With all its challenges, the 2020 gridiron season was a remarkable campaign for the Greenwood Junior High Bulldogs, finishing with a perfect 10-0 record as champions of the River Valley Conference. Just getting through their schedule without losing a game to Covid-19 was a major accomplishment, but winning it all in dominating fashion made it sweeter still.
The 2021 Jr. ‘Dogs are about to start their season and they have big shoes to fill, but they may also possess the ability and depth to equal their predecessor’s feat. By all accounts, the GHS freshmen football class is loaded with talented players, especially at the skill positions on offense. Their numbers are good two, with about 45 young men out for ninth grade football and more than 100 participating in grades seven and eight.
But this year’s team will have to cope with a few changes while still dealing with the remaining Covid-19 protocols. The team has a new offensive coordinator in Luke Hales, and the River Valley Conference will look different with the consolidation of the four Fort Smith junior high teams into two, making each one more formidable. There’s also a new team on the schedule with the addition of Booneville, plus an unusual open date in the middle of the season.
Hales, a 2017 GHS alum and former Bulldogs’ quarterback, has returned home after graduating from the University of Central Arkansas, to assume the duties of offensive coordinator for Head Coach Shannon Rhea. Former OC Josh Holloway was rewarded for his patience and good work by being promoted to the varsity staff earlier this year.
Hales played in both the 2015 and 2016 state championship games before playing for the UCA Bears, majoring in health education and earning his Master’s degree. He’s now working toward a Master of Arts in teaching. He currently teaches junior high American History. He was recently asked about being able to return home to begin his coaching career.
“It’s perfect. I love it,” he said. “I’m excited to get to work with Coach Young again. [He] and Coach Jones are really the reason I wanted to get into coaching. And it’s great to be home and to get to work with these kids and with Coach [Stephen] Hogan and Coach [Jason] Gill, and several guys that coached me, like Coach [Brian] Sims and Coach Rhea.”
Hales also revealed that like most young coaches, his ultimate ambition is to become a head coach or perhaps go into the administrative side of education. His enthusiasm is evident, and his knowledge of GHS football has already proven valuable, according to his new boss.
“He’s done everything I’ve asked and even more,” said Coach Rhea. “He works well with the kids. I’m really pleased that we’ve got Luke. He knows the offense. He played under it, and he knows what’s going on, and that’s really a load off my mind that we were able to get him. He handles the offense, the depth charts, and all that.
“He coaches quarterbacks and I help him with the receivers. But he knows [the offense] like the back of his hand and he’s doing a great job with it. We really miss Coach Holloway, but we’re lucky to have Luke too.” According to both Rhea and Coach Young, Hales will be calling all the offensive plays this season for the freshmen Bulldogs.
As for Holloway, Rhea had nothing but praise for his former offensive coordinator. “Josh is in the same boat as Luke,” said Rhea. “They know the offense really well. He worked great with the kids and they enjoyed hanging around him. I’m glad that he’s up at the high school. He deserves the promotion he got, and he [still] comes down and helps our kids, even though he doesn’t have to. He coaches them up. I just appreciate him for doing that.”
Now starting his seventh season as the junior high head coach, a position he lobbied for with former head coach Rick Jones, stepping down from the varsity staff to do so, Rhea says he still loves the job. “I enjoy working with these kids, trying to get them ready for the next level. It’s something different every day. We try to keep it the same as high school, but we have to remember these kids are just starting out and we just try to coach them up the best we can and get them ready for [varsity].
“It gives me a great feeling to see them do well in the playoffs and winning state championships. I appreciate the guys hanging in there, some who didn’t even get to play down here. A lot of them have grown up and they are able to help the high school team. I appreciate them sticking with it,” he added.
Regarding Greenwood’s tradition of winning football since the mid-1990s, Rhea said, “What makes Greenwood successful is we are consistent all the way through [the grades]. We (junior high) try to do the same things as the high school, and there are a lot of schools that don’t do that. We try to do the same discipline, the play-calling, all of that. Just being consistent helps make Greenwood the football town that it is.”
Turning to this year’s roster and probable starters for next Thursday’s season opener at Shiloh Christian, the offense begins with the quarterback position, as usual, and Greenwood has a couple of good ones, according to both Rhea and Young.
“We have Kane Archer, an eighth grader,” said Rhea. “He’s moving up and he’s going to help us. We also have Kaylor Jasna. Both of them have unique talent and do some great things. Kaylor is just a ballplayer. He can do anything we [ask of] him, and he’s been awesome with his attitude about it.
“We feel like we’ve got two really good quarterbacks. We’re going to play both and see how things go. We’re probably going to start Kane, but Kaylor will get to play [too]. We’re [also] going to move him out to receiver. He does a great job of getting open. He’s probably going to be our punter as well. I have all the confidence in the world in him to make plays.
“Kaylor is not at big as Kane, and Kane does a great job of dropping back [in the pocket], and he throws the deep ball really well. Kaylor does a good job sprinting out and finding the open man. He can run a little bit [too] – both of them can. Kane is just smooth. He [travels and] plays every weekend, and he loves football. He puts the ball right on the money. For an eighth grader he’s got good motion and he’s like a coach out there. He knows what’s going on. We’re going to bring him up, [but] he can play both, eighth and ninth grade,” revealed the coach.
