Wynne

12-4-04 By: Brian Vaughn
  Little Rock-  The Greenwood Bulldogs 2004 football season came to an end on Saturday as they were one of only two teams still playing in class AAAA.
   Greenwood started the year picked to finish fifth in the tough AAAA-West conference by the conference coaches. The Bulldogs however under first year coach Rick Jones fought to the bitter end and found themselves in the AAAA State Championship game.
   The game played at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock pitted the Bulldogs against top ranked Wynne from the AAAA-East. It also brought about a difference in football styles and Greenwood likes to spread it out and Wynne like to ground it out.
   With just 50 seconds remaining and Wynne up by one 21-20, Coach Jones made the rare call of telling the Bulldog defense to let the Yellowjackets score and they did to put the Jackets up 28-20. Jones made the call to keep Wynne from just running out the clock and giving his Bulldogs still a chance to send the game into overtime.
   "We had to let them score and you don't do that very often," said Bulldog head coach Rick Jones. "They could've run the clock out, so we went ahead and let them score."
   The Bulldogs responded going over 60 yards in 6 plays to score on a 25 yard pass from Daniel Stegall to Weston Passmore to cut Wynne's lead to 28-26 with 7 seconds left on the clock.
   Jones lined his Bulldogs up for the two point conversion to tie the game to send it to overtime. Stegall took the ball and looked right then scrambled left looking for an open receiver in the end zone. With what appeared to be a open running lane for Stegall in to the end zone, Stegall decided not to try to get it in himself and threw into the back of the end zone to the man who had been making spectacular plays for him all year long Lucas Miller. The pass was high just out of reach of the 6'4 receiver.
   "We practiced it for four weeks," said Jones. "That's our two point play; we had it ready to go. I felt confident we'd get it in there. We had four options Daniel could run it or he had three receivers and we thought that gave us our best chance. If I had it to do over again, I'd call it again."
   Greenwood attempted an onside kick, but the kick was covered by Wynne which ran the clock out to become the 2004 AAAA State Champions 28-26.
   The Bulldogs were the first to score one a 3-yard run by Stegall with 5:47 to go in the first quarter. The touchdown drive was set up by a fumble by the Yellowjackets as the Bulldogs went 67 yards in eight plays.
   Lucas Miller ran down and forced a fumble on the Yellowjackets possession to give the Bulldog offense the ball back. The Bulldogs failed to convert a 4th down play and turned the ball over on downs to Wynne.
   Wynne's Courtney Williams tied the game at 7-7 after a 5-yard run with 2:02 to go before the half.
   Greenwood worked the sidelines to pull back ahead 14-7 with :24 seconds left before the half as Lucas Miller hauled in a 14 yard pass from Stegall.
   As much as the first half of the game seemed to go the Bulldogs way, the second half went the Yellowjackets way.
   Williams went in from 15 yards out to once again tie the game 14-14 with 3:50 left in the third quarter.
   The teams traded scores in the fourth quarter with Lucas Miller catching an 8 yard pass from Stegall with 9:41. Mason Knox who had been flawless all night in the extra point department sailed one wide to put the Bulldogs up 20-14.
   Williams gave Wynne the lead 21-20 with 5:05 to go in the game on a 4 yard run.
   Greenwood's Jacob Mills return the kick off 42-yards before taking a hit right to the ball that caused a fumble to give Wynne the ball.
   Over 10,000 fans witnessed what will be one of the most exciting AAAA State Championship games of all time.
   Greenwood finished the night with 21 first downs with 70 yards rushing and 254 yards passing.
   Wynne had 23 first downs with 365 yards rushing and 17 yards on one pass.
   Daniel Stegall rushed for 24 yards in the game to put him at 1,016 for the season and
completed 22 of 34 passes for 254 yards in the game to give him 2,063 passing for the season. Stegall only had three interceptions all season and none after week six of the fourteen week season.
   Lucas Miller had 8 catches for 78 yards in the game to bring his season total to 56 catches for 919 yards.
   "I thought our defense played their heart out," said Jones. "Our kids have just played like champions the last five weeks of the season. I'm just really disappointed for them, we had had a great group of seniors who just played their last game and they were fantastic. They played and fought. I don't know what you can say about the character of a bunch of kids other than they're winners."
   The community of Greenwood should be proud of all the hard work and determination these young men did to represent Greenwood. They played with the Heart of a Champion each and every Friday night this fall.
    Congratulations on an outstanding season to the players, coaches and everyone who helps make Greenwood Bulldog football one of the premiere programs in the state of Arkansas.
   "We had three options on the play