Last Friday’s road victory at Mountain Home checked all the right boxes for the Greenwood Bulldogs (10-0, 7-0) as the 2025 regular gridiron season came to an end. Prior to the contest, the Bombers and Bulldogs were separated by one game in the 6A West league standings with Shiloh Christian and Mountain Home at 5-1. Earlier this fall Greenwood beat Shiloh and the Saints beat Mountain Home. A GHS loss to the Bombers would have created a “perfect triangle” with all three teams having one loss and sharing a piece of the conference title.
That scenario would have invoked tiebreaking procedures to determine conference seeding for the playoffs. But Greenwood’s 42-10 victory over Mountain Home put all that to rest. That’s just one of the many squares checked by Friday’s win. Among them, the Bulldogs earned the outright conference title and the league’s #1 seed in the playoffs. They also finished their third consecutive unbeaten regular season and extended their current winning streak to 36 games. Finally, Greenwood earned a first-round bye in the playoffs before hosting two postseason games at home if they continue to win.
The playoffs are now set with Greenwood and Shiloh Christian from the 6A West and Sylvan Hills and Benton from the 6A East earning week one byes. Besides top-seeded Greenwood, the other West teams to make the postseason tournament include Shiloh Christian (#2), Mountain Home (#3), Van Buren (#4), Fort Smith Southside (#5), and Lake Hamilton (#6). Siloam Springs (3-7, 1-6) and winless Russellville did not qualify for the playoffs. In the East, Sylvan Hills (9-1) is followed by Benton (8-2), El Dorado (7-3), Jonesboro (5-5), Marion (6-4), and Sheridan (3-7).
The 6A state championship game will be played on Saturday, December 6th at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock and the Greenwood Bulldogs are the team to beat, having been there every year since 2020. Greenwood won it all during the Covid season of 2020, going 14-0, then again in 2023 and 2024, going 13-0 both years. The boys from Titletown are pursuing their third straight state championship in their last season in Class 6A. Greenwood will drop to Class 5A in 2026.
Last Friday’s contest was a mixed bag for the Bulldogs after a string of outstanding performances and five consecutive mercy rule victories. The visitors jumped to an early 21-0 lead despite a handful of dropped passes by normally reliable receivers. The offensive line performed well throughout, yet the GHS offense sputtered in the second quarter, drawing the attention of Head Coach Chris Young during his brief halftime interview before heading to the locker room.
Neither team scored in the second stanza, leaving the Bulldogs on top at the intermission, 21-0. But after pitching a shutout in the first half, the Greenwood defense finally cracked and gave up 10 points in the third period, cutting the Bulldogs’ lead to 28-10 before two GHS scores in the fourth quarter put the game away.
Should both teams advance to the state semifinals, Mountain Home will face Greenwood again at Smith-Robinson Stadium the Friday after Thanksgiving. Following their bye week, the Bulldogs will face either Jonesboro (E4) or Fort Smith Southside (W5) in the second round. The Hurricane and Mavericks will play next Friday night at Jonesboro.
The Bombers won the toss and elected to kick to start the action last Friday evening in Baxter County. After a negligible kick return to the 29, the GHS offense trotted onto the field for their initial possession and their first scoring drive, led by senior all-star quarterback Kane Archer. After an incomplete (dropped) pass on first down, Archer threw twice to Brayden Renick to move the sticks at the 42-yard-line. Mario Dunbar then carried three times to the Bombers’ 44.
Archer found Champ Davis for a reception moments later at the 35 before Dunbar got a yard and Archer ran twice to the 19. After a Mountain Home penalty put the ball at the 14, Archer connected with Cooper Bland near the 5-yard-line before he spun away from a tackler and reached the end zone. Landon Franklin’s extra point kick was good for a 7-0 GHS lead (8:22).
The visiting defense was solid on the Bombers’ first possession, forcing a quick punt that sailed out-of-bounds at the home 43, giving Archer and his offensive teammates excellent field position for their second touchdown. Cooper Bland caught a first down toss and reached the 38. Two snaps later he corralled another Archer offering for a first down at the 26. Champ Davis then hauled in a pass to the 19 before Archer dumped the ball to Braxton Canada on a wide receiver screen, reaching the 9-yard-line. Davis then carried to the four before taking another handoff and bouncing outside around left end virtually untouched for six points. Landon Franklin’s kick made it 14-0 (4:57).
The two teams exchanged punts on the next three possessions before Greenwood scored its third touchdown a quarter of the way through the second period. Starting at their own 12-yard-line, the Bulldogs marched 88 yards in 13 plays, taking advantage of a facemask penalty on the Bombers for free five yards. The drive started with a short pass from Archer to Bland for six yards to the 18. Archer and Dunbar then combined for four carries and a pair of first downs, reaching the home 49. A pass to Champ Davis was good to near the 40 and drew a flag for the facemask penalty to the Bombers’ 34.
Mario Dunbar shouldered the burden on the next four snaps, running hard for 18 yards to the 16. Kane Archer then carried to the 11 for a first down before handing off to Davis on the next snap. The speedy and shifty receiver/RB ran left and found clear sailing all the way to the end zone at the 8:48 mark. Franklin’s extra point kick was good again for a 21-0 GHS lead.
