For the second time in four years the Greenwood Bulldogs scored more than 60 points on the Benton Panthers. The ‘Dogs won this past Friday night, 62-33, on a cool soggy night at Smith-Robinson Stadium. Greenwood (7-1, 5-0) won its seventh consecutive game and remains unbeaten in the 6A West.
In 2015 the Bulldogs defeated Benton 61-23, winning 41-25 in 2016 and 33-17 last year. The Panthers have never beaten Greenwood since the Bulldogs moved up to Class 6A in 2012. The two teams will likely finish as the top two 6A West seeds in the playoffs starting next month.
A steady light rain fell throughout the afternoon prior to the contest and put a damper on the pre-game plan to honor the 2018 6A state baseball champions. The ceremony went forward, but only a few of the Diamond ‘Dogs were present for the presentation. They received their championship rings this week. At the stadium, the rain tapered off and eventually stopped by the second half.
Greenwood’s Max Vickery received the opening kick and brought it back to the 29. It was the first of several excellent returns for the senior, who finished with a great average for the game. But the Bulldogs’ opening drive ended with a quick punt.
Likewise, the Panthers could not solve the GHS defense and returned the favor, giving Greenwood the football at its own 41. But after moving deep into Benton territory, the wet football got loose, and the Panthers recovered at their own 19.
What followed was an eight-play drive that resulted in the game’s first score on a 33-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Garrett Brown to receiver Brandon Leach. Brown was filling in for injured QB Colen Morrow. The extra point was botched by a bad snap exchange, leaving Benton on top 6-0 (6:05).
Vickery then returned the ensuing kickoff from the GHS 11 to the 42, setting up the Bulldogs’ first score six plays later. On first down, Luke Leonard ran for 13 yards to the Benton 45. Sophomore Hunter Wilkinson then ran to the 34, and Leonard caught a pass at the 27.
Three snaps later, quarterback Peyton Holt threw over the middle to Leonard at the 5-yard-line. The senior receiver hauled it in and cracked the end zone. The extra point by kicker Grant Ennis was good for a 7-6 Greenwood lead (4:38). Benton never led again.
Minutes later, GHS senior linebacker Travis Cox made a nice play to squash a third down screen pass, forcing the Panthers to punt again, giving the Bulldogs’ offense the football at its own 26. During the Benton possession, the lights went out in the south end of the stadium, causing a momentary pause before play resumed. It took several minutes for the lights to return to full power.
Greenwood went on to score on its next three possessions. On the first series, Hunter Wilkinson and senior Marc Jones ran the ball well behind an improving offensive line, advancing to the Benton 47. A personal foul penalty on the visitors then moved the line of scrimmage to the Panthers’ 34 as the quarter ended.
A pair of short pass completions by Holt to Wilkinson and junior Lazaro Angel put the ball at the 21, from where Wilkinson scampered straight through the middle of the enemy defense for the score. The kick by Ennis was good for a 14-6 GHS lead (10:55).
A Benton turnover set up the next Greenwood points, when junior linebacker Jayden Martin picked off a pass at midfield and returned it to the visitors’ 37. It took only one snap for the Bulldogs to put another crooked number on the scoreboard.
On first down, Holt took the shotgun snap and lofted a deep pass down the Greenwood sideline, perfectly thrown between two defenders and into the hands of Hunter Wilkinson, who made the catch and completed his journey to the end zone. The extra point was blocked, but the GHS lead increased to 20-6.
But the Panthers responded with an 11-play scoring drive of their own, starting at their own 20 after the kickoff. A 15-yard penalty on the Bulldogs helped out, and Benton scored on a six-yard run by D’Anthony Harper. The extra point pulled the visitors to within a touchdown at 20-13 (7:41).
Starting at their own 20, the ‘Dogs gained 26 yards on four carries, one by Holt and three by Wilkinson, before Holt threw to Lazaro Angel for eight yards to the Benton 46. Senior Isaiah Belue then caught a pass at the 39 for a first down.
Three plays later Holt connected with sophomore Treyton Dawson for 15 yards to the 23, moving the sticks again. Marc Jones then ran to the 15 and Wilkinson to the 12. Two snaps later a penalty moved the ball to the Benton six, then Holt ran a keeper to the one. It took three tries, but the Bulldogs finally punched it in on a short plunge by Wilkinson. The PAT made it 27-13 at the half.
Benton received the opening kick of the second half, and promptly drove 80 yards in two lightning-quick pass plays. The first was good for 16 yards, and the second went over the middle to a wide-open receiver, Garrett Body, for the score. The extra point kept the Panthers in the game temporarily at 27-20.
But the Bulldogs reasserted themselves quickly by scoring on their first two possessions of the half. Their next touchdown came at the end of a three-play drive after some trickery on the kick return put the ball at the GHS 33. Holt then passed to Angel for 20 yards, to Leonard for nine, and to Dawson for the score, a play that covered 38 yards. The kick by Ennis was good (10:27).
