First-year Head Coach Chris Young and his Greenwood Bulldogs are headed to the 2020 football playoffs as the obvious favorite to win their 10th state championship in the past 21 years. The ‘Dogs are the only unbeaten team remaining in Class 6A after 10 weeks of regular season football, though six of the 16 teams played only eight or nine games due to the coronavirus pandemic. Plus, Greenwood has already beaten two of their toughest 6A rivals with late-season victories over Benton (6-4) and Lake Hamilton (8-1). The top two teams from the 6A East, Sylvan Hills and Jonesboro, both have three losses.
Young and his staff and players have done a remarkable job during this most unusual of seasons – in the midst of a global pandemic – while coping with all the requirements for extensive sanitation, wearing masks, and maintaining social distance. And while every team in the state and across the nation have dealt with the same issues, true to form, the top-notch and tradition-rich Bulldogs’ program has excelled, due to the vigilance of both coaches, players, and their families.
Before looking at what GHS fans are hoping with be a four-week run to another state championship, let’s recap last Friday’s huge win on the road at Lake Hamilton, the #2 ranked team in Class 6A behind #1 Greenwood. The victory not only cemented a conference championship and undefeated regular season (10-0) for the Bulldogs, but earned them the top seed from the 6A West and home field advantage through the state semi-finals. They host West Memphis on Friday night.
At Lake Hamilton, the ‘Dogs grabbed a 3-0 lead on a Luis Morales 26-yard field goal late in the first quarter, which the Wolves quickly erased with a touchdown early in the second period. But Greenwood went back on top just over a minute later on a short toss from quarterback L.D. Richmond to receiver Luke Brewer. Still, Lake Hamilton managed to retake the lead (14-10) on a 25-yard pass play with 2:14 left in the first half.
The Wolves then added to their lead by scoring on the opening possession of the third quarter, capping an 83-yard drive with a six-yard TD run, putting Lake Hamilton up 21-10, Greenwood’s biggest deficit of the season.
But the Bulldogs responded like the champs they are, marching 80 yards in 11 plays to score on Richmond’s one-yard keeper, followed by a well-executed onside kick by Morales, recovered by the Bulldogs at the home 45-yard-line. Just over two minutes later, the visitors had retaken the lead (24-21) after Hunter Wilkinson’s fourth down 3-yard run and the PAT.
Undaunted, the Wolves stemmed the GHS momentum by returning fire, driving 80 yards to score on a 3-yard QB keeper, taking their final lead at 28-24 with 6:50 left in the game, keeping alive their hopes of dethroning the top-ranked Bulldogs. But the gridiron gods had something else in mind on that night.
Moments later, Hunter Wilkinson burst through the middle of the Wolves’ defense for a 63-yard scoring run, hardly touched as he sprinted to the end zone. With 6:13 left to play, the Bulldogs were back on top for good at 31-28. But a lot of time remained for Lake Hamilton to mount one last drive. Knowing that, Coach Young called for another onside kick, but it bounced out-of-bounds, giving Lake Hamilton the ball at its own 46-yard-line.
Enter the GHS defense and senior Caleb Niles. After being pummeled by Lake Hamilton’s punishing wing-T running game for three quarters, the visiting defense forced and recovered a fumble to end the Wolves’ possession, helping to burn critical time off the clock. After a Greenwood first down and punt, causing the home team to burn two of its three timeouts, the Wolves got the football back with just 37 seconds left at their own 32-yard-line. Hope still lived.
But that’s when Lake Hamilton was introduced to Niles. The undersized reserve linebacker was about to impact the game in a way that no one would have predicted, on two plays that will live in his memory forever. On first down he found an open lane and sacked Wolves’ quarterback Grant Bearden at the 30.
Then, after Lake Hamilton spiked the ball to stop the clock, Niles was the first Bulldog to reach Bearden as he tried to recover a bad snap all the way back at the 10-yard-line. To avoid the tackle by Niles, Bearden lost control of the ball in the act of throwing, and the fumble was recovered in the end zone by Greenwood linebacker Parker Gill for a touchdown.
Coach Young was impressed by the perseverance of a senior practice player who made the most of his opportunity to play in a critical moment. “He’s played in a backup role, but he’s a kid that’s stuck with it and really has improved through practice. He’s been a scout team player for us, but [Defensive Coordinator Jason] Gill has made comments the last few weeks about how [Caleb] has improved, and thought he would do well if he got a shot, and he did.”
The coach explained that Niles was among several Bulldogs who got a chance to play against Lake Hamilton due to injuries. “We had some kids out, so Caleb and Lui Honkala, Caleb Fowler, and Cameron Dehart all played, and they took advantage of their opportunity. We didn’t play perfect, but it was good to see some of those guys get in there that hadn’t played this year in critical moments and help their team out,” said Young.
“It’s all about taking advantage of your opportunity, and the easy thing these days is just to quit and complain that you don’t get a chance. But that young man (Niles) didn’t do that. He decided that he was going to be a great scout team player and help his team get better and prepare for Friday nights. And then we had a couple injuries, and he got a chance to get on the field, and when he did, he took advantage of it. I’m just really proud of him. It’s why [we] encourage kids to stick it out and fight through tough times. He didn’t complain and it was just a great night for him. I’m sure he’ll remember that for the rest of his life.”
