As it has done all season, the defense carried the day for the freshmen Bulldogs last Thursday in a 7-6 victory over the Jr. Pointers as Van Buren’s Blakemore Field. Playing three of their first four games on the road, the Jr. Dogs remain unbeaten at 4-0, winning three of those games by a total of 16 points. The outlier was a lopsided win at Alma, 42-7. Greenwood also had a 14-6 victory over Shiloh Christian and a 14-7 win over Pea Ridge. They will host Farmington next Thursday in conference action at Smith-Robinson Stadium. The freshmen Bulldogs are now 3-0 in league play and are headed into the meat of their schedule starting with Farmington then Harrison and Shiloh Christian.
After a scoreless first quarter, both teams reached the end zone in the second quarter last Thursday. Greenwood did so on offense while the home team scored a defensive touchdown on an interception return. But a key defensive play on special teams by Greenwood preserved the visitors’ one-point lead, blocking an extra point try, not knowing neither team would score again as each defense dominated the second half. Both the halftime score and the final score were the same at 7-6.
Van Buren kicked off to start the game, but the Bulldogs were unable to move the ball or the chains and were quickly forced to punt. Quarterback Ben Clark went all the way for Greenwood except for a few snaps taken by receiver Ryan Ross. Left-handed QB Joey Young did not appear at quarterback but did see a few snaps at receiver. Young and Clark have alternated at QB this season, but regardless of who was behind center, the Greenwood offense struggled against the Van Buren defense.
One of the biggest offensive plays of the game happened on Van Buren’s first snap after the punt. From their own 19, they got a 30-yard run from scrimmage to their 49. But the Greenwood defense buckled down after that and stopped the Pointers on downs at the Greenwood 30. The visiting offense then returned to the field and mustered a 70-yard scoring drive for the win. The possession required an incredible 19 plays and stretched well into the second quarter.
Ben Clark passed to Ty Karnes for a nice pickup to the 40, moving the chains. Two snaps later Clark found Karnes again at the 45 then again to the 48. Another first down followed as the same combo advanced the ball to the Van Buren 45. Aysen Dawson then carried twice to the 37 before a loss to the 39. On the last play of the first period, Clark passed to Ryan Ross at the 26.
After a loss to the 27, Dawson carried the ball to the 20 before Clark threw to Karnes, reaching the 13. After an incompletion, Clark connected with Ross at the 8-yard-line before Karnes carried to the four. After a Van Buren penalty advanced the ball to the two, the visitors lost ground back to the 8-yard-line. Karnes then carried to the six, and two snaps later caught a touchdown pass from Clark. Grayson Cobbler’s extra point kick was good for a 7-0 Greenwood lead.
The Jr. Dogs missed another great scoring chance moments later after forcing Van Buren to punt from its own end zone after a penalty on the Greenwood kickoff pushed the Pointers deep into their own territory. A quick three-and-out resulted in a punt to midfield, returned by Ty Karnes to the home 25. Ben Clark then completed a pass to Karnes on first down for a gain to the 17. But the drive quickly stalled after an incompletion and a loss back to the 22. A fourth down pass also fell incomplete.
However, after getting the ball back, the home offense was stymied once again by the Greenwood defense, forcing another quick punt that rolled dead at the visitors’ 32-yard-line. But just when it seemed the freshmen Dogs might be getting the edge and turning the momentum in their direction, the game took an unexpected twist on a deflected pass. Ben Clark’s pass attempt bounced off the outstretched hands of the intended receiver into the arms of a Van Buren defender, who turned it into a 35-yard touchdown return. But Greenwood’s Brandon Jarrels rushed from right end and got to the extra point kick, knocking it away to preserve the visitors’ 7-6 lead.
The Jr. Dogs got the football back with little time remaining in the half but got a good kick return by Wyatt Elliott to the 43-yard-line. They reached the Van Buren 40 before the clock forced them to go deep, but they misfired on three consecutive passes. Instead of a fourth straight pass attempt, Greenwood elected to punt just before the half ended.
The second half was a defensive slugfest. Van Buren reached into Greenwood territory only once and never offered a credible scoring threat against the visiting defense. The freshmen Dogs crossed midfield twice, including their final possession that reached inside the Pointers’ 10-yard-line and might have resulted in a second touchdown. But a diminishing clock led the Bulldogs to take a knee twice to preserve the victory. That last Greenwood possession was set up by a pass interception by Wyatt Elliott near midfield.
Later, Head Coach Luke Hales reflected on his team’s fourth consecutive win to start the season, one in which the offense has struggled at times while the defense has been a strong and steady constant. “We’ve got to get going,” said Hales. “We’ve got to find our rhythm on offense. We were unable to run the ball Thursday night, and we’ve got to get better in the run game and more efficient in the passing game. We threw it 35 times, which we don’t want to do very often in junior high football.
“Ty Karnes had 12 catches, and we’ve got to continue to get him the ball in space,” the coach continued. “We’ve just got to get better and do the little things right.” As for the dropped passes, Hales agreed, saying, “When you throw it 35 times you put yourself in that situation, and that’s what happened on the interception. It was a tipped ball that we touched. But we tell our [receivers] that if you touch it, catch it. But we also must do a better job placing the ball and giving them a chance, and we didn’t do that [last Thursday]. So, we’ve got room to grow and get better, and I think it starts up front and being able to run the ball.”
As for Van Buren, Hales said, “They were big and physical, and that’s two years in a row they’ve played us within one point. They got us last year in a one-point game and we were able to get them this year. It’s a credit to their staff and their kids. They’ve got a lot of kids. They combine Butterfield [Jr. High] and Northridge, and they had some monsters over there, some big, strong kids. We were proud that our kids found a way to win. Brandon Jarrels made a huge play blocking that [kick]. Coach [Brandon] Godfrey put that [play] in seventh period the day of the game, sending Jarrels through that gap, and he did a great job getting his hands out front and making the play.
Asked about using Ben Clark at quarterback almost exclusively, Hales said, “We’re just switching it up a little bit and trying some different guys. We feel like we’re struggling a little bit on offense, so we want to give some other guys opportunities, and we’ll continue that the next couple of weeks trying to win the next several games. They both (Clark and Young) have their strengths, and we want to keep repping Joey. He’s an athletic player who may get work elsewhere. We’re going to keep working both of those guys.”