Kane Archer is also one-half of a brother duo for the Jr. Bulldogs this season, with older brother Cash backing up at receiver and starting at defensive end. Both brothers have been involved in travel football, attending camps and playing all over the country for the past couple years. Kane has already been recognized as one of the top 12-and-under quarterbacks in the nation and recently received offers from both the University of Missouri and the University of Michigan.
But whichever player takes the snap from center, they will have no shortage of good receivers as targets. “Starting at X receiver with be Radley O’Neal. Starting at A receiver will be Isiah Arrington,” said Rhea. “Starting at B receiver is Grant Karnes. He played running back for us last year, [but] we moved him to receiver, [and] he’s doing a great job. We’ve got Cash Archer behind him, and he’s a great kid also. Our Z receiver is Daniel Burton.
“We’ve got four pretty good receivers and they run their routes well,” said the coach. “Kane and Kaylor have been hitting them on the money and they’ve been breaking tackles and making some good runs after the catch. Starting at running back will be Zachery Edwards and Jeremy Lawyer,” he added, rounding out the offensive skill players.
But the success of the offense is usually determined by what happens up front, and the Jr. Bulldogs have enjoyed a nice run of developing linemen who have blossomed on the varsity level. To further that effort, Coach Young hired former Arkansas State lineman Austin Moreton in 2020 to guide the varsity linemen and asked longtime varsity assistant coach Brian Sims to shepherd the junior high offensive line, giving Greenwood two top-notch o-line coaches for grades 7-12.
“On the line we’ve got Christian Fleming at left tackle and Decati Tatum at left guard,” said Rhea. “We’ve got Mason Moore at center, Maddox Glover at right guard, and Ashton Stein at right tackle. We’re not real big, but we’re not small either,” he added when asked about their size. “Our quickness is probably our best attribute. We’ve got some quick linemen and they’re hard to block. That’s one of the strengths of our team.”
Defensively, Rhea is briming with confidence after his team’s performance against Fayetteville in last Tuesday’s scrimmage. Greenwood won 53-19, but only two of Fayetteville’s scores came against the ‘Dogs’ defense. The other scored on an interception return. Fayetteville brought two teams, Purple and White, each one playing a half.
“Samuel Burton and Cash Archer are starting at ends,” said Rhea, naming his defensive starters. “We have two guys that rotate in at nose, Gage Hanna and Michael Atkinson. Starting at the corners is Talen Denham and Scott Holland with Isiah Arrington and Radley O’neal backing them up. Our outside linebackers are Zachery Edwards and Jeremy Lawyer. Then at middle linebacker we have Peyton Sterling and Zackery Zitsman. Our safeties are Kaylor Jasna and Paul Brixey,” said Rhea. Zachery Edwards will also handle the placekicking duties this season.
Asked about two-way players, the Jr. Bulldogs have plenty of those, but no two-way starters. “We don’t have any [players] starting both ways. We try to start 22,” said Rhea. “That’s one thing Coach Young told us. He wants to have 22 guys starting. It helps us in the high school to develop talent. In junior high we teach them both an offensive and defensive position, but we try to start 22 different guys.”
Regarding last week’s scrimmage at Smith-Robinson Stadium, Coach Rhea was pleased. “I thought we executed really well on offense, [though] we threw an interception they picked off and returned for a touchdown. I thought the defense did a great job [also]. I thought the kids hustled and got to the ball.
“[Offensively], we were able to move the ball and score some points on both [Fayetteville] teams, and that was good. They’ve got two junior highs. We played the white team the first half and purple the second half,” he explained.
Rhea also explained the changes in this year’s schedule and within the River Valley Conference. Pea Ridge was added to the league roster last season, but this year the four Fort Smith junior high schools have combined into two teams, giving each one a greater pool of players and talent from which to choose, making the league even tougher.
“The Fort Smith [high] schools have gone to one junior high. Chaffin and Ramsey [junior highs] are now called Southside and Northside. They [each] have one freshman team. In seventh and eighth grades they will still have Chaffin, Ramsey, Darby, and Kimmons. So, we had to pick up a game or two.
“This year we’re playing at Booneville and that will be a good game for us,” offered the coach. “We’ve still got Shiloh Christian and Russellville in non-conference.” To give them 10 games, seven in conference, the Jr. Bulldogs will play Fort Smith Northside twice, just two weeks apart in late September. They will also have an open date on October 14th.
Finally, asked to summarize the status of his seventh (2) and eighth grade teams, Coach Rhea had only to point to the large number of players who have reported for football this summer from those two grades. “Our eighth grade has about 45-50 kids, and we’ve got 55 or 56 kids in seventh grade, the biggest I’ve ever had here.” Altogether, that’s nearly 150 kids out for football in grades 7-9.
That’s a lot of players for the four junior high coaches to handle, so the varsity coaches assist when they can, said Rhea. “Our senior high coaches come and help us out, and we appreciate that. We feel like our seventh grade teams are a lot further along than a lot of the teams we play,” he added, attributing much of that advantage to the extra coaching given to Greenwood players by both staffs, junior high and varsity.