Bulldogs past first serious test, besting Morrilton, 41-17
By Richard White
After rolling to four straight blowout victories to open the season, the Greenwood Bulldogs were finally tested last Friday night at Morrilton in 5A West Conference play. The 41-17 final score was not indicative of the nature of the game, as Greenwood scored twice in the final 5:10 to secure the victory. The Bulldogs led 20-10 at the half, and neither team scored in a defense-dominated third quarter. Friday's game was the first time this season that Greenwood's starters have played four full quarters.
Greenwood senior Derek Morgan kicked off in usual fashion, booming the football into the opposing end zone, forcing the Devil Dogs to begin their first possession at their own 20-yard-line. After nearly missing on a pass interception, the GHS defense forced Morrilton into a short punt on fourth down, giving the Bulldogs possession of the ball at their own 49.
After a penalty moved the ball to the Morrilton 46, senior running back Justin Sunde ran for a yard on first down. Senior quarterback Hayden Smith then completed his first pass attempt to junior Drew Morgan for 10 yards to the 35. Sunde ran for 12 yards to the 23, then Smith faked a handoff and kept the ball, racing up the middle for the score. Senior Adam McFain booted the extra point for the 7-0 lead at the 9:00 mark of the opening period.
The Bulldogs next got the football after Morrilton put together a 40-yard drive that reached the Greenwood 40-yard-line. A pass interception by junior defensive back Matt Sisco ended the threat at the 31-yard-line, but the Bulldogs could make only one first down and were forced to punt, with punter Derek Morgan keeping the ball out of the end zone and the coverage limiting Morrilton to a very short return to the 7-yard-line. When the Devil Dogs could not move the chains, they were forced to kick and Greenwood's Drew Morgan signaled for a fair catch at the Morrilton 49 with only seconds left in the opening period.
It was Drew Morgan again on first down, going in motion and taking the handoff from Hayden Smith for a 19-yard gain around left end to the 30. Three plays later, from the 22-yard-line, Smith ran the QB keeper for 16 yards to the 6. But after two rushing plays for losses, the Bulldogs faced third-and-goal from the 10. Smith then took the snap and found junior receiver Cole McAlister for a quick pass and an apparent touchdown, but the play was called back due to a holding penalty. After an incomplete pass, Adam McFain entered the game and booted a 37-yard field goal for a 10-0 GHS lead with 9:32 remaining in the second quarter.
Morrilton then mounted a long drive to score its first touchdown of the game, letting the top-ranked Bulldogs know they were in for a fight. Starting from their own 20, the Devil Dogs marched 80 yards in 10 plays, with the help of a 15-yard personal foul penalty on Greenwood. The biggest play of the drive was a long pass completion to receiver Warren Leapheart for 35 yards to the Greenwood 43. Running backs Jamar Criswell and Paris Avery did most of the ground work for Morrilton, with quarterback David Ford calling the shots behind center. Criswell got the last three touches for the Devil Dogs, scoring from one yard out. The point after was good, cutting the GHS advantage to 10-7.
With 5:14 left in the half, Greenwood responded quickly to the Morrilton touchdown. Zack Thornton covered the kickoff at the Bulldogs' 29, setting up the 71-yard pass play from Hayden Smith to Drew Morgan that followed. Morgan got behind the defense and caught the quick-hitter over the middle, outrunning the pursuit all the way to the end zone. McFain's kick made the score 17-7.
But Morrilton caught a big break two-and-a-half minutes later. After the Devil Dogs had been forced to punt, Greenwood took over deep in its own territory and fumbled a shotgun snap that was recovered by Morrilton at the GHS 4-yard-line. But the defense refused to give up the touchdown, holding the Devil Dogs on two rushing plays and a failed pass attempt in the end zone. On fourth down Morrilton settled for the field goal, cutting the Greenwood lead to 17-10 with 43 seconds left in the half.
