A new season brings a new head coach, a new group of ninth graders and, if Greenwood Junior High football’s preseason work is any indication, plenty of reasons for optimism. Head Coach Cory Chambers will lead the Greenwood Junior Bulldogs into the 2026 season with a roster of more than 40 ninth graders and the backing of a football program whose expectations are always lofty.
Greenwood expects its teams to prepare well, play hard, and compete for championships, whether the players are taking their first varsity snaps or beginning their final season of junior-high football. Chambers has not been in Greenwood long, but one thing already stands out to him – the support surrounding the program.
“The amount of support we get from everybody – parents – it’s crazy coming to football practice in the summer and seeing how many parents are there watching their kids practice,” Chambers said. “The places I’ve been, that doesn’t happen.” He’s found the same support extending through the football staff and administration, describing a program in which coaches work together, and veteran Greenwood football figures are available when he needs advice. That is a strong foundation for a young coach preparing a young team for a schedule that will offer little time to ease into the season.
Asked about his team’s strengths, Chambers said, “We have skill players everywhere, and we’re as good up front as any junior high team I’ve ever been a part of. We’ve got a lot of linemen that can play. We rotate eight kids on the offensive line and the same thing on the defensive line. Out wide, our four receivers are as good as anybody in our conference. Then our quarterback, he’s pretty good too.”
Preseason flashes offer encouragement
Chambers came away generally pleased with Greenwood’s recent scrimmage, even if the film also supplied a healthy list of corrections. The Junior Bulldogs battled Fayetteville last Tuesday, August 18th, a contest that ended in a 14-14 tie. “I thought we looked pretty good for the most part,” said the coach. “We had a lot of mistakes that are very correctable.”
Some of those mistakes kept the offense from showing everything Chambers believes it can become. Greenwood missed two potential touchdown throws – one on an overthrow and another when the quarterback’s arm was hit as he released the football. Chambers also saw several receiver routes that needed to be cleaned up.
The nature of a controlled scrimmage limited another part of Greenwood’s offense. Chambers intends for his quarterback to be a significant part of the running game, but officials were quick to whistle plays dead whenever a defender approached him. That may have protected the quarterback, but it also concealed some of what Greenwood hopes to do once the games count, starting this week.
One play managed to make the point anyway. Bentley Renick, listed as a quarterback and defensive back on the Greenwood roster, kept the football on an inside-zone read and broke loose for a 70-yard touchdown run. “He pulled it on inside zone and ran a 70-yard touchdown, and nobody even got close to touching him,” Chambers said.
Running back Truett Embree added another productive run on an outside zone play, gaining roughly 15 to 20 yards. Those two plays offer an early glimpse of what Greenwood hopes can become a difficult offense to defend – a quarterback who can threaten a defense with his legs combined with multiple running backs capable of attacking the perimeter.
The roster gives Coach Chambers several options behind that group. Renick is joined by fellow QB/DB prospects Cole Gore and Titus Archer, while Embree and Parker Spencer are the team’s top two running backs, with Payton Bazar providing depth. Cole Gore is temporarily sidelined by an injury, precipitating the promotion of Archer, an eighth grader, to provide depth at quarterback until Gore returns.
There are plenty of potential targets as well. Greenwood’s roster includes a large collection of players listed at receiver, starting with Myles Meeker, Chase Bercher, Coltyn Mourton, and Hudson Ray getting the starting nod, with Laith Bradley, Brian Patton, Leo Anaya, Jaxon Marshall, and Brooks Wolfe providing depth, among others. The task now is turning that depth into consistent execution.
The situation at kicker is also interesting, with move-in Josh Fitzgerald, a rugby player from Scotland, taking on the role full time, reportedly booting a 50-yard field goal while practicing with friends. But kicking a football is not the same as kicking a rugby ball, so Fitzgerald needs to gain more consistency in kickoffs and extra points. Like the varsity team, the Junior Bulldogs seldom attempt field goals, often going for it on fourth down, even in the red zone.
Big plays matter on both sides
The scrimmage also reinforced one of Chambers’ primary defensive concerns entering the opener. Greenwood cannot give up cheap yardage. During the second half of the scrimmage, the defense appeared to have an opponent in a difficult third-and-long situation before a screen pass turned into a long touchdown after a missed tackle.
It was exactly the type of play Chambers has emphasized eliminating. “We just missed a tackle,” he said. That sounds simple, but it is central to Greenwood’s approach this week. Make the routine tackle. Avoid unnecessary penalties. Force the opponent to earn its yardage. Limit explosive plays. Those points become especially important considering who is waiting in the season opener.
Anchoring the defense at the “Joker” position as an outside rusher will be B.J. Patton. Jaxon Sikes, Braydon Hunt, Wyatt Burrows, and Brooks Chapman will comprise the remaining starters on the D-line. Among those, Burrows caught the attention of coaches this summer as a defender nearly impossible to block. Starting at linebackers will be Truett Embrey, J.P Beasley, and Coltyn Mourton or another one of Greenwood’s receivers who could do double duty. In the secondary will be Mason Mizell and Porter Garcia at the safeties with Hudson Ray and Laith Bradley at the corners.
Bryant provides immediate measuring stick
Greenwood opens against Bryant, and Chambers is under no illusion that his first opponent will provide a gentle introduction. “They’re going to be the most athletic team we play,” Chambers said. “They’re big and athletic and fast.” In recent years, both the junior high and varsity Bulldogs have found it difficult to schedule non-conference games, forcing them to play larger schools.
