coming Saturday at 6:30 PM against AAAA-East Wynne.
     "I'm so proud of those guys, they played so hard" said Bulldog head coach Rick Jones. "Our kids just played fast and that's what we've been looking for and what they've done all through the playoffs and I just can't say enough about them."
   The win moves Greenwood to 11-2 for the season that included an undefeated home season.
   Pulaski Robinson came into this game 12-0 and was making their third straight semifinal appearance. The Senators failed to make it to the championship game all three times.
   Greenwood will make their third finals appearance in eight years after trips in 1996 and 2000. The Bulldogs won the state championship in 2000 with a 30-2 win over Hope.
   The Bulldogs came into the game with the Senators the underdogs picked to lose by most of the media including Hooten's Arkansas Football by 3.
   Greenwood though had their best week of practice leading up to the game and was focused throughout their Thanksgiving Day practice.
   They took that into the game with them and controlled the game from the first series as the Bulldog defense held the highly regarded running attack of Robinson in check on the Senators first offensive series and forced them to go three and out.
   Daniel Stegall would then lead his Bulldogs on a 13 play drive inside the Robinson 10-yard line before stalling out against the Senator goal line defense.
   Mason Knox added the first 3 points and the lead for the Bulldogs with 4:47 to go in the first quarter on a 20-yard field goal. That would be as close as the Senators would come to going to championship game.
   After another stellar performance by the Bulldog defense to hold the Senator ground game, the Bulldog offense made quick work to get down field as Stegall found Lucas Miller deep and laid the pass perfectly into Millers hands for a Bulldog Touchdown that put the Bulldogs up 10-0 after Knox's PAT at the end of the first quarter.
   The second quarter would be more of the same as the Bulldogs scored touchdowns on the ground and through the air.
   Austin Efurd dashed in from 32-yards out, Jacob Mills hauled in touchdown passes of 64 and 18 yards to put the Bulldogs up 30-8 after Robinson's Earl Turner reached the end zone midway through the quarter on a 5-yard run.
   It was Miller Time again with 9:17 to go in the third quarter as Daniel Stegall scrambled to his right and found Lucas Miller waiting in the end zone. Stegall put it right in Millers hands in the back of the end zone.
   Eric Melton went in from 1-yard out with 9:14 to go in the game and the Mercy Rule was evoked on the Senators with the Bulldogs up 44-8.
   The Greenwood defense played an incredible game and came up with four key turnovers 2 fumbles and Austin Efurd and Lucas Miller each had an interception.
   Greenwood had 344-yards of total offense with 220 in the air and 124 on the ground to Robinson's 223-yards of total offense with 20 passing yards and 203 rushing.
   Daniel Stegall rushed for 63 yards, which puts him a 992 for the season and completed 14 of 21 passes.
   Jacob Mills had a season high 5 catches for 108-yards to lead the receivers for Greenwood. Miller had 3 for 88-yards and Efurd 4 for 24-yards.
   The AAAA State Championship game on Saturday will pit the 2000 and 2001 state champions against each other.
   It will be two totally different styles of ball as Rick Jones and Greenwood likes the fun and gun and "The General" Don Campbell and Wynne will stay to the ground with an average of only 1 pass per game.
   The Bulldogs asked for their fans to show and be loud for their semifinal game against Robinson and they did just that as the 12th Man was a factor.
   "We have the best fans in America," said Jones. "They were awesome; I know there's a bunch of them getting ready to go to Little Rock right now. They're awesome and loud and packed the house, we know we'll have a great crowd in Little Rock.
    The Journey that was begun on January 15, 2004 with the hiring of Rick Jones as the head coach of the Bulldogs will come to an end for this season with a trip to the ROCK.
   Good Luck Bulldogs!