But the Bulldogs still had three timeouts left, and covered the kickoff at their own 30. Justin Sunde rand for 20 yards and got out-of-bounds at the 50, conserving the clock. The Bulldogs then executed a trick play, with Smith passing to Zack Thornton, who pitched it to Drew Morgan, who was trailing the play. On the next snap from the 40-yard-line, Smith passed again to junior receiver Jansen Stein for a big gain to the 20 and out-of-bounds. But the chance for a touchdown likely disappeared when Smith was sacked at the 26 on the next play, giving the Bulldogs just 10 seconds to score. After a timeout, a quick pass to Sunde netted 11 yards to the 15, but with just five seconds left, head coach Rick Jones opted for the sure three points, sending in Adam McFain for the 32-yard field goal. The two teams went to their locker rooms with Greenwood ahead, 20-10.
Morrilton kicked off to open the second half, a short bounding kick covered at the Bulldogs' 33-yard-line. But the Bulldogs failed to move the chains and were forced to punt. The Devil Dogs then mounted a scoring threat of their own, capitalizing on a good punt return to their 40-yard-line. Criswell got 29 yards on first down, moving the ball into GHS territory at the 31. Ford ran a QB keeper to the 19 on the next snap, but that's as far as the home team could go. A rushing play for lost yardage and two incomplete passes, the last one in the end zone, set up fourth down and 13 yards to go. Another pass fell incomplete at the goal line, giving Greenwood the ball at its own 22.
The remainder of the third quarter was dominated by both defenses and the punters, with neither team able to gain an advantage in field position or mount a serious scoring threat. Morrilton's final punt of the third period sailed out-of-bounds at the GHS 23. Justin Sunde ran for 17 yards on first down, using up the final seconds of the quarter. On the first play of the fourth period, Sunde ran again for six yards, before Smith completed a pass over the middle to Drew Morgan, the same play he scored on earlier in the game. This time it didn't quite reach the end zone as Morgan was pushed out-of-bounds at the Devil Dogs' 5-yard-line. Smith faked the handoff and kept the ball for the short TD run on the next play. McFain's extra point increased Greenwood's lead to 27-10 with 11:09 left in the game.
But Morrilton refused to admit defeat, responding immediately to the Bulldogs' score. Starting from their own 20 after the kickoff, they needed just two plays to reach the end zone. A 19-yard pass completion on first down set up another toss to Warren Leapheart, who got behind the Greenwood defense and outran the Bulldogs' secondary to the end zone. The PAT cut the Morrilton deficit to 27-17, but the Devil Dogs would not score again, while Greenwood added two late touchdowns to pad the final score.
Hayden Smith engineered a 14-play drive that consumed 5:40 off the scoreboard clock, and accounted for a pair of 12-yard runs along the way. The Bulldogs converted on a short fourth down play and also overcame an illegal blocking penalty, before Smith finished the drive with a 10-yard TD run. Adam McFain added the extra point for a 34-17 Greenwood lead with 5:10 remaining.
But following another defensive stand and a Morrilton punt, the Bulldogs sealed the victory with their final score. On first down Justin Sunde had his biggest run of the night from the GHS 32, down the left side of the field to near the Morrilton 35, but the play drew a flag on the Devil Dogs for a personal foul, moving the ball to the 21-yard-line. Sunde ran twice more for seven yards to the 14, before Smith carried the ball in for the score. Coach Jones admitted after the game that he really did not intend to score on the possession, but circumstances dictated otherwise. The PAT by McFain made the final 41-17.
Senior defensive back Blake Hasley grabbed an interception for the Bulldogs on Morrilton's final possession, returning it more than 20 yards to the Devil Dogs' 11-yard-line. Smith took a knee on a couple of plays to run out the clock, as the Bulldogs moved to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in 5A West Conference play with five league games remaining against Huntsville, Harrison, Vilonia, Greenbrier, and Alma.
"We haven't had to play very much in the second half," said Coach Rick Jones after the contest. "Morrilton has a really good football team and I think they will give people fits. They just have to get over the hump. Our guys were challenged in a good way, and it's those little bumps along the road that make you what you eventually will become, and how you respond to those are so important." Jones said that he was particularly pleased with how his team responded to adversity during the game, answering every Morrilton challenge. "I'm proud of the way our guys played. They showed a lot of heart tonight."
