The Greenwood Bulldogs are off this week enjoying a well-earned bye in the first round of the 2018 state playoffs. Twelve of the 16 teams in Class 6A will compete for the state championship to be decided on Saturday, December 1st, at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium.
Six of those teams are from the 6A West, including Greenwood, Benton, Russellville, El Dorado, Siloam Springs, and Lake Hamilton, in that order of finish. The other six teams are from the 6A East, also in order of finish, including West Memphis, Marion, Jonesboro, Searcy, Pine Bluff, and Sylvan Hills. West Memphis is the only unbeaten (10-0) 6A team left.
This coming Friday four teams are enjoying open weeks. They are top seeds Greenwood and West Memphis, and #2 seeds Benton and Marion. They will return to action on November 16th.
Eight teams are playing this week for the chance to move on. They include Siloam Springs (5-5) at Searcy (8-2), Sylvan Hills (3-7) at Russellville (7-3), Pine Bluff (3-5-2) at El Dorado (5-5), and Lake Hamilton (5-5) at Jonesboro (6-4).
The odds are that Searcy and Russellville will advance, while the Lake Hamilton-Jonesboro match remains too close to call, though Jonesboro does have home field advantage. Both Pine Bluff and El Dorado have been ravaged by injuries, and Hooten's Arkansas Football gives the Zebras a slight edge in the matchup, though the Wildcats are at home.
On the 16th Greenwood (W1) will host the Searcy-Siloam Springs winner (likely Searcy), while Marion (E2) will get the Russellville-Sylvan Hills winner. West Memphis (E1) will host the survivor of the El Dorado-Pine Bluff contest, and Benton (W2) will welcome the Jonesboro-Lake Hamilton winner.
The four winners will then advance to the state semi-finals on the Friday after Thanksgiving, with Greenwood and West Memphis holding home field advantage if they win in the quarterfinals.
The odds are, based on their season records, that Greenwood (9-1), West Memphis (10-0), and Benton (8-2) will advance to the semi-finals, while either Marion (8-2) or Russellville (7-3) will emerge as the fourth team. The semis will be played on November 23rd.
When all is said and done, most informed observers expect Greenwood to reach the state finals for the fourth consecutive year. The Bulldogs lost to Pine Bluff in 2015 and fell to Russellville in 2016 before soundly defeating Pine Bluff in 2017.
If that happens as anticipated, Greenwood’s opponent will likely be Benton or West Memphis, the second and third-ranked teams in the state in Class 6A, respectively, according to Hooten's.
Greenwood thumped Benton just a few weeks ago, 62-33, and would be heavily favored to defeat the Panthers again on a neutral field in the title game. The unknown is West Memphis.
An examination of the Blue Devils’ schedule shows solid non-conference wins over Little Rock Central (35-0), Blytheville (35-15), and Wynne (21-0), before a narrow 22-20 victory over league foe Marion.
That was followed by wins over Searcy (56-21), Sylvan Hills (34-10), and Jonesboro (35-14), before a narrow escape at Jacksonville (3-0) in overtime and another close win (24-23) against Pine Bluff.
West Memphis, whose head coach is former Greenwood assistant football and head baseball coach Billy Elmore, closed its regular season last week with a 35-7 win over Mountain Home.
By comparison, after losing its season opener 31-16 at Class 7A Fort Smith Northside, Greenwood’s closest game was a 17-point victory (44-27) on the road at El Dorado. The ‘Dogs have clearly been the best team against other 6A competition this season.
Under Head Coach Rick Jones, now completing his 15th season at the helm in Greenwood, the Bulldogs have won seven state titles and played for three others, and should do so again this December. Don’t bet against it.
Barring unforeseen injuries to key players in practice or in their first two playoff games, especially quarterback Peyton Holt, I’m picking Greenwood to repeat as state champs.