This past Friday night, the unrelenting Greenwood varsity Bulldogs took another step toward repeating as 6A state champions with an tremendous homecoming victory over the visiting Russellville Cyclones, winning big, 63-14. A capacity crowd filled the home side of Smith-Robinson Stadium for game five of the season as the Bulldogs improved to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in 6A West conference play. They remain the consensus #1 ranked team in Class 6A.
A week after taking a big hit and leaving the game in the second quarter at Shiloh Christian, junior quarterback Kane Archer was back in action, throwing for five touchdowns and running for another against Russellville. The first team offense played only one series in the second half and left the field leading 56-0. The GHS offense scored on its first eight possessions of the game while the defense also scored on an interception return.
The contest began with a bang for the Bulldogs after the home defense forced a quick punt by the Cyclones after receiving the opening kick. Junior Champ Davis caught the punt at the GHS 34 and returned it all the way for an apparent touchdown before the play was called back due to a holding penalty on the Bulldogs, putting the ball at the Greenwood 41.
Archer then passed to Isaiah Arrington to the 50 before Grant Karnes ran for eight yards and Davis carried for five to the Russellville 37. Wesley Raggio then scampered to near the 12-yard-line, drawing a flag for a personal foul against the Cyclones, moving the ball to the six. Arrington then ran an end around for another apparent touchdown called back by a penalty to the 10. Finally, two snaps later, Archer connected with Grant Karnes over the middle in the end zone for the game’s first score. Kicker Hudson Meeker added the extra point for a 7-0 GHS lead.
Moments later, senior defensive back Kaylor Jasna read the Russellville quarterback and stepped in front of a short pass at the line-of-scrimmage near the visitors’ 40, returning it for another Greenwood score. Meeker’s kick was good again as the Bulldogs expanded their lead to 14-0 with 7:19 still to go in the opening period. But the GHS offense was just warming up.
After a Cyclones’ punt into the end zone, the Bulldogs began their next series at their own 20. Raggio ran twice to the 33 before Archer carried to the 43. He then passed to Cooper Bland, reaching the Russellville 46. Grant Karnes caught a pass to the 38 and Champ Davis to the 29 before Archer carried to the 25 and again to the 16. The Greenwood QB then finished the drive with another touchdown toss to Karnes in the left side of the end zone. The extra point was good (2:00).
Greenwood’s next score came in the opening minute of the second stanza after the Cyclones botched a punt and the short kick sailed out-of-bounds at the visitors’ 24-yard-line. Champ Davis caught a pass on first down, reaching the 13 before Archer found Bland for another completion at the seven on the last play of the first quarter. When play resumed, Wesley Raggio carried twice, the second time for the 4-yard touchdown. Meeker’s kick made the score 28-0 (11:26).
Less than a minute later the home team added to its growing lead after recovering a fumble at the Russellville 18-yard-line. Junior linebacker Jim Sayadeth fell on the loose football. Raggio then ran on first down and Archer on second down, reaching the 11 before Davis hauled in his second TD pass of the game. The extra point came at the 10:42 mark and the romp was on with Greenwood leading 35-0, triggering the mercy rule for the second half.
Yet another Cyclones’ turnover preceded Greenwood’s next possession. This time it was an interception by Isaiah Arrington, pulling double duty as a defensive back, picking off a long Russellville pass before going out-of-bounds at the home 19-yard-line. Sophomore running back Mario Dunbar ran to the 26 on first down and Archer passed to Champ Davis for a short gain to the 28. Dunbar then carried again to the 32 and Archer got a yard to the 33 before the Bulldogs got some unexpected help from the Cyclones’ defense.
Rolling to his left to buy time, Archer lofted a wobbly pass deep downfield that was tipped by Russellville defender Jerahn Brown and into the hands of Davis who reached the visitors’ 14-yard-line before going down. Two snaps later, Kane Archer rolled left and focused his sights on the pylon at the front corner of the end zone for the score. The PAT was good.
Leading 42-0 with just over four minutes left, the GHS defense continued its dominance of the Cyclones, this time blocking a punt and recovering the ball at the Russellville 10-yard-line. Senior linebacker Cash Archer got the block to set up Greenwood’s seventh touchdown. It came two plays later when younger brother Kane found Champ Davis again for an 11-yard touchdown strike. Junior kicker Landon Franklin added the extra point to make the score 49-0 with 50 seconds remaining.
Just before halftime, senior defensive back Zack Zitzmann intercepted a Russellville pass with an assist from teammate Radley O’Neal who first tipped the ball. Kane Archer then took a knee to run off the final two seconds before the intermission. The GHS dance team, cheerleaders, and the band performed during the break and Dog Pound sideline reporter Richie Cagle spoke briefly with homecoming queen Ava Whitaker. Ryan Casalman, recently named as the new head coach for Lady Bulldogs varsity basketball, came to the press box and was interviewed by his colleague and the new voice of Bulldogs’ football, B.J. Ross, who is also head coach of the GHS varsity boys basketball squad.
