The Goblins kicked off to open Friday's contest, and Tony Sandifer returned the ball 66 yards to the Harrison 32-yard line, setting up Greenwood's first touchdown on a brief three-play drive. Quarterback Tyler Shook found Spencer Harris on first down to the 16-yard line. He then connected with Sandifer to the 10, before handing the ball to Sandifer for the touchdown run on the next snap. Kicker Austin Hartness added the extra point for a 7-0 GHS lead just 57 seconds into the first quarter.

But the Goblins answered back quickly with senior Ryan Miller dashing 66 yards on a quarterback keeper for the score. The PAT tied the game at 7-7 barely two minutes into the contest. The elusive Miller was a headache for the Greenwood defense throughout the game, as indicated by these humorous postgame comments from head coach Rick Jones: "Defensively, we had a hard time keeping up with the quarterback. I went and touched him after the game just to make sure that he was actually not a ghost, because he made us look silly sometimes. He was Houdini out there. The kid's a very dangerous player."

Unfortunately for the Goblins, their defense had no answer for the precision passing and hard running of the Bulldogs. A near fumble for a loss of yardage cost Greenwood on its next possession, and Stephen Hogan punted the ball away to the Harrison 38-yard line. After Miller scrambled for a first down, the Goblins fumbled and Greenwood recovered at the Harrison 42.

Shook passed to Hogan for nine yards to the 33, and then kept the ball for 14 yards to the 19. Shook then rolled out and fired to Hogan again, who came up just short of the goal line at the 1. Tony Sandifer punctuated the drive with the touchdown run on the next snap, and Austin Hartness added the extra point for a 14-7 Greenwood lead at the 7:46 mark.

Back on defense, Greenwood linebacker Marco Vota made a tackle in the Harrison backfield to force a punt on the Goblins' next possession, and the Bulldogs began their third scoring drive at their own 21. Shook ran on first down, reaching the 38, getting lucky when Greenwood retained possession after he was stripped of the ball at the end of the play. Running back Travis Green got six yards on the next play, before Shook passed to Hogan again for 17 yards to the Harrison 39. Junior running back Dylan Dixon answered the call for 11 yards to the 28, then got 13 more to the 15. Sophomore running back Justin Sunde ran for two yards to the 13, before Travis Green ran to the 5. Sophomore Derek Morgan had the privilege of adding the TD, skirting the right side of the Harrison defense for the score. The extra point try was good for a 21-7 lead at the 4:11 mark.

Starting from their own 20, the Goblins moved into Greenwood territory at the 35. But three consecutive incomplete passes brought up fourth down, and a 52-yard field goal try was short and wide left, giving the Bulldogs possession at their own 20-yard line. Five plays later, Greenwood was in the end zone with its fourth touchdown of the first quarter.

Facing third down at his own 27, Shook completed a short toss to senior receiver Spencer Harris, who turned it into a 30-yard gain to the Harrison 43. Dixon then ran around left end for 27 yards to the 16-yard line. Shook then threw over the middle to Harris, who made a nice spin move to reverse direction and waltzed into the end zone for the score. The PAT made the score 28-7.

The defense forced another Goblins' punt early in the second quarter, and the Bulldogs took possession at their own 39-yard line. After an incomplete pass, Dixon exploited the left side once again for 17 yards to the Harrison 44. Justin Sunde ran to the 40, before Shook passed to Harris, who reached the 16-yard line. After a holding penalty pushed the Bulldogs back to the 28, Shook found his favorite target once again near the 15-yard line, and Harris did the rest, running and spinning his way into the end zone. Hartness added the PAT for a 35-7 lead with 10:38 to play in the second quarter.

After the two teams traded punts, Harrison marched 80 yards for its second score of the game, getting help from three Greenwood penalties along the way. The touchdown came on a 4-yard run by the Goblins' Jackson Dorman. The extra point cut the GHS lead to 35-14.