Chambers expects Bryant to have a speed advantage in some areas, but he does not believe that makes the matchup unwinnable. The formula begins with discipline. “We need to play clean, penalty-wise, and we’ve got to limit big plays,” Chambers said. “If we can do that, I feel confident that we can play with them or beat them.”
Greenwood also believes there are areas of Bryant’s game it can attack. The challenge is preparation. The Junior Bulldogs have only limited pre-season film available on Bryant, leaving Chambers and his staff preparing for the possibility that the opponent will unveil formations or concepts they have not yet seen. That places additional importance on the first few possessions.
“There’s going to be mistakes,” Chambers said. “We’ve only got one film of them, and it’s a scrimmage film, and they could come out and do stuff that we haven’t seen yet. It’s going to take a lot of adjusting early and getting it figured out quick.” That ability to adjust may determine whether Greenwood can keep Bryant from creating the explosive plays Chambers wants eliminated. For a young football team, there may be no better opening test.
Plenty of bodies in the trenches
One notable feature of Greenwood’s roster is the number of players available along the offensive and defensive fronts. The Junior Bulldogs have a substantial group listed at OL/DL, including Keaton Cooper, Wyatt Burrows, Hayden Krieger, Jaxon Sikes, Cayden Owens, Bryce Taliaferro, Brayden Duncan, Jett Johnston, Braydon Hunt, Will Witcher, Christopher Loyd, Trey Martinez, Caden Broman-McAdams, Orie Smith III, Trever Pennington and Uriah Marroquin. Taylor Bentley and Blaine Pass are listed at both offensive line/linebacker.
From that group, Chambers says Caden McAdams will be at left tackle with Trey Martinez at left guard. Keaton Cooper will start at center with Will Witcher at right guard and Brayden Duncan at right tackle. Trevor Pennington and Jaxon Sikes will serve as backups on the O-line with Witcher able to move to center if needed.
For a ninth-grade team, having that many potential linemen gives the coaching staff something valuable: options. Players will still have to establish roles and earn playing time, but Greenwood is not entering the season trying to manufacture an offensive and defensive front from a handful of bodies. That depth could become increasingly important as the season wears on.
Conference race should offer few easy nights
Bryant is one of Greenwood’s nonconference opponents, with Lake Hamilton scheduled at the other end of the regular season. Between them comes a conference schedule Chambers expects to be highly competitive. The coach identified several programs that could present significant challenges.
Pea Ridge had a strong eighth-grade group last season, he said, noting that several of those players had already gained experience last season playing up with ninth graders. Farmington remains one of the conference programs Chambers expects to be competitive on a regular basis. “Farmington has always been good and always been very competitive,” he said.
Dardanelle presents more of an unknown because Chambers has not recently coached against the program, but its football tradition has his attention. Then there is Van Buren, another opponent Chambers expects to be strong even after losing a player who might otherwise have become an important contributor. Chambers left Van Buren to come to Greenwood.
His overall assessment is straightforward. “It’s a very competitive conference,” Chambers said. “Very competitive.” That should make every week useful for developing this group. The Junior Bulldogs are not simply preparing ninth graders to win games this fall. They are developing players who will soon move into one of the state’s most successful varsity football programs. That makes improvement as important as the record. But nobody should confuse development with lowered expectations. This is Greenwood. The Bulldogs expect to compete.
Building the next group of Bulldogs
The complete 2026 roster reflects the size of the task Chambers and his staff have undertaken. There are quarterbacks, running backs and receivers trying to establish themselves. There is a large offensive and defensive line group. There are players such as JP Beasley at linebacker/receiver, Mason Mizell, Porter Garcia, Lucas Mitchum, Jeremy Wright and Dante Johnson at defensive back/receiver, along with athletes working at multiple positions on both sides of the football.
That means practically everything Chambers and his staff do this season serves two purposes. They want to win now. They are also preparing the next class of Greenwood varsity Bulldogs. The two goals are hardly incompatible. Learning how to prepare correctly, respond to adversity, tackle in space, avoid penalties, execute assignments and adjust during a game are precisely the habits that win junior-high games – and eventually varsity games.
Chambers believes the environment around his players gives them an advantage. He has been particularly struck by Greenwood parents showing up to watch summer practices and by the cooperation surrounding the program. “The support we’ve gotten has been awesome,” he said. “Everybody’s working together.” That matters when coaching ninth graders.
The season will contain mistakes. The scrimmage already demonstrated that. There will be missed throws and missed tackles. There will be assignments that look much easier on Monday’s practice field than under Thursday-night lights. The question is how quickly Greenwood’s coaches and players fix them.
Chambers believes most of what he saw in the preseason falls into exactly that category – fixable. And there were enough explosive plays, enough athleticism and enough depth mixed among those corrections to make the possibilities intriguing. The first answer comes against Bryant. It will probably be the fastest and most athletic opponent Greenwood sees all season. That is not necessarily a bad thing.
If Chambers wants to find out immediately what his first Greenwood team is made of, they could hardly have scheduled a better examination. The Junior Bulldogs are about to find out. The 2026 season is ready to begin. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Thursday night at Smith-Robinson Stadium. Chambers is assisted by Easton Barrett, Brian Sims, and defensive coordinator Parker Gill.