When play resumed the clock ran nearly non-stop due to the sportsmanship rule commonly called the mercy rule, so the second half flew by almost in real time, yet there was enough time for four more touchdowns. The Bulldogs received the opening kick and raced 80 yards in just three plays for touchdown #8. Kane Archer passed to Grant Karnes to the 29 before Wesley Raggio ran to the 34 for a first down. Archer then went deep to a wide-open Isaiah Arrington down the left sideline for a 66-yard scoring strike. Franklin added the PAT, making the score 56-0.
With the #1 home defense on the sideline for the remainder of the game, the Cyclones were finally able to break through offensively and score their lone touchdown. It came at the end of a 69-yard drive, concluding with a 1-yard scoring run. The kick was good, putting Russellville on the scoreboard, 56-7, with just under four minutes left in the third quarter.
Cooper Goodwin led the GHS offense on its final scoring drive that started in the third quarter and ended early in the fourth. It covered 59 yards after sophomore Bailey Thibodeau returned the kickoff to the GHS 41. Goodwin passed to Ben Hossley at the 50, then threw to Hudson Meeker at the 30. After a QB sack at the 37, Goodwin threw to Cooper Bland at the 17, then again to the 10 before Bland carried in for the touchdown. The extra point made the score 63-7 with about 10 minutes left.
From the visitors’ 35, the Cyclones drove 65 yards for their final score, using up the remaining time. The touchdown came on a 2-yard run inside the two-minute mark. The point after was good and the final minute ran off the clock before the teams could assemble for the kickoff. Instead, the two squads met at midfield to exchange pleasantries in a show of good sportsmanship despite the lopsided score.
After addressing his team, Head Coach Chris Young spoke to Richie Cagle and the Dog Pound live-stream audience and other members of the local media. “There’s not a better place to play high school football than Smith-Robinson Stadium,” began the coach. “We saw it tonight. Our crowd was awesome. Our spirit squads – cheer, dance, and band – it was just an awesome atmosphere. We’re fortunate. Sometimes I think we take it for granted and don’t realize it’s not like this everywhere else. But it was a special night. Greenwood is a one-of-a-kind [place], and tonight was a good example of that.
“I thought our kids performed well offensively and defensively. In the second half our #2s on offense played really well. But I was disappointed in our #2s on defense. We’ve got to find some guys to develop some depth. Our #1s played well, but it’s a long season and we need to find some backups. Other than that, it was a special night.”
Asked how he kept his team together and motivated with all the preseason hype about the Bulldogs, Young said, “I think just being consistent with our expectations and holding them accountable every day. I think our assistant coaches do a really good job of it. The kids know our expectations and if they don’t meet those there are going to be consequences. But I think we’re headed in the right direction. We didn’t play well last week [at Shiloh Christian], but I thought we responded well tonight, and we’ve got to do the same thing this next week. We’ve got to have a good week of practice and get ready for Siloam Springs and hopefully keep this thing rolling.”
Asked about the early penalties that plagued Greenwood’s first scoring drive, the coach was somewhat coy with his answer. “We still haven’t found a penalty on film,” he said. “I was disappointed [the penalties] got called, but I still haven’t found anything we did wrong. We just responded and didn’t panic, and we scored anyway. I was proud of the guys offensively. We still weren’t perfect. We made some mistakes, and we want to be perfect, so we’ll work on fixing those things. Defensively I thought we were really good and had a good plan. The guys were flying around, and it was good to see Mark Garretson back our there. Lawyer Thornsberry got some important minutes tonight. We’re trying to develop some depth.”
The victory was Greenwood’s 66th consecutive home win and the 51st in Young’s career as head coach of the Bulldogs, going back to the 2020 season. He’s been a part of every GHS state championship team dating back to the year 2000 under head coach Ronnie Peacock and all eight titles won under Rick Jones. He has taken the Bulldogs to four consecutive championship games and won two additional state crowns in 2020 and 2023.
Unofficially, Kane Archer threw for 202 yards on 13 completions in 17 attempts for five touchdowns. He also rushed for 32 yards and played only two quarters plus the opening possession of the second half. Wesley Raggio rushed seven times for 53 yards. Champ Davis led the GHS receivers with eight catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns. Isaiah Arrington had three grabs for 79 yards and a touchdown, while Grant Karnes had three receptions for 28 yards, but two were for touchdowns. Cooper Bland also had five catches for 47 yards. The Bulldogs travel to Siloam Springs next Friday and will next play at Smith-Robinson Stadium on October 18th against the Lake Hamilton Wolves.