The Greenwood Bulldogs improved their early season record to 3-0 after last Friday’s hard-fought marathon victory over the visiting Yellowjackets of Choctaw, Oklahoma. The ‘Dogs finally nailed down the 23-12 non-conference win after 150 minutes of grueling gridiron action punctuated by more than two dozen penalty flags and numerous timeouts.
It was the first-ever meeting between the two schools, both of which play in the 6A classification in their respective states. Both teams are also expected to do well this season, though they are off to contrasting starts. Greenwood is 3-0 while Choctaw is 1-2 against all Arkansas opponents, while also battling Covid-19, resulting in a weeklong quarantine before their first game against Springdale, a loss. They rebounded to beat Van Buren last week.
But the Bulldogs entered the game with a good bit of uncertainty on offense with senior starting quarterback L.D. Richmond sitting out the contest due to what Head Coach Chris Young called a “coaches’ decision.” The idea was to protect Richmond from possible injury before the start of conference season and give his backups some varsity game experience.
Sophomore Hunter Houston got the start and played most of the game, but was replaced late by another sophomore, Joe Trusty. Both rookie QBs did some good things, according to Young. Trusty had been working at defensive end, but returned to quarterback when fellow sophomore Storm Scherrey broke his collarbone earlier this season. Scherrey, who had worked at both quarterback and running back, could return by the end of the regular season.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Richmond was joined on the sideline by several teammates injured in action against the Yellowjackets. Hunter Houston, along with seniors Hunter Wilkinson and Jayden Jasna, all left the game with minor injuries, only a week after Coach Young proclaimed that his team was finally getting healthy after a rash of early injuries, mostly minor, but concerning, nonetheless. In pre-season drills the Bulldogs lost senior defensive lineman Tayshaun Leader, arguably the team’s best defender, to a season-ending leg injury.
But injuries are part of the game, and the Bulldogs are blessed to have good depth at most positions on both sides of the ball. Hopefully, the injured ‘Dogs will return soon as Greenwood begins its seven-week run through the 6A West conference schedule, starting this coming Friday with Little Rock Parkview at Smith-Robinson Stadium.
The first half of Friday’s contest was a defensive struggle. Greenwood managed to score the only points of the half for a 7-0 advantage at the intermission. The GHS defense was rock solid through its first two games and entered Friday’s game with a scoreless streak of six quarters, which they extended to eight before giving up a pair of third-quarter touchdowns. It was also homecoming for the Bulldogs, with all the festivities held before kickoff.
The ‘Jackets received the opening kick and quickly showed how dangerous they could be when their quarterback scrambled 80 yards for an apparent touchdown on the second snap of the game. Fortunately for Greenwood, the play was called back due to a block in the back. After consuming five minutes off the clock, Choctaw was finally forced to punt the ball away.
Likewise, the Bulldogs were forced to punt, ending their first series, which started at their own 5-yard-line. They managed to pick up a first down and move the ball beyond the 25 before kicking it away. But the defense got the ball back quickly when junior defensive back Colt Owenby made a spectacular diving interception of a Yellowjackets’ pass at the Choctaw 45 moments later.
Hunter Houston completed a first down pass to senior running back Hunter Wilkinson to the 29, moving the sticks. Wilkinson then ran twice to the 20 before a penalty on Choctaw advanced the pigskin to the 15. After an incompletion, Houston fired a bullet to senior receiver Caden Brown in the right side of the end zone for the game’s first touchdown. Senior kicker Luis Morales added the extra point for the 7-0 GHS lead with 2:35 left in the opening quarter.
But with nearly 15 minutes remaining in the first half, there was plenty of action to come, though neither team dented the end zone again before the break. One notable sequence occurred early in the second period when the Yellowjackets drove from their own 21 to the GHS 3-yard-line in 10 plays, with the aid of a 15-yard penalty on the Bulldogs.
Facing fourth-and-one, the ‘Jackets disdained an almost sure field goal, hoping to tie the game with a touchdown and extra point. But Greenwood senior linebacker Jordan Hanna sacked the Choctaw quarterback at the 8-yard-line to end the threat. Minutes later the visitors returned the favor by picking off a GHS pass near midfield. Led by Hanna, the Bulldogs’ defense ruled the first half and kept a clearly talented Choctaw offense in check.
