The non-conference season is over for the Greenwood Bulldogs (3-0), and thank goodness, because it was the toughest slate of such games the Dogs have faced in many years. Last Friday at Springdale Har-Ber, Greenwood scored a touchdown in the final seconds before adding a two-point conversion for a thrilling 43-42 win over the upset-minded Wildcats (1-2). Greenwood opened its season at home with a 35-31 victory over Bentonville-West before dismantling Fort Smith Northside, 61-14.
But aside from that blowout victory over the Grizzlies, Greenwood won its other two non-conference games by a grand total of five points. While that’s not what most GHS fans expected, it’s really a testament to how good those two Class 7A opponents really are. According to MaxPreps, Bentonville-West is ranked 10th in the state this week, and based on last Friday’s result, Springdale Har-Ber may be the best two loss team in the state right now.
Could Greenwood have played better against both the Wolverines and the Wildcats? Certainly. But they did win both games and were severely tested, which should serve them well the rest of the season and into the playoffs. The Bulldogs now get a week off from competition with an open date this coming Friday before hosting 6A West conference rival Shiloh Christian on the 26th. The same two teams met twice last year with Greenwood winning both times, including in the state championship game last December.
With last Friday’s win over Har-Ber, Greenwood extended its winning streak to 29 games since losing in the 2022 6A title game. The Bulldogs also have a 71-game unbeaten streak at home that will be challenged when the Saints come calling a week from Friday. Like last season, whichever team wins that game will likely win the conference crown, earn the #1 seed from the West, and get a first-round bye in the playoffs. The Bulldogs have reached the state championship for five straight years (2020-2024) and are favored to do so again in 2025.
Friday’s game was played at Har-Ber’s new stadium, and the turf caused some problems with several GHS players slipping on the artificial grass. But when they did get their feet under them, the Bulldogs and Wildcats matched each other touchdown for touchdown throughout the back-and-forth contest. The visitors scored first but the game was tied at 21-all at the half. Trailing 42-35 with three minutes remaining, Greenwood marched 81 yards in nine plays to score their final touchdown and set up a critical extra point decision for Head Coach Chris Young and his staff and players. With no overtime in non-conference play, they chose to go for two points and the win, and they did.
The contest began with sophomore sensation Braxton Canada returning the opening kick 30 yards to the GHS 40, and QB Kane Archer wasted little time in guiding his teammates down the field. On first down he threw to fellow senior Cooper Bland for seven yards before going deep with his next offering to senior receiver “Champ” Davis, reaching the Har-Ber 11-yard-line. It was Champ’s first action since being injured in the first quarter of the season-opener against Bentonville-West, a contest the Bulldogs narrowly won by four points.
Davis then caught another short pass to the 4-yard-line before Archer carried to the two. After a penalty pushed the ball back five yards, Archer rolled to his right and found Braxton Canada open near the goal line before catching the ball and scoring at the pylon. Junior kicker Landon Franklin added the game’s first extra point for a 7-0 GHS lead at the 10:10 mark.
But a surprisingly talented Springdale Har-Ber team quickly responded, driving 66 yards in just four plays to tie the score after the PAT. Despite a setback on first down when GHS defensive end Cody Johnson tackled the ball carrier at the 30-yard-line, a four-yard loss. Three snaps later, facing fourth-and-one at the 43, running back Reed McAllister bolted through a gap in the Greenwood defensive line and raced 57 yards for the touchdown. The extra point tied the score at 7-7 (8:12).
The Wildcats weren’t done, though. Forcing a rare Greenwood three-and-out, they fair caught D.J. Dobbins’ punt at the home 36-yard-line. Five plays later they were in the end zone again after a 47-yard pass completion by quarterback Bryce Owens, who performed well throughout the game. The receiver caught the ball near the 20 before eluding a tackler and racing for the score. The kick put Har-Ber up 14-7 with 5:23 left in the opening period.