"This was a good win on the road," said Jones, also acknowledging that it was his 100th game at the helm of the Bulldogs. His record at Greenwood is 84-16 in 7 ½ years, with four state titles to his credit. "We practiced really hard [this week], and the only way you get better is to practice hard, and this has been a great group so far. Our guaranteed season is either halfway started or halfway over, however you want to look at it, and it's really important that we get better every single day, because somebody else out there is. The kids have heard it a thousand times, but it's not who you play, it's us. That voice on your shoulder that says, 'Do you want to be great or just get by.'"
"We got out of sync, and I give Morrilton all the credit," said the coach. "They played great defense and made some adjustments at halftime that we didn't respond to as fast as we should have, and they did a really nice job. Then we sort of went back to the basics and what we do best in the fourth quarter, and I'm really proud of the way our kids played in all phases of the game. That was the first fourth quarter we've played in all year, so we were happy about that."
When asked about his offense, and particularly the play of QB Hayden Smith, Coach Jones was generous with his praise for his senior field general. "It's really a great advantage to have guys back there that can make plays," said Jones. "Hayden played really well. He just has the ability to get the ball to where it needs to be, and he makes good decisions. And our quarterback has to make a decision on nearly every play, so there's a lot of pressure put on our quarterback. I was proud of all of our guys on offense. I think when it counted, we made a couple of drives that were the difference."
The Bulldogs will stay on the road this week, traveling north to Huntsville next Friday night. Game time is set for 7 p.m. Greenwood was also to host a visit from ESPN this week as the sports giant shoots footage and does interviews for a special feature in their "Year of the Quarterback" series on Arkansas Razorbacks QB Tyler Wilson, a 2008 GHS graduate. Last Saturday Wilson set a new Arkansas single-game passing record with 510 yards in a come-from-behind win over 14th ranked Texas A&M in a game played before a national audience on ESPN. Once completed, the Greenwood special will air on the all-sports network at 6 p.m. on October 26th.
By Richard White
After rolling to four straight blowout victories to open the season, the Greenwood Bulldogs were finally tested last Friday night at Morrilton in 5A West Conference play. The 41-17 final score was not indicative of the nature of the game, as Greenwood scored twice in the final 5:10 to secure the victory. The Bulldogs led 20-10 at the half, and neither team scored in a defense-dominated third quarter. Friday's game was the first time this season that Greenwood's starters have played four full quarters.
Greenwood senior Derek Morgan kicked off in usual fashion, booming the football into the opposing end zone, forcing the Devil Dogs to begin their first possession at their own 20-yard-line. After nearly missing on a pass interception, the GHS defense forced Morrilton into a short punt on fourth down, giving the Bulldogs possession of the ball at their own 49.
After a penalty moved the ball to the Morrilton 46, senior running back Justin Sunde ran for a yard on first down. Senior quarterback Hayden Smith then completed his first pass attempt to junior Drew Morgan for 10 yards to the 35. Sunde ran for 12 yards to the 23, then Smith faked a handoff and kept the ball, racing up the middle for the score. Senior Adam McFain booted the extra point for the 7-0 lead at the 9:00 mark of the opening period.
The Bulldogs next got the football after Morrilton put together a 40-yard drive that reached the Greenwood 40-yard-line. A pass interception by junior defensive back Matt Sisco ended the threat at the 31-yard-line, but the Bulldogs could make only one first down and were forced to punt, with punter Derek Morgan keeping the ball out of the end zone and the coverage limiting Morrilton to a very short return to the 7-yard-line. When the Devil Dogs could not move the chains, they were forced to kick and Greenwood's Drew Morgan signaled for a fair catch at the Morrilton 49 with only seconds left in the opening period.
It was Drew Morgan again on first down, going in motion and taking the handoff from Hayden Smith for a 19-yard gain around left end to the 30. Three plays later, from the 22-yard-line, Smith ran the QB keeper for 16 yards to the 6. But after two rushing plays for losses, the Bulldogs faced third-and-goal from the 10. Smith then took the snap and found junior receiver Cole McAlister for a quick pass and an apparent touchdown, but the play was called back due to a holding penalty. After an incomplete pass, Adam McFain entered the game and booted a 37-yard field goal for a 10-0 GHS lead with 9:32 remaining in the second quarter.
