Having captured three consecutive River Valley Conference championships, the Greenwood Junior Bulldogs began defense of those titles by steamrolling the Darby Rangers last Thursday night in the league opener for both teams. Greenwood scored five times in the first half - twice on the ground, twice by air, and one by the defense - to build a 32-0 lead at the break.

Head Coach Don Harrison was understandably pleased with the victory. “That was a good win,” he said just minutes after the game at Mayo-Thompson Stadium, on the campus of Northside High School in Fort Smith. “We were scared to death of those guys. They've got a lot of speed and a lot of athletes, but we had a good scouting report on them.”

Greenwood used persistent pressure by its defense to stymie the Rangers' offense, holding Darby to only one first down in the opening half. The home team moved the chains just three times in the second half, including once by penalty, mostly against Greenwood's reserves.

“We were throwing a lot of different things at them,” said Coach Harrison of his team's defensive effort. “We were looping and stunting and sending some [linebackers] in different areas. We've got a very athletic front. We don't have a lot of real big guys, but we've got a lot of people that move real fast and get in the gaps. That was pretty much our game plan tonight.”

The visiting Bulldogs began their opening drive at their own 43, after Cole McAllister returned the opening kickoff. On first down, RB Drew Morgan scampered up the middle for 12 yards into Darby territory at the 45. QB Houston Kennedy then completed his first pass attempt to receiver Avery Sinkuler for a 10-yard gain to the 35. But a Greenwood turnover ended the drive when Morgan fumbled in the backfield at the 34-yard line.

The defense responded with three fine plays in succession. The first was a solo tackle by Mason Copeland after a short Darby pass reception. The second nice play was Tyler Thompson's hit on QB Trevon Mitchem for no gain, bringing up third down. Mitchem then attempted a pass that was intercepted by Drew Morgan and returned about 20 yards to the Darby 24.

RB Zach Claude rumbled four yards to the 20, then Kennedy passed for seven yards to Jansen Stein at the 13. After a dropped pass, Kennedy kept the ball and ran up the middle to the 5-yard line. After a defensive penalty, Kennedy scored on a 2½ yard run with 3:58 left in the first quarter. Claude then barged his way into the end zone to score the two-point conversion.

Leading 8-0, Greenwood's defense went back to work. After no gain on first down, Brandon Proctor sacked the Darby QB at the 19. A third down pass completion then came up short at the 27, forcing a Rangers' punt, a poor kick that rolled dead at the Darby 38 with 1:29 left in the opening stanza. The visitors would need just four plays to score again.

On second down, Kennedy found Morgan on a screen pass for 26 yards to the 13. After a dropped pass, Kennedy connected with McAllister, who turned up field and sprinted into the front corner of the end zone. With frontline kicker Avery Sinkuler unavailable, Zach Claude tried the extra point, but missed, leaving the score 14-0 with 41 seconds left in the quarter.

On the final play of the period, Brandon Proctor's second sack planted the Darby QB at the 21, with an assist by teammate William Cooper. On fourth down, a poor snap led to a blocked punt, scooped up by Jansen Stein and returned about 10 yards for a touchdown. Another failed kick on the PAT left the score 20-0 with 7:15 remaining in the first half.

Darby finally earned a first down on a 19-yard run by Mitchem to the Rangers' 33 with 6:45 left in the second quarter. Two plays later, Brandon Proctor's third sack slowed the Darby drive. The Rangers then gambled on fourth down, but failed on a pass attempt, giving the ball back to the Greenwood offense at the 4:22 mark.

From the Darby 38, the Jr. 'Dogs wasted little time in mounting yet another scoring threat. On third down, Kennedy completed a pass to Stein for 19 yards to the 12. Two plays later, Kennedy lofted a pass to the back of the end zone for Avery Sinkuler, but the ball slipped through his fingers for an incompletion. A Greenwood penalty helped to insure that the drive would stall in the red zone. Kennedy's fourth down pass at the goal line was batted down by Darby's Jacob Massey with 3:04 left before the break.

But on Darby's first offensive play, Greenwood's Jansen Stein intercepted a pass near the 30-yard line and returned it to the 12. On the next play, Drew Morgan raced up the middle nearly untouched for the touchdown. The PAT by emergency kicker Ethan Clark failed to find the uprights, and the score remained 26-0.

Once again, the defense held Darby to three plays and a punt, which was returned nicely by Greenwood's Mason Copeland, putting the ball at the Rangers' 14-yard line. Three consecutive passes failed - one was dropped and the other two were overthrown - before Kennedy found Avery Sinkuler tip-toeing his way across the back of the end zone for the reception. The PAT failed again, but Brandon Proctor punctuated the end of the half with a bone crushing tackle after Darby tried a reverse on the kickoff. The half ended with Greenwood in total command, 32-0.

The Rangers' only scoring chance came on their first possession of the second half. Marching from its own 34, Darby moved to the Greenwood 14 on a 25-yard pass completion from Mitchem to DeDe Johnson. But four plays later Mitchem misfired on a fourth down pass, giving Greenwood the ball at its own 6-yard line with 2:10 remaining in the third quarter.

With its reserves in the game, the Bulldogs marched 11 plays to the Darby 40-yard line before punting the ball away. On the drive, backup RB Taylor Lovejoy carried 10 times for about 40 yards. Backup QB Jansen Stein ran the offense, completing an 8-yard pass to Austin Warren. Matt Sisco's punt rolled dead at the Darby 12-yard line with 3:36 left to play. The next time Greenwood touched the ball on offense was to down it at the end of the game.

In the contest, Houston Kennedy completed six of 14 passes for 89 yards and two scores. At least three passes were muffed by receivers, though others were off-target. “We had three drops tonight,” said Coach Harrison, acknowledging that it was a humid night. “My guys kept saying, my gloves are wet, my gloves are wet,” he explained. “But that's still no excuse. We've got to do a better job of catching the ball.” Offensively, the coach was pleased with what he saw against Darby. “I thought we went up and down the field on them. We did what we wanted to.”

Harrison also cited the outstanding play of receiver and free safety Jansen Stein. “He had a big week last week and came back and had [an] interception and also picked up a fumble and returned it for a touchdown. So I'd say all in all, Jansen Stein was the player of the game.”

Harrison also singled out another defensive player for recognition. “I know Brandon Proctor had a ballgame at outside linebacker. He brings a lot of speed and tenacity. The last couple of years he's played end for us. [But] he got taller and slimmer, so we moved him to backer. He did a good job being in coverage, and when we told him to blitz, he made some big plays.”

As for the placekicking, Harrison explained the problem, saying that regular kicker Avery Sinkuler was injured and could not kick, though he was able to play otherwise. “When Avery comes back I think our kicking game will be a lot better,” said the coach.

Harrison was also elated that he was able to get every player into the game for more than a few snaps. “Everybody got in more than four or five plays, and that's a great night,” he said. “We really strive for that. We're always sending people on and off as much as we can.” Harrison added that he enjoys rewarding members of the scout team that work hard in practice running the opposition offense. “It's nice to reward those guys,” he said. “Everybody got to play tonight.”

Next week the Jr. Bulldogs will play their home opener at Smith-Robinson Stadium against Chaffin Junior High of Fort Smith. “They're the juggernaut of the conference,” said Harrison. “They're going to be undefeated and we're going to be undefeated. It's a huge showdown. I haven't had a big game like this this early since I've been here.” Kickoff is Thursday at 7 p.m.