Leading 34-20, the defense forced a quick punt by the Panthers, and the ball was shanked out-of-bounds at the Benton 24, an 8-yard kick. After an incompletion, Peyton Holt scrambled to his left, slipping a pair of would-be tacklers before being bottled up near the visiting sideline. He then pulled a magic trick, escaping the clutches of a quartet of defenders and breaking out to scamper down the sideline for the score.
The extra point by Ennis was good, making it 41-20 (8:31), essentially putting the game away for the Bulldogs. Benton score twice more in the game, but couldn’t stop the Bulldogs as Greenwood scored three more times. Each team scored once more in a very long third quarter.
After the teams traded punts, the Panthers drove 58 yards in four plays, the last one another 43-yard scoring pass from Brown to Body, but the PAT was no good (2:42), making the score 41-26.
Greenwood responded with another long kick return by Vickery to the Bulldogs’ 47, shortening the field for the offense. Holt then passed to Wilkinson for 11 yards to the Benton 42, and to Dawson at the 31. The senior QB then scrambled for a nice gain to the 13, before giving to Wilkinson twice, the last time for the five-yard score. Ennis made it 48-26 (1:03).
The visitors scored again as the game finally moved into the fourth quarter. A 62-yard drive ended with a three-yard run by John Dirst, the final TD for the Panthers. The extra point made the score 48-33 (9:53).
But the Bulldogs weren’t done yet, scoring twice more, the first of those touchdowns coming just 15 seconds later. After Max Vickery returned the kickoff to the 43, Wilkinson took the handoff on first down and burst through the middle of the Benton defense for a long TD run, virtually untouched. Ennis added to his state record for career scoring with the extra point.
After Benton failed on a fourth down play at the GHS 27, the Bulldogs drove 73 yards in 11 plays. Facing fourth-and-six at the Benton 28, Holt passed to Treyton Dawson, who was wide open in the end zone for the catch and score. The kick by Ennis made the final, 62-33 (1:35).
Statistically, the game was a defensive coordinator’s nightmare, with the two teams combining for nearly 1,100 yards. Both teams snapped the ball 74 times, with Greenwood racking up 568 yards while Benton accounted for an even 500. All stats are unofficial.
For the Bulldogs, Peyton Holt continued as the catalyst of the offense, completing 20 of 28 pass attempts for 285 yards, including four touchdowns. He also contributed 79 yards on the ground, using his feet, legs, vision, and uncanny ability to avoid tackles to thwart the Panthers’ defense throughout the game.
The offensive line and GHS running game also shone brighter than at any other time this season, with Hunter Wilkinson cracking the 100-yards barrier, gaining 163 yards with four touchdowns. He also caught a TD pass.
After the game, GHS Head Coach Rick Jones did his customary radio interview and spoke to the print media, expressing his satisfaction and pride over the performance of his team.
The Bulldogs need one more victory to secure the top seed in the 6A West and earn the opening round bye in the playoffs. They play at Sheridan next Friday before hosting Lake Hamilton in the regular season finale on November 2nd.
“Benton has a good football team,” said Jones. “Our kids really played well. Our defense battled them. [The Panthers] were tough. Their offensive line is so big. I was proud of the way we stopped the running game, but we struggled stopping them throwing the ball. But our kids played extremely hard.
“Offensively we were super-efficient,” said the coach. “We didn’t have our punter very busy, which is a great thing. I think our offensive line made strides tonight, because we ran it and threw it, and I don’t think we’ve run the ball all season as well as we did tonight. We had some holes. That’s a good win against a team at the top of our conference. It was really a good team win.”
The coach also praised the Bulldogs’ kicking game and quarterback. “The kicking game was outstanding. I was so proud of [kicker] Grant [Ennis]. He just kept banging it. Max [Vickery] is super quick. He’s probably our fastest guy. Our [assistant] coaches do a great job coaching individual spots in our kicking game. It’s just outstanding.”
As for Peyton Holt, Jones added, “You can say a lot of things about that guy, but “special” is probably the one word you [must] use to define him. He’s a special young man and a special athlete. The thing I like about him is that he will come in here on Monday and he wants to get better. He wants to watch film. He wants to learn. He wants to get better. That’s one of the things that make him special, because he has that desire to be good. He’s doing a fantastic job and I’m so proud of him.
Jones also mentioned the team’s receiving corps. “Our outside [receivers] – Lazaro Angel – dislocated his finger on Thursday, and Treyton [Dawson] and Luke [Leonard] just keep getting better. Isaiah [Belue] had some big catches, and I thought our running backs ran super hard. Offensively, we scored 62 [points], and that’s pretty good,” said Jones.
Asked about the final two games of the regular season and conference schedules, Jones said, “Your biggest game is always your next game. Everything we did tonight could all be blown if we don’t take care of business. We’ve got to take another fun bus ride with our buddies to go down to [Sheridan], but we’re going to enjoy this [victory] for 24 hours.”