The Bulldogs kept the football on the ground offensively, throwing only a few passes en route to a 21-0 halftime lead. But the shutout was spoiled in the second half when the Trailblazers finally scored after falling behind 28-0. Each team added another touchdown in the fourth quarter to account for the final margin. The Bulldogs continue to lead the River Valley Conference with a 5-0 mark with three league games remaining on the schedule.

Thursday's contest opened with Greenwood's Taylor Lovejoy dropping the opening kickoff near the 5-yard line. But he quickly recovered and returned the ball all the way to the 43, setting up Greenwood's first touchdown. Drew Morgan got a modest two yards on first down, and then got four more on second down. A penalty gave the Bulldogs a first down at the Van Buren 46, then Morgan ran for 15 yards to the 31 and again to the 25-yard line. Quarterback Houston Kennedy passed to Mason Copeland for 10 yards to the 15 and then connected with Jansen Stein for 10 more to the 5-yard line. Zach Claude ended the scoring drive by blasting through the middle of the defense for the touchdown. Avery Sinkuler added the extra point for a 7-0 lead.

The Trailblazers failed to get a first down near midfield on their first offensive possession, with quarterback Jacob Eason bobbling the snap on a fourth down attempt. The Greenwood offense took over at the Van Buren 43, and marched inside the 10 before a quarterback sack put the visitors in a hole. Facing fourth down at the 13, Kennedy's pass in the end zone was too high for the intended receiver, and Greenwood gave up the football early in the second quarter.

But the defense came to the rescue on Van Buren's first offensive snap, with Jansen Stein recovering a fumble at the 19-yard line. Morgan ran to the 17 on first down, and caught a screen pass on third down for a 14-yard gain to the 3 and another first down. Zach Claude then got the call again and scored his second TD of the game. Sinkuler added the extra point for a 14-0 Greenwood lead with 6:22 remaining in the first half.

Van Buren picked up three first downs on their next possession, reaching the Greenwood 23 before suffering a penalty that moved the ball back to the 28 on fourth down. An attempted pass was nearly intercepted by the Bulldogs, who took possession of the football with 2:42 showing on the scoreboard clock.

Kennedy executed a screen pass to Jansen Stein on first down, advancing the ball to the 41-yard line. Receiver Cole McAllister was Kennedy's next target for 19 yards to the Van Buren 40. Kennedy then kept the ball for six yards to the 34, before the drive stalled. Facing fourth down, Kennedy passed to running back Kenton Turner, who made the catch and struggled forward to the 21 for a first down, keeping the drive alive. After an incomplete pass and a run to the 16, Kennedy found Avery Sinkuler for 14 yards to inside the 2-yard line. From there, Drew Morgan ran for the touchdown with 26 seconds left in the half. The PAT made the score 21-0.

The Trailblazers received the opening kick of the second half, and crossed midfield to the Greenwood 44 before the Bulldogs' defense forced them to give up the ball on downs. The offense then marched 54 yards in just four plays for a 28-0 lead. Morgan ran for 18 yards to the Van Buren 38, and Turner added eight yards on two carries to the 30. Morgan then bounced outside of the left tackle and streaked untouched for the left front corner of the end zone. The kick was good and put the visitors up 28-0 with 2:57 left in the third quarter.

Van Buren finally got on the scoreboard later in the period, relying on the quick feet and running skill of quarterback Jacob Eason. He kept the ball on four of five rushing plays, gaining a total of 71 yards, including a 32-yard touchdown run. The extra point made the score 28-7.

Greenwood added its final score of the game with 5:41 left in the fourth quarter. Starting from their own 20, the Bulldogs needed eight plays and a facemask penalty on Van Buren to score their fifth TD. Kenton Turner ran five times for 33 yards, Zach Claude ran once for eight yards, and Drew Morgan caught a short pass and turned it into a 25-yard gain to the 13-yard line. Turner's final carry was for eight yards and the touchdown at the 2:27 mark. Sinkuler added the extra point for the 35-14 lead.

The Trailblazers scored their final touchdown with Greenwood's starting defense standing on the sideline. Van Buren marched 63 yards in nine plays, scoring on a 1-yard pass from Eason to receiver Anthony Cross. The kick made the final score 35-14.

Head coach Don Harrison agreed that his team is in a good spot at this point in the season. "It's a good place to be, 6-0 going into our bye week. We don't have a conference game this week, but we do play Harrison [next] Thursday night, so at least we have a game - something to prepare for - something to look forward to. But being 6-0 at this point with three conference games left, that's huge, because right now, everybody [else] has a loss."

Harrison also addressed the play of his defense, which gave up a pair of scores in the second half after shutting out the Trailblazers in the first half. "We were rotating guys in, but our guys played hard," said the coach. "We were a little worried, because our leading tackler [Brandon Proctor], he was at home with the flu. We got the call last night that he was sick and wasn't coming to school. It's hard to not have your leading tackler. It was worrisome. You watch our games and [Proctor] is all over the place. If he's not making the tackle, he's making some sort of a play. But we have two guys [Austin Synoground and Dalton Pulliam] that back him up, and we rotated them and they did a great job. They played awesome. And that's why we practice the way we do. We don't go out there every day with just our starters. We let everybody get in there at practice, because you never know - you've just got to always be ready, and I felt the two guys who backed him up tonight were ready."

Offensively, the coach addressed the style of play against Butterfield that featured the run more than the pass. "We like to throw it," he said, "but my goodness, we've got three backs. Claude scored twice tonight, and for Morgan to have just short of 100 yards, and Kenton Turner had a good night too. We've got three backs that can go, but when we had to, I thought we threw the ball well." The coach also admitted that his team had prepped for rainy weather, placing more emphasis on the running game, although the contest was ultimately played in dry conditions on the artificial turf.

Harrison also gave kudos to his offensive line for its fine work. "Our five or six guys that played - Thompson and Pulliam, Clark at center, and the two guards, at right guard is Vota and Jackson, and big Logan Gregory. I guarantee that we had close to 200 yards rushing tonight."

Finally, the coach looked ahead to the next week's non-conference opponent. "Normally, when you get a bye past week four, you're not getting a game," said Harrison. "It's almost impossible. To get a bye this late and to get Harrison to agree to play us, it's going to be great. It's a good thing to play somebody that they're going to play for the next three years. I just think it's wonderful and I'm glad that Harrison agreed to do it. I can't wait until next Thursday night." The two squads will play an 8th grade game at 4:30 prior to the 7 p.m. start for the 9th graders.