Despite giving up 28 points, the second most this season, the GHS defense came through when it counted the most, and from the unlikeliest of players. Greenwood’s defensive line and linebackers have suffered the most injuries this season, a couple of them being the season-ending kind, giving players like Niles the chance to step up in big situations, which the senior did, much to his credit.
Before the game, Coach Young talked about the threat posed by Lake Hamilton’s powerful running game and their reliance upon the antiquated wing-T formation. “It’s a huge advantage for those guys,” he said. “It’s why they run that offense. It’s something we only prepare for once a year. But I think we had a great week of preparation.
“In a normal game we might get 11 or 12 possessions, but tonight we might get seven or eight. So that makes a big difference,” added the coach. In fact, the Bulldogs ran exactly eight offensive series, and one of those resulted from recovering the onside kick. But the GHS offense made it count, scoring on five of those eight series.
Leading the way for the offense was running back Hunter Wilkinson, who finished the game with just over 200 yards rushing, three-quarters of that in the second half. In the past three games, the senior has rushed for 571 yards on 81 carries with nine touchdowns. For the season he has rushed for nearly 1,100 yards and scored 17 times. He also rushed for well over 1,000 yards as a junior in 2019 after starting as a sophomore for the 2018 state champion Bulldogs.
“It was one of my top games,” said Wilkinson. “I was pleased to see the game stats. And the offensive line – they [were] tremendous. They helped get the [defense] out of the way for me.” The Bulldogs’ offensive line has been steadily improving throughout the season under the tutelage of new assistant coach Austin ‘Tank” Moreton, a former Arkansas State lineman.
As a result of last Friday’s win, the Bulldogs now have a clear path to Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium on Saturday, December 5th, for the state championship, and that path runs through Greenwood’s Smith-Robinson Stadium. So long as they win and remain in the playoffs, the ‘Dogs will stay at home. Should they beat West Memphis (2-8) this week as expected, they will then host the winner between Mountain Home (5-5) at Pine Bluff (4-3) on November 20th.
Should they survive the first two rounds, which everyone expects, the Bulldogs will host a Thanksgiving weekend contest, perhaps against another member of the 6A West, probably Benton or underrated Van Buren, or Jonesboro (6-3) from the 6A East. The winner of that Black Friday game will move on to the title game December 5th against the survivor from the bottom half of the bracket.
The Lake Hamilton Wolves and Little Rock Parkview Patriots, both of the 6A West, have to be considered favorites on the lower half of the playoff bracket, along with Sylvan Hills (7-3), the top seed from the East. But regardless of which team makes it to the finals, the Bulldogs, if there, will certainly be favored.
They’ve already won at Lake Hamilton, though their earlier game with Parkview was cancelled due to Covid-19. But no knowledgeable gridiron pundit would pick the Patriots or Sylvan Hills over Greenwood at War Memorial, where the Bulldogs could be playing for the 12th time in the past 17 years. That’s a lot of tradition and championship game experience, especially when the seniors on this year’s GHS squad won a state crown as sophomores in 2018.
The GHS head coach talked about the challenge of facing the West Memphis Blue Devils this week. “They are an athletic football team,” he said. “They’ve got a new head coach (Robert Hooks) and he has a track record of doing a great job. He’s made some changes and they don’t have quite the numbers they’ve had in the past, probably as a result of him changing things up. But I look for them to be a team that gets better and better down the road.
“They’re trying to play several guys both ways because of their lack of numbers, but they’ve got some great skill kids,” Young continued. “They’ve got a safety that’s been offered by several Division-I teams. He’s a great athlete. They also play several different kids at quarterback. Some of them are throwers and some are runners, so they give you a mix of that. But they’ve got great athletes on the field, and if they get behind us, we won’t be able to catch them. They’ve got athletes that can cause us problems, so we’re going to have to play well.”
As for the revamped playoff bracket this season due to Covid-19, allowing all 16 Class 6A teams to participate, the Top Dog said, “We’re glad to be playing, especially with everything going on this year, just the opportunity on Friday night for kids to get out and play football.”
Asked about some of the obvious mismatches in the opening round with #1 and #2 seeds hosting teams at the bottom of the standings, the coach expressed confidence that there would likely be some upsets. “There’s a lot of parody in 6A from top to bottom,” he observed. “Any team can beat anybody. I expect to see some very close games this week.”
One of the most intriguing first-round games is Van Buren (#7 West) at Jonesboro (#2 East). The Pointers played Greenwood close for a half and took Benton to the wire last Friday, losing a shootout, 60-53. The Hurricane have three losses (6-3) to 7A powers Cabot and Conway and fellow 6A East conference winner Sylvan Hills.
“They’ll give Jonesboro all they want,” said Young of Van Buren. “There’s a lot of teams like that. Van Buren is a seven-seed and Parkview is a four-seed, and they are as talented as any team in the state. It will be interesting to see how the playoffs play out this week. There’s some good teams over there (6A East) too. They’ve got great athletes on that side of the state, and I certainly wouldn’t count out those guys.
The 2020 Bulldogs have been at the top of the 6A state poll all season and have fought off all challengers, facing some of the state’s best 6A teams in their own conference, including Benton, Lake Hamilton, and Van Buren, among others, not including Parkview, which finished the season with a four-game winning streak after their only loss to Benton.
Until someone knocks off the Bulldogs, they remain the team to beat this season and probably for years to come under the new regime of Head Coach Chris Young and his excellent staff of assistant coaches.