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Freshman Come Up Short Against Ramsey
Ramsey 20, Greenwood 17
10-13-11
Photos By: Brian Vaughn
Game Article By: Richard White
Second half mistakes doom Jr. 'Dogs against Ramsey
By Richard White
Leading throughout the game, the Greenwood Junior High Bulldogs suffered a second half meltdown last Thursday, losing 20-17 to the Fort Smith Ramsey Rams in River Valley Conference play. The game was played on the new turf field at Fort Smith's Southside High School. The loss was the first in league play for Greenwood and its second overall, giving the Jr. Bulldogs a 5-2 season mark.
The Rams received the opening kickoff, which bounced out-of-bounds, giving them the football at their own 35-yard-line. Behind quarterback Grant Hood and running back Derek Fernandez, the Rams marched down the field with the help of a pass interference call on the Jr. 'Dogs, reaching the Greenwood 22-yard-line. But Hood's next pass attempt was picked off at the goal line by defensive back Kevin Jones, who was tackled immediately inside the 1-yard-line.
From there, the visiting Bulldogs put together an impressive 15-play, 99-yard drive to score the game's first touchdown. All but one play was on the ground, with running back Cameron Palmer doing most of the heavy lifting. Palmer carried the ball 11 times for 62 yards, including his first carry for 16 yards and his last for 9 yards and the touchdown. Kevin Jones ran twice for 26 yards, and quarterback Reid Wheeler completed his only pass for eight yards to receiver Max Higgins. Jones also kicked the extra point for a 7-0 Greenwood lead with 39 seconds left in the first quarter.
A great defensive play by Greenwood linebacker Michael Dover resulted in a quarterback sack inside the 5-yard-line on the Rams' next possession, which ended with a punt to the Jr. 'Dogs' 37. From there, Greenwood put together a 53-yard drive that ended with a Kevin Jones' 27-yard field goal and a 10-0 Bulldogs' lead with 3:45 remaining in the opening half. However, from that point on, the Rams outscored Greenwood 20-7 en route to the upset win.
Ramsey began its comeback by scoring in the waning seconds of the first half. Starting from their own 22 after the kick return, the Rams managed a 12-play drive, almost exclusively on the ground, for their first score. Along the way, they overcame a penalty for an illegal pass and loss of down, but also benefited from a pass interference call on Greenwood that wiped out a potential turnover after another interception by Kevin Jones. Derek Fernandez scored the TD on a 3-yard run. The kick was good, cutting the Greenwood lead to 10-7 with eight seconds left in the half. The Bulldogs attempted a long pass on the final play of quarter, but it was intercepted by the Rams near the goal line.
Ramsey began the second half with an onside kick, perfectly executed, recovering the football at the Greenwood 49-yard-line. Two plays later, Derek Fernandez ran for 35 yards to the Greenwood 10, putting the Rams in position to take the lead for the first time. But the Greenwood defense rose to the challenge, even after an offside penalty moved the ball to the 1-yard-line. On fourth-and-goal, Fernandez was thrown for a 3-yard loss by a host of Bulldogs' defenders, temporarily forestalling the Ramsey comeback effort.
Greenwood then appeared to take control of the game once more, driving 96 yards in 10 plays for its final touchdown of the contest. Cameron Palmer ran six consecutive times for 53 yards to the Ramsey 41. Chris Sunde carried once to the 38, and Kevin Jones ran for big yardage to the Rams' 11-yard-line. Reid Wheeler then connected with Jones for the touchdown pass on the next snap. Jones also added the PAT and Greenwood led 17-7 with 1:02 left in the third quarter.
With a 10-point lead, the Bulldogs chose to sky kick the ball to the Rams' 43-yard-line, giving them a short field en route to their second touchdown. Ramsey then mounted a 9-snap drive, all rushing plays behind the strong running of Hood and Fernandez, for the score. Hood got the touchdown on a short 3-yard plunge. The extra point was good, cutting the Greenwood lead to 17-14 with 5:21 left to play.
