The Greenwood Bulldogs continued their stellar gridiron season by winning their 61st consecutive game at Smith-Robinson Stadium last Friday night, a convincing 56-20 victory over the Russellville Cyclones. The ‘Dogs remain unbeaten and in prime position to control their postseason destiny as the regular season draws to an end over the next two weeks.
Greenwood (8-0, 6-0) travels to Pulaski Academy (7-1, 5-1) next Friday before hosting Little Rock Christian (7-1, 6-0) on November 3rd in the season finale. All three teams will certainly qualify for the playoffs, but the next two weeks will determine their seeding on the postseason bracket. The top two seeds will get a bye during the opening round and a home game in round two. Friday’s win over the Cyclones closed out the first part of the 2023 season, setting up the second part against the league’s other two powerhouse squads. Pulaski Academy was beaten earlier this fall by LR Christian, but any of the West’s top three teams could win it all at War Memorial Stadium on December 1st.
Sophomore quarterback Kane Archer, still sporting a blue cast on his left arm, had a huge game, along with senior running back Brayedan Davis. Both players rushed for over 100 yards and Davis surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for the season. Greenwood jumped out to a 14-0 lead and lead 42-14 at halftime. The Cyclones scored their second touchdown in the first minute of the second quarter to temporarily stay in the game at 28-14 but were outscored 28-6 the rest of the way.
Homecoming queen Gracyn Newcity and her court were honored prior to Friday’s game and several former Bulldogs’ players and students were in attendance. The weather was ideal, and a large crowd was on hand to witness the festivities and the GHS victory that followed. The Bulldogs received the opening kickoff and scored seven plays later. In fact, Greenwood scored on eight of its nine offensive possessions in the game.
Senior L.J. Robins fielded the opening kick and returned it 10 yards to the GHS 31. Six snaps later the Bulldogs faced fourth down at the Russellville 46, needing four yards to move the sticks. Taking an early gamble, Head Coach Chris Young passed on punting and allowed his offense to remain on the field, hoping to pick up the first down. But they did much more than that. When a hard count failed to draw the Cyclones offsides, Kane Archer executed an excellent fake to Brayedan Davis up the middle, keeping the ball instead and galloped around the right side of the line before cutting back to the left and outrunning three Russellville defenders all the way to the end zone. Kicker Bodey Steinfeldt added the extra point for a 7-0 GHS lead.
The home defense then did its job by forcing the Cyclones into a quick punt, but Russellville also gambled by snapping the ball to the upback who ran to the 26, but still short of the first down, giving Greenwood the football. L.J. Robins ran to the 23 on first down before the Cyclones were flagged for encroachment, moving the ball to the 18. Archer then rolled to his right away from a Russellville blitz and fired a low pass caught by Robins, sliding to make the grab just inside the goal line for a GHS touchdown. Steinfeldt’s kick was good again for the 14-0 Bulldogs’ lead (8:43).
But the visitors fought back, driving 74 yards in nine plays as the officials began throwing flags, seemingly on every other play for the rest of the first half. Three penalties were assessed on Russellville’s scoring drive, and nearly 20 flags were tossed in the first half against both teams. The Cyclones’ first six points came on a 15-yard pass play from QB Luke Jones to receiver Mykai Foster. The touchdown was set up by a 28-yard pass from Jones to Peyton Harrison, who made a nice sliding catch. Harrison is the son of Russellville offensive coordinator Don Harrison, a former GHS coach. The extra point made the score 14-7 with 5:39 left in the opening quarter.
Greenwood then responded with two more touchdowns, despite the penalties that continually stopped the clock. Starting at their own 20, the Bulldogs ran the ball twice with Davis reaching the 34 for a first down. Archer then dumped the ball off to Robins for a nice gain down the GHS sideline, but a penalty put the ball back at the home 31. Another pass to receiver Grant Karnes reached the 41 for a first down. On the next snap, Archer was forced to scramble out of bounds at the 43 before completing a short toss to Isaiah Arrington to the Russellville 49.
Another Archer scramble was reversed by a penalty back to the GHS 41, but the young QB had the last laugh, eluding the Russellville defense yet again for a long gain inside the visitors’ 30-yard-line, plus a penalty to the 14. Isaiah Arrington scored on the next play, taking a short flip pass and racing around right end for the touchdown. The extra point made it 21-7 (3:38).
Greenwood’s next score was set up by the secondary when defensive back Braden Skaggs picked off a deep Russellville pass at the home 43-yard-line. Brayedan Davis then ran three times to the Cyclones’ 34 before a holding penalty negated a long pass play, also to Davis, pushing the ball back to the 40 before Archer scrambled twice and a defensive holding penalty put the ball at the 21. Another flip pass to Arrington reached the 12-yard-line on the last play of the first quarter.
The Bulldogs then scored on the opening snap of the second stanza when Archer spied an opening in the defense, running to daylight before cutting back to his right, breaking a tackle and sidestepping another defender at the goal line for the touchdown. The extra point was good, and the Bulldogs led 28-7, suggesting the contest might be on the verge of a blowout.
But the Cyclones weren’t done and responded with a quick score on a long run by speedy tailback Tracy Daniels, who sprinted through the middle of the GHS defense for 79 yards and six points. The subsequent kick was good to trim the Greenwood lead to 28-14. But that’s as close as the visitors would get for the remainder of the game as the Bulldogs scored 21 unanswered points to put the game away.