Morrilton then mounted a long drive to score its first touchdown of the game, letting the top-ranked Bulldogs know they were in for a fight. Starting from their own 20, the Devil Dogs marched 80 yards in 10 plays, with the help of a 15-yard personal foul penalty on Greenwood. The biggest play of the drive was a long pass completion to receiver Warren Leapheart for 35 yards to the Greenwood 43. Running backs Jamar Criswell and Paris Avery did most of the ground work for Morrilton, with quarterback David Ford calling the shots behind center. Criswell got the last three touches for the Devil Dogs, scoring from one yard out. The point after was good, cutting the GHS advantage to 10-7.
With 5:14 left in the half, Greenwood responded quickly to the Morrilton touchdown. Zack Thornton covered the kickoff at the Bulldogs' 29, setting up the 71-yard pass play from Hayden Smith to Drew Morgan that followed. Morgan got behind the defense and caught the quick-hitter over the middle, outrunning the pursuit all the way to the end zone. McFain's kick made the score 17-7.
But Morrilton caught a big break two-and-a-half minutes later. After the Devil Dogs had been forced to punt, Greenwood took over deep in its own territory and fumbled a shotgun snap that was recovered by Morrilton at the GHS 4-yard-line. But the defense refused to give up the touchdown, holding the Devil Dogs on two rushing plays and a failed pass attempt in the end zone. On fourth down Morrilton settled for the field goal, cutting the Greenwood lead to 17-10 with 43 seconds left in the half.
But the Bulldogs still had three timeouts left, and covered the kickoff at their own 30. Justin Sunde rand for 20 yards and got out-of-bounds at the 50, conserving the clock. The Bulldogs then executed a trick play, with Smith passing to Zack Thornton, who pitched it to Drew Morgan, who was trailing the play. On the next snap from the 40-yard-line, Smith passed again to junior receiver Jansen Stein for a big gain to the 20 and out-of-bounds. But the chance for a touchdown likely disappeared when Smith was sacked at the 26 on the next play, giving the Bulldogs just 10 seconds to score. After a timeout, a quick pass to Sunde netted 11 yards to the 15, but with just five seconds left, head coach Rick Jones opted for the sure three points, sending in Adam McFain for the 32-yard field goal. The two teams went to their locker rooms with Greenwood ahead, 20-10.
Morrilton kicked off to open the second half, a short bounding kick covered at the Bulldogs' 33-yard-line. But the Bulldogs failed to move the chains and were forced to punt. The Devil Dogs then mounted a scoring threat of their own, capitalizing on a good punt return to their 40-yard-line. Criswell got 29 yards on first down, moving the ball into GHS territory at the 31. Ford ran a QB keeper to the 19 on the next snap, but that's as far as the home team could go. A rushing play for lost yardage and two incomplete passes, the last one in the end zone, set up fourth down and 13 yards to go. Another pass fell incomplete at the goal line, giving Greenwood the ball at its own 22.
The remainder of the third quarter was dominated by both defenses and the punters, with neither team able to gain an advantage in field position or mount a serious scoring threat. Morrilton's final punt of the third period sailed out-of-bounds at the GHS 23. Justin Sunde ran for 17 yards on first down, using up the final seconds of the quarter. On the first play of the fourth period, Sunde ran again for six yards, before Smith completed a pass over the middle to Drew Morgan, the same play he scored on earlier in the game. This time it didn't quite reach the end zone as Morgan was pushed out-of-bounds at the Devil Dogs' 5-yard-line. Smith faked the handoff and kept the ball for the short TD run on the next play. McFain's extra point increased Greenwood's lead to 27-10 with 11:09 left in the game.
But Morrilton refused to admit defeat, responding immediately to the Bulldogs' score. Starting from their own 20 after the kickoff, they needed just two plays to reach the end zone. A 19-yard pass completion on first down set up another toss to Warren Leapheart, who got behind the Greenwood defense and outran the Bulldogs' secondary to the end zone. The PAT cut the Morrilton deficit to 27-17, but the Devil Dogs would not score again, while Greenwood added two late touchdowns to pad the final score.
Hayden Smith engineered a 14-play drive that consumed 5:40 off the scoreboard clock, and accounted for a pair of 12-yard runs along the way. The Bulldogs converted on a short fourth down play and also overcame an illegal blocking penalty, before Smith finished the drive with a 10-yard TD run. Adam McFain added the extra point for a 34-17 Greenwood lead with 5:10 remaining.