Still, the Ramsey defense had not slowed Greenwood's running attack all night, so Bulldogs' coaches and fans felt good about their chances of holding on for the win. All they needed to do was take care of the football. The coaches even protected themselves from another onside kick by putting their "good hands" team on the front line. But the kick went deep and was fielded by Tanner Chapple, who tried to return it, but was hit and fumbled at the 19-yard-line, where it was recovered by the Rams.
Despite a big loss on first down after a QB sack at the 28, Ramsey got back to the 13, but faced fourth down with three yards needed to move the chains. Warned by coaches not to jump offside, one of Greenwood's defensive linemen did exactly that, giving the Rams a huge first down. Three plays later, Hood scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 1-yard run. But the Bulldogs blocked the extra point, keeping the deficit at three points with Ramsey leading 20-17. The game clock showed 2:11 remaining.
Kolton Hughs returned the Ramsey kickoff to the Greenwood 37, and the Bulldogs opened their final drive with a pass from Wheeler to Palmer for 10 yards, stopping the clock by getting out-of-bounds. After a pair of incomplete passes and a penalty, Wheeler completed a pass to Kevin Jones that reached the Rams' 45-yard-line. Facing fourth down, Palmer carried for five yards to the 40, moving the chains and keeping hope alive for Greenwood with just over a minute remaining. But that hope proved to be short-lived. Two plays later, a pass attempt bounced off the hands of receiver Seth Bland and was intercepted by Ramsey at the 36-yard-line, giving the Rams a 20-17 victory.
After reflecting for a day on his team's play, Greenwood head coach Kenneth Thornton talked about the heartbreaking loss. "You never really relax until it's over," he said, "but we felt like we had a comfortable lead, and if the natural progression of possessions had played out, it was enough. They couldn't stop us. We scored almost every time we had the ball."
But Thornton admitted that the onside kick greatly changed the complexion of the game. "We worked all week on that," he said, noting that the Rams were well known for such tactics. "We just froze and looked at it. We knew they were going to do it. We told [the players]. We worked on it all week. We do kicking game [drills] every single day. It reminds you that we're dealing with 14-year-old kids. But [Ramsey] recovered it and stole a possession from us."
The defense prevented the Rams from scoring after the onside kick, but the lost possession likely cost Greenwood additional points. The next big mistake, according to Thornton, came on the kickoff after Ramsey cut the deficit to 17-14. "The next time we think they're going to onside it again, so we get our good hands teams out there, and they kick it [deep]. We told them to get what they can and get out-of-bounds, and slide, but we got hit and fumbled the ball. Just little mistakes," said Thornton. "We played hard offensively, and defensively we made some good stops. It proved some things that we need to do [better]. But give [Ramsey] credit. They played well. We have been the beneficiaries of some breaks at times, but this time we weren't. We had a touchdown play in our pocket, but we still had a minute and a half left, and a timeout, and we've practiced getting our field goal team on the field in 12 seconds or less, so we knew we could do that. We weren't really rushing to call our play. We're setting them up, getting out of bounds, and moving the chains. But a routine [pass] that we've thrown and caught a thousand and one times, bounces off and they pick it off, and ballgame. We didn't get the ball back," lamented the coach.
"When you've got two teams running the ball, the game's short, and it comes down to possessions," explained Thornton. "We let them steal a couple from us and we came out on the short end of the stick. It was disappointing. But we told [the kids] today that the mourning is over. We're going to strap it up and we're going to get ready to play [Van Buren] Coleman. We've still got a shot at winning the conference. It's the biggest game of the year, absolutely. At the end of this they are either going to have one [conference] loss, or we're going to have two. It's a big ball game. We just want them to understand that we can't do anything about last night, except learn from it and use it to get better. I told them to put a smile on their face, and have a great weekend, and we'd get started on Coleman on Monday. But what an opportunity, and that's what athletics in school is all about - teaching kids lessons - how to deal with adversity and learn from our mistakes."
Greenwood has three games remaining on its 2011 schedule, all at home. The Jr. 'Dogs will host the Coleman Cougars this Thursday for a 7 p.m. kickoff. Coleman leads the league with an unblemished record. If Greenwood wins, and then defeats Alma in the season finale, the Cougars and Bulldogs would likely end the season tied with one conference loss, but Greenwood would have the advantage based on its head-to-head victory over Coleman. In-between the two league games, Greenwood will also host Shiloh Christian in a non-conference affair on October 27th.