L.J. Robins returned the Russellville kick to the home 34 and caught a pass to the 39 on first down. Davis then ran to the 47 before a penalty pushed the ‘Dogs back to their own 37. Archer found Davis on a short pass play back to the 47 then threw to Arrington to the Russellville 39. Two snaps later, Archer connected with Grant Karnes at the 30 in front of the home sideline and the junior receiver took on two defenders, bouncing off both while somehow staying in bounds on his way to the end zone. Steinfeldt’s kick made the score 35-14 at the 10:05 mark.
Minutes later, after an 11-play drive, Greenwood defensive end Cash Archer blew up a fourth down play by the Cyclones at the home 29. Archer’s tackle behind the line-of-scrimmage gave Greenwood the ball at its own 34 and the Bulldogs needed just four plays to score their sixth touchdown. The first three of those snaps went to Brayedan Davis, who got 38 yards on his third touch to the Russellville 21. Kane Archer then kept the ball around the right side, breaking a tackle near the 10 before reaching the end zone. The PAT was good for a 42-14 GHS lead (2:52).
The Bulldogs got the football back with about a minute left, but had to settle for a field goal try on the last play of the half. The 32-yard effort by Steinfeldt sailed left of the uprights, keeping the halftime score at 42-14, short of the 35-point margin required to invoke the mercy rule and get the clock running in the second half.
Thankfully, after almost 200 yards in penalties combined between the two teams, the flags stayed in the officials’ pockets for much of the second half, aided by the mercy rule that speeded up the clock for most of the final two periods. But after the long first half, the third quarter kicked off at 8:44 p.m. The Cyclones got the ball first, but couldn’t do anything with it, punting to the Bulldogs at the GHS 9-yard-line after a long roll.
But the long punt just made the subsequent GHS drive more impressive – 91 yards in 11 plays. On first down, Davis ran for 20 yards to the 29, eclipsing the 1,000-yard mark for the season. A pass to Grant Karnes reached the 40 and another toss to Arrington crossed midfield to the Russellville 42. Another toss to Arrington reached the 37 and a short pass to Robins moved the ball and the sticks to the 23. Robins then ran to the 16 before the ‘Dogs faced a fourth-and-four situation at the 17.
Archer then eluded two tacklers and scrambled around the right side, nearly reaching the end zone before being called out-of-bound at the Russellville 1-yard-line. A low snap then resulted in a loss to the six with Archer falling on the loose ball. He then scrambled again, this time to the left before crossing the goal line at the pylon for his fourth rushing touchdown of the game. The extra point was good, putting the mercy rule in force with the Bulldogs ahead, 49-14 (7:47).
Russellville scored its final touchdown on the last play of the third period after a 12-play drive that ended with a 27-yard pass from Luke Jones to Mykai Foster over the middle into the end zone. But the extra point failed, making the score 49-20 before the ‘Dogs’ final touchdown about eight minutes later with the clock running almost non-stop.
A penalty for spiking the football on the touchdown play allowed the Bulldogs to return the kickoff to their own 42, with Isaiah Arrington doing the honors but coming up lame after the play, hobbling to the sideline. All the GHS starting skill players were replaced by the #2 offensive unit headlined by sophomore quarterback Cooper Goodwin, who completed a pass to receiver Scott Holland for a first down at the Russellville 42.
Wesley Raggio then had a long run that was partially negated by a holding call, moving the ball to the 35, followed by a QB keeper to the 20 by Goodwin, moving the sticks for a fresh set of downs. Isaiah Niles rumbled to the 16 and three plays later Goodwin threw to Holland again at the 9-yard-line. Raggio then carried in for the touchdown with a nice spin move at the goal line. Hudson Meeker added the extra point, making the final score 56-20.
After the game, Head Coach Chris Young was asked about Homecoming by Dog Pound sideline reporter Richie Cagle. “Yeah. It’s great to see all the former Bulldogs back and see all the kids you’ve coached over the last 24 years come by and hug your neck. Hopefully we gave them a good show tonight,” said the coach.
Asked about the play of Kane Archer, Young said, “The last two games he’s been unbelievable. The last two games we’ve had 15 possessions and scored 14 touchdowns and missed a field goal, so he’s been pretty special. But we’ve got some other guys too. Brayedan Davis was unbelievable tonight, L.J. [Robins], Grant [Karnes], and Isaiah [Arrington]. Our offensive line was better tonight. They opened up some holes when we ran the ball.
“Defensively, we’ve been so awesome all year long, and we were just a little bit off tonight,” said the coach. “We gave up the long run and we didn’t defend the pass like we need to, and we’re going to have a challenge next week. I think Pulaski Academy has won 86 games in a row at home, and they’re going to throw it a whole bunch. But Coach [Jason] Gill and [his staff] will get those guys ready to go. It’s not that we played that bad, it’s just that our expectations are so high.”
Unofficially, Kane Archer carried the ball 17 times for 174 yards and four touchdowns. He also completed 15 of 19 passes for 181 yards and three more touchdowns. Brayedan Davis rushed 13 times for 119 yards and caught a pass for 10. Isaiah Arrington and Grant Karnes shared the yardage lead among GHS receivers with 68 and 67 yards, respectively. Arrington caught six balls and Karnes five, with both scoring a touchdown. L.J. Robins had three receptions for 36 yards and a score and Scott Holland had two grabs for 20 yards.
Pulaski Academy defeated Greenbrier Friday night, 42-31, and Little Rock Christian took it to Van Buren, 58-3. Earlier this season the two private schools faced off at LR Christian with the home team coming out on top by a surprising score of 55-13 over P.A. Christian’s only loss this season was to Class 5A non-conference opponent Shiloh Christian, 43-22, in early September. Greenwood’s games with both teams have been highly anticipated all season and will draw a lot of interest statewide.