But the competition and the scoring heated up even more in the second half as more than one Greenwood player went to the sideline and failed to return to action, including the two Hunters, Wilkinson and Houston. Senior Ty Moose took over at running back while sophomore Joe Trusty filled in for Houston at quarterback. Both players did well.
“The defense is playing well,” said Coach Young as he headed to the fieldhouse at the start of halftime, “but we’re not doing very well offensively,” he concluded. However, his team responded early in the second half, building a 16-0 lead before the Yellowjackets began mounting a comeback. Greenwood’s biggest lead was 17 points at 23-6 with just under three minutes left in the third period. Turnovers and penalties also continued to play a major role in the second half for both teams.
The ‘Dogs received the opening kick of the third quarter and promptly marched nearly 60 yards before Hunter Houston was intercepted in the end zone, ending the immediate scoring threat. But the Choctaw defender made the mistake of trying to run the interception out of the end zone, reaching only the 1-yard-line.
The GHS defense needed just one play to make the Yellowjackets pay for that miscalculation as they swarmed the Choctaw running back for a safety, making the score 9-0. The resulting free kick then gave Greenwood excellent field position at the visitors’ 49-yard-line, setting up yet another score.
On first down, Houston fired another rocket pass to senior receiver Peyton Carter, who made a nice sliding catch at the 22. Houston then found Carter again on the next snap, completing the pass inside the Choctaw 5-yard-line before the big receiver carried into the end zone. Morales added the extra point, making the score 16-0 with about eight minutes left in the period. But those were busy minutes for both teams, which combined for 19 additional points before the start of the final quarter.
Trailing 16-0, the Yellowjackets then mounted their first scoring drive, covering 80 yards in eight plays, the last of which was a 43-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown. But the two-point conversion attempt failed, leaving the score at 16-6 (6:24).
But the Bulldogs weren’t done offensively. Starting from their own 33, Ty Moose ran twice for a first down at the 44. Houston then ran a quarterback draw and took a shot to the head. Losing his helmet, he was required to leave the game, and was replaced by Trusty, whom everyone expected to just hand the ball off to Moose then return to the sideline. But that didn’t happen.
Instead, Trusty dropped back and fired a deep pass downfield to Luke Brewer, who made the catch inside the Choctaw 10, reaching the 6-yard-line. Houston returned immediately to complete the scoring drive after a series of back-and-forth penalties on both teams. Ultimately, he completed a gutsy fourth-down pass to Caden Brown for 12 yards and the touchdown. The extra point made the score 23-6 with 2:48 still left in the third period.
But only seconds later the Yellowjackets struck back when their quarterback rambled 78 yards for a touchdown, this time without the play drawing a penalty flag. Again, the two-point play failed, but the score had narrowed to 23-12, which would be the final, even though more that 14 minutes remained in the game.
The final 12 minutes featured a protracted battle for field position, three failed fourth-down plays, a punt, and loads of penalties as the frustration grew for both teams. The contest ended with the Bulldogs knocking on the Yellowjackets’ door at the one-yard-line before allowing the final seconds to tick off the game clock.
“We struggled offensively the first half, but the defense played really well,” said Coach Young in the immediate aftermath of the victory. “In the second half we were able to move the ball a little bit, and the defense probably got tired because they had to play so many snaps in the first half. But it was a win against a good football team, and [we’ll] take those.
“There are a lot of areas we’ve got to get better at, and we got pretty banged up tonight,” he added. “We lost several key players and we’ve got to get those guys healthy and get ready for a good Parkview team next week. They are super athletic with great football players. But it’s not about [Parkview], it’s about us. We’ve got to play better. We’ve got to have a good week of practice and clean up some of the mistakes we made tonight.”
Parkview and Greenwood are both unbeaten (3-0) heading into the conference opener, and the winner will have an early edge in the league standings. But lurking in the shadows is a talented Lake Hamilton team, also 3-0, and Benton (1-2), one of the top 6A teams in the state. Benton’s two losses came against 7A schools Bryant and Little Rock Catholic.