11-24-06 By: Dustin Graham
Special From The Greenwood Democrat

GREENWOOD- Greenwood pushed aside the only team that stood between them and a third straight trip to Little Rock for the state Championship game Friday night.  The Bulldogs beat Nettleton 54-30 in a game that pitted two great offensive teams against one another.

It would be the Greenwood defense however that would make the difference by containing one of the best running backs in the state.  Derek Lawson broke the state single season rushing record last week against White Hall carrying for 140 yards to become the first back in Arkansas high school history to rush for more than 3,000 yards.  Lawson broke loose on one long run for 55 yards Friday night and in all was held to 140 yards on 34 carries with only 34 yards coming in the second half of the game.

Bulldog running back William Ridener flexed some offensive muscle running for 197 yards on 24 carries for four touchdowns. “I think Lawson may have motivated Ridener,” said Greenwood Quarterback Tyler Wilson. “All the coaches talked about all week was how good this back was and I think he wanted to show him up a little bit.”

Wilson also had a great night, throwing for a career high 404 yard on 22 completions and three touchdowns. “It is easy to have good stuff when you have a bunch of guys out there that are doing things right,” said Wilson. “When you have guys running the right routes. We have such good leadership, we have a good senior class, and they helped me to get through things.   In the playoffs they helped me get through it and made big plays.”

It looked to be an easy win early in the second quarter for Greenwood as they scored their third unanswered touchdown, but Nettleton clawed their way back into the game scoring 30 points in the second and third quarter of the game. In the end it would not be enough as the Bulldogs would leave no doubt in the fourth quarter with two end zone runs by William Ridener to slam the door on the Raiders.

“That was not a comfortable 24-point win for anyone on the Greenwood side I know that,” said Coach Jones. “It is never as easy as it looks I promise you that, Nettleton has a lot of good athletes, we just executed really well.  I think we did a good job of hitting the open guy and Tyler made good decisions over and over and over.”

“I am really proud of these guys they had a lot of expectations coming in and a lot of pressure on them after what we did last year and I just cant say enough about these guys especially the seniors,” said Jones. “We have some guys that just keep trying and keep plugging and find a way to win.  We have champions already but we have guys that just step up and make plays over and over again.”

The State Championship game will be Saturday in Little Rock at War Memorial Stadium at 2 p.m.  The Bulldogs will be defending their State title against the Pulaski Academy Bruins. “There’s a lot of work involved in getting to the Rock and our guys have paid the price and I am proud of them,” said Jones.