The conference victory improved the Bulldogs' record to a perfect 4-0 in the 5A West and 6-1 overall. Greenwood has now won six consecutive games since losing the season opener to Class 7A Springdale Har-Ber. Coupled with Alma's unexpected loss at Greenbrier Friday night, the win over Vilonia puts the Bulldogs in prime position to control their destiny in the drive for yet another league title. Greenwood is the only unbeaten team in the 5A West with victories over Greenbrier (3-1), Vilonia (2-2), Morrilton (1-3), and Harrison (1-3). The Bulldogs face Siloam Springs (0-4), Central Arkansas Christian (2-2), and Alma (3-1) over the next three weeks. Greenwood is ranked second in the state in Class 5A by most experts and polls, behind unbeaten Monticello.

Friday's game was homecoming for the Eagles, and a nice crowd turned out for the contest on the new artificial turf at Centennial Bank Stadium. The Bulldogs kicked off and immediately stuffed Vilonia's offense on three straight running plays, forcing a punt that rolled dead at the Greenwood 35. Receiver Spencer Harris got six yards on first down, taking the handoff from quarterback Tyler Shook on an end around. But Shook was off-target on two consecutive pass attempts, and Vilonia returned the GHS punt to its own 30-yard line.

The Eagles then put together an impressive 14-play drive that chewed up the clock and kept the potent Greenwood offense off the field. The final play of the 7:53 possession was a 36-yard field goal by kicker Nelson Griffen against a moderate wind on a chilly night. Vilonia had only two plays of 10 yards or more, attempting and completing only one pass for five yards on the drive.

Unfortunately, the Greenwood offense remained in the deep freeze on its next possession, once again failing to make a first down. Junior Tony Sandifer had a nice kick return from the 10 to the 35, but senior running back Travis Green was thrown for a loss on first down. Shook completed a pair of short passes to Harris and Sandifer for a total of nine yards, but it wasn't enough to offset an illegal procedure penalty. Junior Stephen Hogan then punted the ball away on the final play of the first quarter.

Vilonia's offense continued to effectively employ its ball control strategy throughout the second stanza, maintaining possession for nearly the first 10 minutes of the period. The Eagles ran 16 plays and were aided on the drive by two penalties on the Bulldogs for 20 yards. One of the biggest plays of the drive occurred when quarterback Eric Ebmeyer picked up a first down on fourth and 11 at the Bulldogs' 24. On snap number 12 from the 7-yard line, the Eagles scored an apparent touchdown, but the play was nullified by a holding penalty, moving the ball back to the 17. The Eagles got 11 more yards, but opted for another field goal try on fourth down and goal from the 6-yard line. However, Griffen's seemingly easy kick sailed wide right of the goal posts, keeping the score at 3-0 with 2:02 left in the first half.

Getting the ball for only the third time in the opening half, the GHS offense finally awoke from its slumber and marched down the field in just seven plays to take the lead. Starting at their own 20-yard line, the Bulldogs got 15 yards from Tony Sandifer on first down. Shook then passed to junior Seth Parker for eight yards and to senior Spencer Harris to the Vilonia 49. Sandifer made a nice two-handed reception at the Eagles' 35 as the clock ticked down toward 1:00 left to play in the half. Protected well by his offensive line, Shook then took his time in the pocket and found Hogan for a big gain to the Vilonia 16, setting up the touchdown. On the next snap, Shook stepped up in the pocket and connected with Harris near the 5-yard line. The GHS receiver slipped a tackle in traffic and dove into the end zone for the score. Senior kicker Austin Hartness booted the extra point for a 7-3 Greenwood lead with 24.5 seconds left on the clock. The kick by Hartness was his career 175th and broke the public school state record set by former Springdale and current Arkansas Razorback kicker Alex Tejada.

Starting from its own 30 after the kickoff, Vilonia ran twice for 20 yards to the midfield stripe, using its timeouts to stop the clock. But on the final play of the half, Ebmeyer's deep pass attempt was picked off by defensive back Spencer Harris, whose momentum carried him into the end zone. He reversed course and gave the visiting fans a thrill by returning the ball all the way to the GHS 49-yard line before being tackled. However, the Bulldogs were flagged for an illegal block on the play, but it didn't matter because time had expired in the half.