But following another defensive stand and a Morrilton punt, the Bulldogs sealed the victory with their final score. On first down Justin Sunde had his biggest run of the night from the GHS 32, down the left side of the field to near the Morrilton 35, but the play drew a flag on the Devil Dogs for a personal foul, moving the ball to the 21-yard-line. Sunde ran twice more for seven yards to the 14, before Smith carried the ball in for the score. Coach Jones admitted after the game that he really did not intend to score on the possession, but circumstances dictated otherwise. The PAT by McFain made the final 41-17.
Senior defensive back Blake Hasley grabbed an interception for the Bulldogs on Morrilton's final possession, returning it more than 20 yards to the Devil Dogs' 11-yard-line. Smith took a knee on a couple of plays to run out the clock, as the Bulldogs moved to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in 5A West Conference play with five league games remaining against Huntsville, Harrison, Vilonia, Greenbrier, and Alma.
"We haven't had to play very much in the second half," said Coach Rick Jones after the contest. "Morrilton has a really good football team and I think they will give people fits. They just have to get over the hump. Our guys were challenged in a good way, and it's those little bumps along the road that make you what you eventually will become, and how you respond to those are so important." Jones said that he was particularly pleased with how his team responded to adversity during the game, answering every Morrilton challenge. "I'm proud of the way our guys played. They showed a lot of heart tonight."
"This was a good win on the road," said Jones, also acknowledging that it was his 100th game at the helm of the Bulldogs. His record at Greenwood is 84-16 in 7 ½ years, with four state titles to his credit. "We practiced really hard [this week], and the only way you get better is to practice hard, and this has been a great group so far. Our guaranteed season is either halfway started or halfway over, however you want to look at it, and it's really important that we get better every single day, because somebody else out there is. The kids have heard it a thousand times, but it's not who you play, it's us. That voice on your shoulder that says, 'Do you want to be great or just get by.'"
"We got out of sync, and I give Morrilton all the credit," said the coach. "They played great defense and made some adjustments at halftime that we didn't respond to as fast as we should have, and they did a really nice job. Then we sort of went back to the basics and what we do best in the fourth quarter, and I'm really proud of the way our kids played in all phases of the game. That was the first fourth quarter we've played in all year, so we were happy about that."
When asked about his offense, and particularly the play of QB Hayden Smith, Coach Jones was generous with his praise for his senior field general. "It's really a great advantage to have guys back there that can make plays," said Jones. "Hayden played really well. He just has the ability to get the ball to where it needs to be, and he makes good decisions. And our quarterback has to make a decision on nearly every play, so there's a lot of pressure put on our quarterback. I was proud of all of our guys on offense. I think when it counted, we made a couple of drives that were the difference."
The Bulldogs will stay on the road this week, traveling north to Huntsville next Friday night. Game time is set for 7 p.m. Greenwood was also to host a visit from ESPN this week as the sports giant shoots footage and does interviews for a special feature in their "Year of the Quarterback" series on Arkansas Razorbacks QB Tyler Wilson, a 2008 GHS graduate. Last Saturday Wilson set a new Arkansas single-game passing record with 510 yards in a come-from-behind win over 14th ranked Texas A&M in a game played before a national audience on ESPN. Once completed, the Greenwood special will air on the all-sports network at 6 p.m. on October 26th.
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Greenwood Bulldog Football TV Show
Greenwood vs Morrilton 9-30-11
Hosted By: Darin Drennan
With Head Coach Rick Jones
Produced By: Troy Jarrell
Copyright: BFI. Inc 2011
Used With Permission
Bulldogs Give Coach Jones Win
Jones Coached 100th Game At Greenwood Against Morrilton
Greenwood 41, Morrilton 17
9-30-11
Photos By: Brian Vaughn, & Charlie Caster
Game Recap By: Richard White
Click Scoreboard For Offical Greenwood Game Stats
Photos Below By: Charlie Caster
Bulldog Radio & TV
Player Of The Game
Saul Palmer
RB/LB 5' 7, 180
Junior
For a higher quality and larger show visit: www.gogwbulldogs.com
Photos Below By: Charlie Caster