That was all the scoring in the first half, but the Greenwood defense showed out a bit by holding the Bombers out of the end zone despite Mountain Home getting two possessions in the last five minutes deep in Bulldogs’ territory. After a poor GHS punt gave the ball to the Bombers at the visitors’ 25-yard-line, Greenwood defensive back Bailey Thibodeau snagged an interception near the goal line on a deflected pass that bounced almost straight up in the air. But the Bulldogs were unable to get a first down and punted again from their own end zone.
From the Greenwood 35, the Bombers got 18 yards on a first down run to the 17 but went no farther. Another run and three pass attempts failed to move the ball, and Greenwood took over on downs. With 1:29 remaining in the half, Archer and company crossed midfield to the Mountain Home 37 as time dwindled away, leading to a somewhat comical end to the possession. With six seconds left, Archer passed to Braxton Canada who pitched the ball to Champ Davis, who then lateraled to Wesley Raggio who tried to flip it back to Archer before the ball hit the ground and was covered as time expired.
Each team scored on its first two possessions of the second half, three of those scores occurring in the third quarter. The Bombers received the opening kick of the half and drove 64 yards in 10 plays, including a 15-yard facemask penalty on the Bulldogs, before settling for a 25-yard field goal to get on the scoreboard, making it 21-3 (8:14).
The GHS offense responded immediately with a 62-yard drive in seven plays after a Bombers’ infraction gave the visitors the football at their own 38 following the kickoff. Mario Dunbar caught a pass to the 45 then carried to the Mountain Home 48 for a first down. Archer then found Braxton Canada for a short gain to the 45 before running a QB keeper to the 39. Champ Davis finished off the possession with a pair of runs, the first to the 31 before taking the second handoff and bursting through the middle and dragging a would-be tackler into the end zone for the touchdown. The PAT made it 28-3.
Moments later the Bombers got their only touchdown of the game on a 21-yard scoring pass. That concluded a 65-yard possession in eight plays, the biggest of which was a 30-yard pass completion into GHS territory at the 30, setting up the touchdown. The extra point was good, cutting further into the Greenwood lead at 28-10 (1:52). But that was all the points the home team would get as the visiting defense clamped down and the GHS offense scored twice more in the final 12 minutes.
The Bulldogs’ next score came just 49 seconds into the fourth quarter. Mario Dunbar returned the Bombers’ kickoff 14 yards to the GHS 30 to jumpstart the possession. Champ Davis then continued his outstanding night by carrying twice, reaching the home 45-yard-line. A Kane Archer pass to Benton Hossley advanced the ball to the 39 before Archer found Brayden Renick for a big gain to the 21. Davis ran to the 13 and Archer found room around left end to the 6-yard-line on the first play of the fourth quarter. Davis then finished off the drive with a pair of short runs, the second one for two yards and six points (11:11).
Landon Franklin’s extra point kick was good, and Greenwood expanded its lead to 35-10, putting the game out of reach for the hometown Bombers, who soon turned the ball over on downs at their own 48. Archer then passed to Renick for three yards before giving to Davis again for a 15-yard gain to the 30. On the next snap, Davis scampered to the right and exploited the sideline all the way to the end zone for Greenwood’s final touchdown, his fifth rushing score of the game for a career high. Franklin’s kick made the final score 42-10. Over the final eight minutes of the contest both head coaches played their backups before GHS #2 quarterback Cruz Coatney took a knee three times to run out the final seconds.
"We don't hang our hats on conference championships," offered Coach Young during his postgame comments. "We like to get that home-field advantage. We've won a few games at home, and to get that home-field advantage is great for our program." Indeed, the Bulldogs currently hold a 75-game home winning streak that dates back more than 10 years, and last Friday’s win could mean they get an additional two home playoff games after a first-round bye.
"Our defense was fantastic," Young said about the game. "Our offense started to struggle some, and that was frustrating. We had some dropped [passes] we normally don't have, and Kane [Archer] was off on a few of his passes. But the defense bailed us out, and our defense hadn't played at the level that it did." The GHS defense has been noticeably better the second half of the season as a young, inexperienced unit grew in confidence and skill under defensive coordinator Jason Gill.
As for the emergence of top receiver Champ Davis as a running back, the coach said, "Any way we can get the ball in his hands, he's a big weapon. We have to get it to him. We held out Wesley Raggio, our starting tailback, [for] precautionary measures, and Mario Dunbar had [several] carries and was tired. So, we were able to get Champ some work in the backfield, and he looked like he was getting quicker as the game went on. He was hitting the hole fast, and we'll continue to use him both ways." (Fair warning opposing defenses). Davis had 144 yards on 13 carries and added another 63 yards on eight pass receptions.
Other unofficial stats included more than 200 yards of offense from Kane Archer, who completed 23 of 39 passes for 177 yards and a touchdown plus 56 yards on the ground on nine carries, both stats under his normal per game average. Besides Davis, Cooper Bland had five catches for 46 yards and the lone scoring reception. Brayden Renick had four grabs for 32 yards and Braxton Canada made three catches for 20 yards. Mario Dunbar caught two passes for 10 yards but also rushed for 65 yards on 13 carries to supplement Davis’ exploits. Benton Hossley also had one catch for six yards.
While Greenwood, Shiloh Christian, Sylvan Hills, and Benton enjoy their first-round byes with time to rest and heal, next Friday’s four 6A playoff games will feature Marion at Van Buren, Lake Hamilton at El Dorado, Fort Smith Southside at Jonesboro, and Sheridan at Mountain Home, making for some long bus rides for the traveling teams. As always, it should be interesting to see if there are any upsets or dark horse teams that dare to make a playoff run.