By Richard White
Leading throughout the game, the Greenwood Junior High Bulldogs suffered a second half meltdown last Thursday, losing 20-17 to the Fort Smith Ramsey Rams in River Valley Conference play. The game was played on the new turf field at Fort Smith's Southside High School. The loss was the first in league play for Greenwood and its second overall, giving the Jr. Bulldogs a 5-2 season mark.
The Rams received the opening kickoff, which bounced out-of-bounds, giving them the football at their own 35-yard-line. Behind quarterback Grant Hood and running back Derek Fernandez, the Rams marched down the field with the help of a pass interference call on the Jr. 'Dogs, reaching the Greenwood 22-yard-line. But Hood's next pass attempt was picked off at the goal line by defensive back Kevin Jones, who was tackled immediately inside the 1-yard-line.
From there, the visiting Bulldogs put together an impressive 15-play, 99-yard drive to score the game's first touchdown. All but one play was on the ground, with running back Cameron Palmer doing most of the heavy lifting. Palmer carried the ball 11 times for 62 yards, including his first carry for 16 yards and his last for 9 yards and the touchdown. Kevin Jones ran twice for 26 yards, and quarterback Reid Wheeler completed his only pass for eight yards to receiver Max Higgins. Jones also kicked the extra point for a 7-0 Greenwood lead with 39 seconds left in the first quarter.
A great defensive play by Greenwood linebacker Michael Dover resulted in a quarterback sack inside the 5-yard-line on the Rams' next possession, which ended with a punt to the Jr. 'Dogs' 37. From there, Greenwood put together a 53-yard drive that ended with a Kevin Jones' 27-yard field goal and a 10-0 Bulldogs' lead with 3:45 remaining in the opening half. However, from that point on, the Rams outscored Greenwood 20-7 en route to the upset win.
Ramsey began its comeback by scoring in the waning seconds of the first half. Starting from their own 22 after the kick return, the Rams managed a 12-play drive, almost exclusively on the ground, for their first score. Along the way, they overcame a penalty for an illegal pass and loss of down, but also benefited from a pass interference call on Greenwood that wiped out a potential turnover after another interception by Kevin Jones. Derek Fernandez scored the TD on a 3-yard run. The kick was good, cutting the Greenwood lead to 10-7 with eight seconds left in the half. The Bulldogs attempted a long pass on the final play of quarter, but it was intercepted by the Rams near the goal line.
Ramsey began the second half with an onside kick, perfectly executed, recovering the football at the Greenwood 49-yard-line. Two plays later, Derek Fernandez ran for 35 yards to the Greenwood 10, putting the Rams in position to take the lead for the first time. But the Greenwood defense rose to the challenge, even after an offside penalty moved the ball to the 1-yard-line. On fourth-and-goal, Fernandez was thrown for a 3-yard loss by a host of Bulldogs' defenders, temporarily forestalling the Ramsey comeback effort.
Greenwood then appeared to take control of the game once more, driving 96 yards in 10 plays for its final touchdown of the contest. Cameron Palmer ran six consecutive times for 53 yards to the Ramsey 41. Chris Sunde carried once to the 38, and Kevin Jones ran for big yardage to the Rams' 11-yard-line. Reid Wheeler then connected with Jones for the touchdown pass on the next snap. Jones also added the PAT and Greenwood led 17-7 with 1:02 left in the third quarter.
With a 10-point lead, the Bulldogs chose to sky kick the ball to the Rams' 43-yard-line, giving them a short field en route to their second touchdown. Ramsey then mounted a 9-snap drive, all rushing plays behind the strong running of Hood and Fernandez, for the score. Hood got the touchdown on a short 3-yard plunge. The extra point was good, cutting the Greenwood lead to 17-14 with 5:21 left to play.
Still, the Ramsey defense had not slowed Greenwood's running attack all night, so Bulldogs' coaches and fans felt good about their chances of holding on for the win. All they needed to do was take care of the football. The coaches even protected themselves from another onside kick by putting their "good hands" team on the front line. But the kick went deep and was fielded by Tanner Chapple, who tried to return it, but was hit and fumbled at the 19-yard-line, where it was recovered by the Rams.
