After experiencing a rare spanking at the hands of the visiting Bryant Junior Hornets back on August 27th, the Greenwood freshmen football team has completed a remarkable run of nine consecutive victories to close out their 2026 campaign with a 9-1 record. Their season concluded last Thursday at Smith-Robinson Stadium with a hard-fought 28-21 triumph over the Lake Hamilton Wolves, a non-conference opponent.
Head Coach Cory Chambers, in his first season at the helm, led his Junior Bulldogs on an unbeaten march through their eight-game conference schedule, winning the league championship, before wrapping up the season with last Thursday’s victory. Formerly the head junior high coach at Van Buren, Chambers made the move to Greenwood last spring and has been overwhelmed by the experience.
He said recently of Greenwood’s gridiron success, “It’s a machine, and it doesn’t stop. The number of kids we’ve got who understand how to play football, and they all want to be here. There are just so many kids who want to be Greenwood Bulldogs. They’re bred to play football. I was told, ‘You’re going to have 70 seventh graders whose whole lives all they’ve ever wanted was to be Greenwood Bulldogs,’ and that’s what it was.”
As for turning their season around after their 41-14 loss to Bryant in the opener, Coach Chambers also said, “We’ve made a good run. We’ve played well every game. I told the guys, ‘We’re going to see how you respond,’ and they responded really well after that [Bryant] game.”
The freshmen Dogs defeated Alma, Pea Ridge, Van Buren, Harrison, Farmington, Dardanelle, Siloam Springs, and Clarksville in succession in conference play, winning most of those games by big point margins. They finished 8-0 in league play, splitting their two non-conference games with Bryant and Lake Hamilton.
Their success bodes well for the future of the varsity football program, still one of the best in the state across all classifications. Similar to their younger selves, the varsity Bulldogs, also under new leadership with Head Coach Jason Gill, lost two close non-conference games to start their season, but went unbeaten in the 5A West with an eight-game winning streak and 81 straight wins at Smith-Robinson Stadium. That streak will be tested next Friday night with the start of the 5A state playoffs.
Down early, Dogs roar back
As for last Thursday’s victory over Lake Hamilton, the game wasn’t as close as the final score indicates. The Wolves scored first before the freshmen Dogs responded with four consecutive touchdowns to build a 28-7 lead in the fourth quarter. But to their credit, Lake Hamilton didn’t quit, scoring two late TDs in the final five minutes to narrow the Greenwood margin of victory.
The Wolves received the opening kick, starting their first possession at their own 20 after Greenwood kicker Josh Fitzgerald put the pigskin in the box. Lake Hamilton’s first two snaps resulted in losses back to the 16-yard-line. It appeared the Greenwood defense had them on the run until a Wolves’ receiver got behind the defense on third down for an 84-yard pass completion and touchdown. The point after made it 7-0 in favor of the visitors.
But the Junior Dogs responded quickly, also scoring on their first possession. With 6:00 showing on the scoreboard clock, Greenwood had the football at their own 34 before quarterback Bentley Renick carried to the 41. Another QB run reached the 25 before Parker Spencer rambled all the way to the 1-yard-line before a penalty nullified the play and pushed the Bulldogs back to the Lake Hamilton 30.
Renick then passed to Myles Meeker at the 21, then again to the 16. Renick carried to the 9-yard-line before giving the ball to Parker Spencer, who rumbled down to the 3. Renick then carried in for the score on the next snap and kicker Leo Anaya added the extra point to tie the game at 7-all with 3:17 left in the opening period.
The teams swapped ends of the field on Lake Hamilton’s next possession, but the Wolves were forced to punt, something the two squads did for the next three possessions. Bentley Renick, also Greenwood’s punter, was set to receive the ball when the snap sailed over his head all the way back to the 7-yard-line. But he retrieved the ball and ran it back to the 40, just short of a first down.
But the turnover on downs quickly turned into another Greenwood possession when the defense got into the Wolves’ backfield, causing a fumble that was recovered by Mason Mizell at the Lake Hamilton 39. Renick and Spencer then took turns running the ball, with Spencer getting 16 yards and Renick getting 21 before Truett Embree scored the touchdown on second effort from two yards out. Anaya’s extra point kick was good again, making the score 14-7.