In the locker room during the break, GHS head coach Rick Jones no doubt addressed the disparity in time of possession with his players. The Bulldogs had the ball on offense for less than four minutes in the first half, running only 15 plays, including both punts. The Eagles kept the ball for over 20 minutes and snapped the ball 37 times. Greenwood had about 80 yards of offense to 150 yards for Vilonia. The Bulldogs still had the lead, but only because an Eagles' penalty erased six points off the scoreboard. Things would need to change in the second half, and they did.

Greenwood received the opening kick of the half and began their first possession at their own 20. The Bulldogs used a nice mix of run and pass to move the ball into Vilonia territory at the 26-yard line. But a holding penalty on the next play pushed the pigskin back to the 34. Tyler Shook's pass to Spencer Harris inside the 20 seemed to erase the negative yardage, but Harris lost the football in his struggle with the Eagles defense, and Vilonia recovered at the 18-yard line, ending Greenwood's first offensive drive of the third quarter.

The home team picked up 10 yards on first down and reached the 41 for yet another first down three plays later. But on the fifth snap, QB Eric Ebmeyer fumbled the ball and Greenwood junior Marco Vota recovered for the visitors at the Eagles' 38-yard line. Still, the Bulldogs weren't able to take advantage of the turnover. Facing fourth and inches near the 10-yard line, Tony Sandifer had trouble with a high center snap in the shotgun formation. He lost the handle on the ball and had to fall on it at the Vilonia 17-yard line with 4:34 left in the period.

After picking up a first down at the 28, something similar happened to the Eagles. Facing fourth down at the 27, Vilonia lined up to punt, but the snap eluded Griffen, who picked up the ball and ran with it, getting only to the 31. Back on offense, the Bulldogs were flagged for consecutive holding penalties, the first of which negated a nice run by Tony Sandifer. Facing fourth down and long at the 28, Austin Hartness came on and booted a beautiful 45-yard field goal, putting the visitors up 10-3 with 11:38 remaining in the fourth quarter and the game.

Less than four minutes later, Greenwood struck for its second touchdown to essentially put the game away. The ever-present Spencer Harris set up the scoring opportunity by recovering another Vilonia fumble, this one at the Eagles' 48-yard line with 8:43 to play.

Travis Green ran to the 41, then again to the 37 for a first down, setting the stage for the play of the game. Quarterback Tyler Shook took the snap and pitched the ball to Sandifer in the backfield. Rolling to the right, the backup QB suddenly pulled up and launched a long pass downfield to a wide-open Spencer Harris for the touchdown. Hartness added the extra point for a 17-3 Greenwood lead with 7:39 remaining, putting to rest any real hope for a Vilonia upset.

Starting from its own 20 after the kickoff, the high-risk Eagles' offense made yet one more critical mistake, losing the battle for another loose football at the 21. Despite suffering a holding penalty that set them back to the 36, the Bulldogs needed only six plays to score their final touchdown. Green ran for 11 yards to the 25, but the drive stalled after a play for no gain and another for a loss of two yards. From the 27, Greenwood needed nine yards to reach the first down marker, but this time Coach Jones decided against the field goal, opting to go for it on fourth down. Shook took the snap and eyed his receivers downfield, ultimately selecting his favorite target. Spencer Harris caught the ball for a first down at the 4-yard line. Money back Tony Sandifer replaced Shook behind center and ran once to the 2, before Green leapt over the pile and into the end zone on the next play. Hartness made the score 24-3 at the 5:36 mark.

With the outcome of the contest clearly decided, Vilonia's offense seemed to lose heart and was forced to punt on its final possession. The Bulldogs ran out the remaining time on the clock, offered congratulations to the Eagles at midfield, and then gathered around Coach Jones for his postgame remarks. He told the players they had displayed one of the marks of a good team, especially on the road, by finding a way to win even when they weren't playing their best football. He also reminded them that seven games for Greenwood was the halfway mark of the season, and he rewarded them with a day off on Saturday.

Of course, seven is half of 14, which would take the Bulldogs to the Class 5A state finals for the fifth time in the past six years, should they make it that far. Greenwood lost in the finals in 2004, its first season under Coach Jones. The Bulldogs then won three consecutive state titles from 2005-2007, before losing in the semi-finals in 2008. Most prognosticators expect Greenwood to meet Monticello in the semi-finals, with the winner being the clear favorite for the state title.