After a short sky kick caught and downed at the Greenwood 34, the Bulldogs went 0-for-2 on their first two snaps with a pair of incomplete passes. After a GHS timeout, Kane Archer found Champ Davis over the middle, wide open near the Har-Ber 40. The Bulldogs’ receiver made the catch and sprinted for the end zone and the 66-yard touchdown. Franklin’s extra point try was good to tie the score at 14-all with five minutes left in the period.
But the fun was just getting started, with the Wildcats chewing up the clock on a 13-play possession, overcoming a second-and-32 with the aid of a GHS penalty, before fumbling the ball into the end zone, recovered by Greenwood’s Bryer Hackler for a touchback at the 20-yard-line, ending Har-Ber’s scoring chance early in the second quarter.
The Bulldogs then retook the lead after an eight-play drive that included pass completions to Ben Hossley, Braxton Canada, and Champ Davis, and a pair of runs by Kane Archer. His first carry started the drive and went for five yards, and the second one ended the possession with a 27-yard gallop to the end zone. Landon Franklin’s PAT made the score 21-14 (9:32).
Next, the two teams traded punts, including a comical few minutes when Greenwood had to punt three times in succession after penalties on the first two attempts. Eventually, the ball ended up at the Springdale 17-yard-line. With about two minutes left before the half, the Wildcats drove 83 yards, aided by a questionable pass interference call on the Bulldogs that extended the Har-Ber possession. A second interference penalty moved the ball to the GHS 20 with QB Bryce Owens running wild for over 30 yards on the drive, including the 2-yard TD run. Another Greenwood penalty moved the ball closer to the goal line before Owens scored. The PAT was good with 17 seconds left, and the two teams departed the field at halftime tied at 21.
In his brief live-stream comments before leaving the sideline at the half, Coach Young didn’t mince words when describing his team’s play over the first 24 minutes. “We’re not playing very well,” he said to sideline reporter Richie Cagle. “We’ve made mistakes, and defensively we don’t have anybody out there who wants to fly around and hit people. It’s frustrating. We’ve made some plays, but we’ve gotten some penalties and given them two possessions, and we’ve got to do better than that. We’ve got to play better the second half or we’ll be getting beat.”
But it was Har-Ber that received the opening kick of the third quarter and marched 82 yards in just over three minutes to retake the lead for the second time in the game. Once again it was Owens and McAllister who did most of the damage, helping the Wildcats overcome three penalties on their way to the end zone. Owens had big carries of 18 and 19 yards before McAllister ripped off another long scoring run of 45 yards. The extra point came with 8:41 left in the period, making the score 21-14.
In their first possession of the half, the Bulldogs were unable to respond, picking up a single first down before punting after back-to-back negative plays, including a QB sack at the Greenwood 35. Thankfully, the GHS defense also forced a quick punt by the Wildcats on their next offensive series. That kick reached the end zone, putting the ball at the visitors’ 20-yard-line at the 4:30 mark of the quarter.
The Bulldogs’ offense needed a dozen snaps to cover the 86 yards for their next score after a penalty on first down. Two more penalties followed plus a dropped pass on what would have been a sure touchdown. But Kane Archer immediately completed passes to Mario Dunbar and Ben Hossley, reaching the Har-Ber 44. After a penalty pushed the ball back to the 49, Archer found Champ Davis over the middle for a nice gain to the 20. Archer then carried to the nine and Davis ran to the six before Archer executed a QB keeper to the left side for the touchdown. Franklin’s PAT was good to knot the score at 28-all with just four seconds left in the quarter.
But the stalemate didn’t last long. Starting at their own 40 after the kick return, the Wildcats completed a deep pass on second down, covering 48 yards to the GHS 9-yard-line. Two snaps later, Reed McAllister scored from one yard out to put the home team back on top, 35-28, after the extra point kick with 10:06 left in the period.
With time running down, GHS fans were relieved when the Bulldogs responded with a lightning quick scoring possession of their own that ended with a 65-yard sprint by Champ Davis from the running back position for the touchdown. Davis burst through the middle of the line then found running room down the left sideline. Franklin’s kick tied the score once again at 35-35 with 9:27 remaining to play.