Greenwood kicked off after the score with about a minute left in the half and the Wolves got a nice return to their own 47. With time running out, the visitors snapped the ball six times, five of them passes, with the last one covering 35 yards to inside the Greenwood 5-yard-line when the clock expired on the half.
The home team received the opening kick of the second half with Myles Meeker returning the ball to the Greenwood 30 plus a facemask penalty to the 45. From there, running back Parker Spencer went to work, getting five yards on first down to the 50 before ripping off a big run of 42 yards to the Lake Hamilton 8-yard-line. He scored on the next snap, and the extra point made it 21-7 at the 6:15 mark of the period.
The Wolves picked up a pair of first downs on their next possession, but an intentional grounding penalty on the quarterback cost them dearly, forcing them to punt, giving Greenwood the football at its own 40-yard-line with 20 seconds left in the third quarter.
But the Bulldogs appeared to squander the possession with two plays for losses and another play that resulted in an apparent touchdown but was called back due to a holding penalty. Bentley Renick had an amazing zigzag run for the score before it was nullified by the flag. But just when it seemed the Bulldogs might be forced to punt, Renick found Myles Meeker downfield at the 10-yard-line for the catch and a touchdown. The extra point made it 28-7 with 5:47 left to play in the game.
With the victory seemingly within Greenwood’s grasp, the Wolves completed a 45-yard touchdown pass just over a minute later, cutting the margin to 28-14 with 4:21 remaining. The Bulldogs then drove to the Lake Hamilton 9-yard-line before Josh Fitzgerald tried and missed a 25-yard field goal, giving Lake Hamilton the football at its own 30. Seven plays later the Wolves scored on 16-yard run with six seconds left to play. The extra point cut the final Greenwood margin of victory to seven points at 28-21.
Post-game observations
In his final post-game interview of the season, Coach Chambers talked about his team, their season, and his coaching staff. “That was a good football team, and I knew they would be,” he said of Lake Hamilton. “We came out and made a couple mistakes in the first half that shot us in the foot. I told them at halftime, ‘We’ve got to come out and play clean, and we’re going to score touchdowns.’ And we did.” Asked if he wished they had more games left to play, Chambers said, “Oh, man, I wish we did. I wish we did.”
After the game, the head coach told his team, “I’m so blessed to be part of this program. This is the best football program in the state. There’s no other place I’d rather be coaching.” Chambers then talked about some of his key offensive players and his team’s strong line play on both sides of the ball.
Regarding quarterback Bentley Renick and running back Parker Spencer, the coach said, “Bentley had a great year, and Spencer – he’s just Spencer. We were able to run the ball every game. I told them, ‘If you can run the football, you can win games.’ We committed to running the football and threw it when we had to. It was just a great year.”
As for the big guys up front, Chambers said, “You can’t run the ball or throw the ball without an offensive line, and those guys were unbelievable. And they stayed healthy. It was just a great year.” That same sentiment also applied to the defensive line.
“The defense played great,” said the coach. “They hit us on some big plays, and that’s what hurt us early. But I told [our guys], ‘If you can stop their run game, they cannot beat you.’ [Lake Hamilton] probably had negative rushing yards for the game. Our defensive front was unbelievable.”
Finally, Chambers was asked to talk about his staff, starting with first-year defensive coordinator Parker Gill, son of Bulldogs Head Coach Jason Gill. “He did a great job. He had the defense ready every game. It helps when you’ve got great players, but if you don’t have coaching that’s going to study and have a great idea of what the other team is going to do, you can’t do anything. He had them ready every game.”
Assistant coach Easton Barrett “Does it all,” said Chambers. “He coaches the secondary, special teams, and receivers. He signals all the plays for me. He did a great job helping me learn the offense. He’s been in this offense, so he helped get me up to speed to call the plays. He did a great job this year [as well].” Barrett is also a former Greenwood quarterback like two other GHS assistant coaches on the varsity staff, offensive coordinator Stephen Hogan and receivers coach Luke Hales.
Finally, Chambers talked about having line coach Brian Sims as the elder member of his staff. “He’s the offensive line guru. He’s a genius. He knows everything,” said Chambers. “He’s been doing this so long, and having a guy like that – with all of us young guys in there – who we can rely on, is a big deal.” Sims was formerly a longtime member of the varsity staff under head coach Rick Jones and Greenwood has become known statewide for its offensive line play since moving up to Class 6A in 2012.