It wasn’t pretty, nor easy, but the Greenwood High School freshmen Bulldogs remain unbeaten on the young season at 3-0 after last Thursday’s hard-fought 14-7 victory over Pea Ridge. The contest was played at Smith-Robinson Stadium, the Junior Bulldogs’ first home game of the season after two weeks on the road at Shiloh Christian and Alma. Next Thursday they will travel across the Arkansas River to take on the freshmen Pointers of Van Buren.
The game started with a bang for the Bulldogs, returning the opening kick for a touchdown then sending their own kickoff into the opposing end zone. But things got tough after that as the Blackhawks regrouped and put up quite the fight for the remainder of the contest. Tied at 7-7 at the half, the freshmen Bulldogs scored a third quarter touchdown to retake the lead then made it stand up with stellar defensive play. The Greenwood offense lost an additional touchdown scoring opportunity when the ball was fumbled into the Pea Ridge end zone, recovered by the visitors.
Wyatt Elliott received the Blackhawks’ kick to start the game, taking the ball in at the 13-yard-line before getting up a head of steam, following the left side hashmarks and numbers behind a wall of blockers, streaking past Pea Ridge defenders without so much as being touched before crossing the goal line of the south end zone for six points. Kicker Grayson Cobbler added the extra point for a quick 7-0 advantage. He followed up by sending the ensuing kickoff into the Pea Ridge end zone.
The momentum then continued for the home team as the Greenwood defense shut down the Blackhawks, forcing a quick three-and-out. But the visitors’ punt seemed to be a turning point in the game, at least in the first half. Greenwood star receiver and kick returner Ty Karnes was set to catch the ball near midfield when he appeared to be hit just as the ball arrived, causing it to bounce off his body, only to be recovered by the Blackhawks at their own 41. Greenwood Head Coach Luke Hales protested the lack of a penalty flag on the play, but to no avail.
The visitors were able to pick up a first down and move past the 50 into Greenwood territory, reaching the 25 before turning the ball over on downs early in the second quarter. Likewise, the freshmen Bulldogs took a chance on a fourth down try that failed at their own 40, giving the Pea Ridge offense excellent field position for its next possession, an opportunity the Blackhawks did not squander. They scored after a series of running plays and a pass completion that put the ball inside the 10-yard-line, before scoring on a seven-yard run. Their extra point kick knotted the score at 7-7 just before halftime.
When play resumed after the break, it was Greenwood that retook control of the game, stopping the Blackhawks on their opening possession, then driving 38 yards for the winning score after a poor punt by the visitors. On second down, Ty Karnes carried to the 34 before Grady Garner bowled his way to the 30 then barreled his way to the 12-yard-line. The touchdown came a couple of plays later when Ben Clark scored from the 6-yard-line. Grayson Cobbler’s kick was good for a 14-7 Greenwood lead.
But a botched kickoff return by the Blackhawks set in motion a series of events that kept the visitors on the defensive for the rest of third quarter and most of the fourth. After starting from their own 6-yard-line, they were forced to punt to midfield, the first of three alternating kicks that kept the ball mostly on the visitors’ side of the field.
Finally, the Bulldogs took over at their own 48 before driving inside the Pea Ridge 5-yard-line with the help of strong running by Aysen Dawson. But ultimately the Bulldogs fumbled the ball forward while struggling for the goal line. The loose football was recovered by the Blackhawks for a touchback with time quickly running out.
Desperate to score, Pea Ridge converted on a fourth down play at their own 31, then later reached midfield before the home defense forced them to give up the ball on downs. Greenwood quarterback Joey Young then took a single knee to run out the remaining time on the well-earned victory, 14-7. After the game, Coach Hales and defensive coordinator Brandon Godfrey talked about the win.
“We knew Pea Ridge was big and competitive and wanted to run the football, and that’s what they did,” said Godfrey. “For the most part, we just weren’t doing our job up front. They were more physical and went on some long drives that should have been stopped. We’ve got to be more physical in the box. The back end [of our defense] played pretty well, but we got pushed [up front].”
Individually, Godfrey pointed to two players who performed well in the contest. “I thought Brasier Duvall and Wyatt Elliott did a fantastic job, Brasier on defense and Wyatt on special teams and the kickoff return at the beginning of the game for a touchdown. Wyatt was all over the field and made a couple big plays.” Duvall is the team’s strong safety and Elliott is a free safety. The coach also pointed to Brayson Hunt, Taylor Goines, and Drew Bohannan as players making strides on defense.
Coach Hales echoed some of Godfrey’s sentiments while revealing some surprising information about the Blackhawks. “They play a bunch of eighth graders up, so some of those kids we just played against are eighth graders. They are a good team and got after us up front a little bit, and we had to respond. We made some mistakes tonight and didn’t play as sharp as we would like to. We dropped a punt and fumbled the ball in the red zone. We made mistakes, but it’s stuff we can learn from to get better. Offensively, we didn’t sustain drives to give our defense a break. We’ve got to be more efficient on offense.
“I think Ty Karnes did a really good job,” he continued, turning his attention to individual performances. “I think Brandon Jarrels made tackles all night long. Wyatt Elliott did a good job coming downhill, and Brasier Duvall made tackles. We’ve just got to get our big guys going up front. We’ve got to get more movement on the offensive and defensive lines and win the line of scrimmage.”
As for the second half, Hales acknowledged that his team did a better job. “We finally had a sustained drive and moved the ball. Part of that was getting Karnes blocking and [Ben] Clark running right behind him. Our receiver (Karnes) and quarterback (Clark) are almost as big as our offensive linemen, so that was a good drive in the third quarter, and we should have done it again in the fourth quarter.”
As for this week’s opponent, the Junior Pointers of Van Buren, Coach Hales said, “They are big. They are really big. They’ve got some of the biggest kids we’ve seen the past couple of years in junior high. So we’ve got to have a good week of practice and get physical and get ready to play a great game.”