A penalty and the Greenwood defense partnered to force a Har-Ber punt just over two minutes later, but the Bulldogs couldn’t capitalize from deep in their own territory and were also forced to kick the ball away. Har-Ber called for a fair catch at the GHS 47, giving them a short field for their final touchdown drive. Five plays later the Wildcats scored on a 21-yard pass play before adding the extra point with 2:59 left in the game.
Trailing 42-35 and knowing it was likely their last possession of the contest, the Bulldogs went to work on offense, marching over 80 yards in nine plays, using up most of the remaining time. On first down, Davis ran for seven yards to the 26, but moments later a holding penalty moved the ball back to the 16. Two plays later Kane Archer completed a long pass to Braxton Canada for 48 yards against double coverage, reaching the Springdale 36.
Davis ran again to the 28 and Dunbar rambled to the 23. A short pass to Cooper Bland reached the 19 before Archer found Bland again to near the 10 before a penalty against Har-Ber put the ball at the nine with 50 seconds remaining. Archer then ran to the five before scoring on the next play with 15 seconds showing on the clock.
Down by one point and knowing there is no overtime in non-conference play, Bulldogs’ coaches and players decided to go for two points and the win during a timeout. With play about to resume, the Wildcats called back-to-back timeouts after assessing Greenwood’s offensive formations. But when the ball was finally snapped, Kane Archer faked a handoff to Champ Davis in motion, before the GHS quarterback powered his way straight ahead, finding an opening in the defensive line, allowing him to reach the end zone before celebrating the touchdown.
Trailing 43-42, the Wildcats had little chance of pulling out a win, but that didn’t stop them from trying. From their own 38 with no timeouts left, Owens completed a pass to the Greenwood 45, leaving six seconds on the clock. That was just enough time to try a Hail Mary pass into the end zone, but the ball fell short around the 5-yard-line, with no less than six Greenwood defenders on hand to knock the ball away.
After speaking with his players on the field, Coach Young talked with Richie Cagle in his weekly post-game interview before his Bulldogs get two weeks of rest and preparation before facing their next foe, the Shiloh Christian Saints to start conference play. “I’m just proud we found a way to win,” said the coach. “But we’re a long ways from a good football team right now. People just assume when they see Greenwood on [our] chests that [we’re] going to play well, but we’re young and we’ve got to find some guys. But I tell you what. How awesome was that to see them go down at the end and score. We were going back-and-forth on two [conversion] plays, and Kane said, ‘Give me the ball,’ and he made it happen.
“I’m just really proud of our kids. They found a way to win when we didn’t play well, and I’ve said that three weeks in a row now. But we’ve got to coach better. We’ve got to have a better plan that our kids can execute, and I think the mistakes tonight were as much on the coaches as they were the kids. So we’ve got two weeks [before] we play a great Shiloh Christian team, and it’s going to be a challenge. We’ve got to get better as a team in all three phases [of play].”
When asked about the play of his seniors, particularly Kane Archer, Champ Davis, Cody Johnson and others, Young said, “We need their leadership. We challenged them at halftime. We need ‘Dogs’ out there. We need to figure out who’s going to be that guy to make the big play when the game is on the line. So, kudos to Har-Ber. Their [new head] coach is doing a heck of a job. Their kids played well, and nobody deserved to lose that game. They’re going to continue to improve. It was a great high school game,” he concluded.
After surviving the most brutal and trying non-conference schedule in years, the Bulldogs will now enjoy some time off before returning to the practice field in hopes of getting better before facing the Saints. Both teams are ranked in the state’s top ten and are 1-2 in the 6A rankings, with the Bulldogs on top. The Saints are also primed to avenge their two losses to Greenwood last season and have a host of seniors hungry to win a state championship after being thwarted the past several years.
The Saints are 1-1 on the season and will play this week while the Bulldogs are enjoying an open date. Shiloh’s lone loss was at home against Lincoln Christian of Tulsa, Oklahoma, 41-33, last Friday night. They defeated Little Rock Christian in their season opener, 44-13, on September 5th. This week’s opponent will be the Bronchos of Bethany High School in Oklahoma, but whatever the outcome of that game, the Bulldogs will be anxiously awaiting the Saints on the last Friday in September.