With 3:24 remaining in the second stanza, the Bulldogs added two more touchdowns before the intermission, invoking the mercy rule throughout the second half. The first score came quickly, on the second play of the drive. Following a holding penalty, Shook found a wide-open Spencer Harris over the middle, who completed the 63-yard play for the touchdown. Then things got a little crazy, as the officials threw a flag on Greenwood, but did not nullify the touchdown. When Harrison head coach Tommy Tice objected too strenuously, he was also flagged. Ultimately, GHS kicker Austin Hartness booted a slightly longer PAT to make the score 42-14 at the 2:50 mark.

On its next possession, Harrison threatened deep in Greenwood territory, after a 46-yard pass play from Ryan Miller to Dillon Wynn. The Goblins reached the 10, but failed on a fourth down play, giving Greenwood the ball with 1:41 left on the first half clock.

Wanting to increase their lead to 35 points and invoke the mercy rule, the Bulldogs marched 90 yards in nine plays, scoring their final touchdown with no time left on the clock, after a defensive penalty kept the drive alive. Big plays during the drive included a 32-yard run by Dylan Dixon around right end, and 11-yard pass completion to Tony Sandifer, a 16-yard pass to junior Seth Parker, and a 36-yard pass play from Shook to Stephen Hogan to the Harrison 15, erasing an offensive pass interference penalty on Greenwood. With just 2.9 seconds left, Shook misfired in the end zone, but a pass interference call against Harrison gave the Bulldogs one final snap with time expired. Given another chance, Shook found Harris, who made a diving catch of a low throw in the end zone. The extra point put the halftime score at 49-14, insuring that the second half clock would run almost unimpeded.

A check of the halftime stats revealed that the Bulldogs had rolled up more than 500 yards of offense through two quarters. And while the first half took about 90 minutes to play, the second half barely took more than half and hour, with the clock running almost continuously.

The Bulldogs would not score in the second half, taking the opportunity to play reserves almost exclusively. The Goblins scored twice more, making the final margin a bit more respectable. Both scores came in the fourth quarter, the first on an 8-yard run by Dakota Hill, and the second on an 18-yard pass from Miller to Jonathan Jackson. In between those scores the Goblins attempted an onside kick, but Greenwood's Brodie McCraney did a nice job falling on the loose football and retaining possession for the Bulldogs.

Head coach Rick Jones met with the media on the field following the game and had these comments. "I thought offensively we played really well," he said. "We made some big plays and I was proud of the way we played. I'm glad we got that last touchdown before the half and got the clock running in the second half so we can get back home. It's going to be a long night anyway. We're happy to get a win. Conference road wins are precious."

While the coach declined to comment on the controversial officiating call in the first half, he did have kind words for the opposition. "Coach Tice always has his guys ready to play. They have a good football team and they have great tradition here. It's a beautiful new facility and we enjoyed playing here. It was a good night for the Bulldogs. I was really proud of our guys."

Asked about the success of the running game, especially around the ends, and the addition of some new running backs, Coach Jones said, "We sort of gave them a little bit different look. We put Dylan Dixon in there. He's been doing better every week. He runs the outside zone so well and he had some really nice runs. The key was our receivers blocked really well. Our receivers blocked liked crazy. We [just] thought we needed to get our young backs in. We got Dylan in and we also got Justin Sunde in. I think both of those guys are going to help us down the stretch. It's not only depth, but they are quality players. They've got enough experience and they're ready to go. It helps us on defense because [senior running back] Travis [Green] is such a good linebacker."

Finally, the coach added these comments about his offense. "We scored a lot of points, but the main thing is that we took care of the football [and] we converted a few key third downs. Tyler [Shook] did a great job of getting the ball to the right guys. We saw in [Harrison's] previous games that they brought a lot of heat and a lot of pressure. We were ready for their pressure, but they played us soft and sort of dared us to run, and that's why we decided to get Dylan and Justin involved in running the football. We wanted to get the clock running, because we weren't being consistent in stopping them on defense."

The Bulldogs return to Smith-Robinson Stadium this week for homecoming and the opponent will be Greenbrier. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. with homecoming festivities before the contest. Greenbrier is 4-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play. They are averaging over 31 points per game and like Greenwood, have won four straight since dropping their season opener.