The coach also had quite a lot to say to the press following the game. "Everything that could happen wrong, happened," said Jones. "But I think our guys rallied and I was proud of the way they played. They found a way to win. I thought our defense was outstanding in the second half. The defensive coaches made some good adjustments. It was an adverse situation. Vilonia played us great. I give those guys all the credit in the world. We only had three possessions in the first half. It was just miserable. It was the nightmare scenario. We just didn't get to touch the ball and they did some great things offensively. They tweaked their offense a little bit and it took us a while to get adjusted. But I thought our defensive guys did a super job."

Regarding Vilonia's turnovers: "It was one of those games where we needed turnovers, because it wasn't going very well on our side. Vilonia had a good plan defensively, but we thought if we could make them snap the ball enough times, we could get some turnovers. It's a high-risk offense. There are a lot of balls being pitched on contact and things like that. A lot of it had to do with our guys just stripping and trying to tear the ball loose. We worked all week on stripping the ball. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we did drills focusing on it. I thought our defensive guys [made] some huge plays for us."

Coach Jones also praised the Eagles' defense and spoke about his team's offense. "They did a good job," he said of Vilonia. "They played really deep and made [us] go underneath, and I didn't do a great job of being patient. We needed to run the ball, but we just had to take what they [gave] us. They gave us the short passes and let us run it a little bit, but we never got any rhythm whatsoever. We tried to force the issue a little bit, but you can't get in a rhythm when you only touch the ball three times in a half. We played Shiloh and had 16 possessions, so we're not quite use to doing that. But we knew when we came here that's the way it was going to be. Vilonia had a good plan. Coach [Jim] Stanley and his staff had those guys ready to play. That's his job. He frustrated us, there's no doubt about it. It was just one of those kind of nights. We like to go fast and we like to snap the football, and we did not get to do either of those tonight."

Jones also responded to questions about the 45-yard field goal and the halfback pass. "That was a huge kick," he said of the Austin Hartness three-pointer. "It was a severe angle from the right side, but I knew he had the leg to do it. It was a huge kick because it gave us a little bit of breathing room." Regarding the pass from Sandifer to Harris, the coach said, "we ran the wide sweep so often that we thought we had a good shot of getting that. It was a perfect situation. Tony made a good throw and Spencer made a good catch."

One of the major concerns resulting from Friday's game was the potential loss of two starting senior linemen, Colton Redding (6-4, 281) and Kyle Helms (6-2, 243). Redding limped to the sideline in the first half with a leg injury. Helms was helped off the field in the second half with a knee injury. Both players were later seen on crutches. Asked about the injuries, Coach Jones was uncertain, but praised the play of several backups. "We just don't know. We're going to have to get some guys x-rayed. Let's hope they're okay. We'll just have to keep our fingers crossed. But we had several guys that stepped up. [Sophomore] Casey Coward started his first game tonight, and he was active. [Junior] Orrin Burrows got some playing time after those guys got hurt, [and senior] Michael Wallace had to go in at guard when we had the injuries. It's going to be an interesting week next week," said the coach. "We just did well enough to win, and that's about it. We'll go home and try to get better, and hopefully some of these guys that got hurt will be okay."

Finally, Jones had some thoughts about the remainder of the season. "We're not guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, so we're going to try to do everything we can to beat Siloam [Springs]. That's the number one thing, and that's all we're worried about. I had some guys [asking] today, are you matched up with the southeast or southwest in the playoffs? And I said I really don't know. I honestly don't know. All I know is that we played Vilonia tonight and we play Siloam next week. I could probably think about it and figure out who we have the other two weeks, and that's really all we care about. We're down to three weeks in the regular season and every week's huge, and we just need to make sure we take care of business."

Just in case Coach Jones needs help with the rest of the schedule, the Bulldogs will play their final regular season home game this coming Friday night when they welcome the Siloam Springs Panthers to Smith-Robinson Stadium for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff. Greenwood travels to Central Arkansas Christian in Little Rock on October 30th and will make the short drive to Alma to meet the Airedales on Friday, November 6th for the "November Classic". If Greenwood remains unbeaten in league play and Alma enters the game with only one conference loss, as many observers think will happen, the season finale will have major implications for both the league title and seeding for the state playoffs.