Despite a big loss on first down after a QB sack at the 28, Ramsey got back to the 13, but faced fourth down with three yards needed to move the chains. Warned by coaches not to jump offside, one of Greenwood's defensive linemen did exactly that, giving the Rams a huge first down. Three plays later, Hood scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 1-yard run. But the Bulldogs blocked the extra point, keeping the deficit at three points with Ramsey leading 20-17. The game clock showed 2:11 remaining.
Kolton Hughs returned the Ramsey kickoff to the Greenwood 37, and the Bulldogs opened their final drive with a pass from Wheeler to Palmer for 10 yards, stopping the clock by getting out-of-bounds. After a pair of incomplete passes and a penalty, Wheeler completed a pass to Kevin Jones that reached the Rams' 45-yard-line. Facing fourth down, Palmer carried for five yards to the 40, moving the chains and keeping hope alive for Greenwood with just over a minute remaining. But that hope proved to be short-lived. Two plays later, a pass attempt bounced off the hands of receiver Seth Bland and was intercepted by Ramsey at the 36-yard-line, giving the Rams a 20-17 victory.
After reflecting for a day on his team's play, Greenwood head coach Kenneth Thornton talked about the heartbreaking loss. "You never really relax until it's over," he said, "but we felt like we had a comfortable lead, and if the natural progression of possessions had played out, it was enough. They couldn't stop us. We scored almost every time we had the ball."
But Thornton admitted that the onside kick greatly changed the complexion of the game. "We worked all week on that," he said, noting that the Rams were well known for such tactics. "We just froze and looked at it. We knew they were going to do it. We told [the players]. We worked on it all week. We do kicking game [drills] every single day. It reminds you that we're dealing with 14-year-old kids. But [Ramsey] recovered it and stole a possession from us."
The defense prevented the Rams from scoring after the onside kick, but the lost possession likely cost Greenwood additional points. The next big mistake, according to Thornton, came on the kickoff after Ramsey cut the deficit to 17-14. "The next time we think they're going to onside it again, so we get our good hands teams out there, and they kick it [deep]. We told them to get what they can and get out-of-bounds, and slide, but we got hit and fumbled the ball. Just little mistakes," said Thornton. "We played hard offensively, and defensively we made some good stops. It proved some things that we need to do [better]. But give [Ramsey] credit. They played well. We have been the beneficiaries of some breaks at times, but this time we weren't. We had a touchdown play in our pocket, but we still had a minute and a half left, and a timeout, and we've practiced getting our field goal team on the field in 12 seconds or less, so we knew we could do that. We weren't really rushing to call our play. We're setting them up, getting out of bounds, and moving the chains. But a routine [pass] that we've thrown and caught a thousand and one times, bounces off and they pick it off, and ballgame. We didn't get the ball back," lamented the coach.
"When you've got two teams running the ball, the game's short, and it comes down to possessions," explained Thornton. "We let them steal a couple from us and we came out on the short end of the stick. It was disappointing. But we told [the kids] today that the mourning is over. We're going to strap it up and we're going to get ready to play [Van Buren] Coleman. We've still got a shot at winning the conference. It's the biggest game of the year, absolutely. At the end of this they are either going to have one [conference] loss, or we're going to have two. It's a big ball game. We just want them to understand that we can't do anything about last night, except learn from it and use it to get better. I told them to put a smile on their face, and have a great weekend, and we'd get started on Coleman on Monday. But what an opportunity, and that's what athletics in school is all about - teaching kids lessons - how to deal with adversity and learn from our mistakes."
Greenwood has three games remaining on its 2011 schedule, all at home. The Jr. 'Dogs will host the Coleman Cougars this Thursday for a 7 p.m. kickoff. Coleman leads the league with an unblemished record. If Greenwood wins, and then defeats Alma in the season finale, the Cougars and Bulldogs would likely end the season tied with one conference loss, but Greenwood would have the advantage based on its head-to-head victory over Coleman. In-between the two league games, Greenwood will also host Shiloh Christian in a non-conference affair on October 27th.