Bulldogs move forward

Greenwood coach Rick Jones said his team made a “step in the right direction” with its win over Fort Smith Southside last week.

“We did a little bit of everything better,” said Jones, referring to his team’s improvement after a season-opening loss to Fort Smith Northside. “We had fewer busts defensively in terms of alignment, offensively we blocked better, receivers ran better routes, quarterback play was better. The big thing though I guess, two things, we were able to run the ball and throw it and catch it a little bit.

“We knew going in we had some young guys and some inexperienced guys who you hope sorta adapt to that gametype pressure. I just think we took a step forward. That’s what I told the team. We got a glimpse of what it can look like, not the full picture but a glimpse.”

Northside’s defense limited the Bulldogs (1-1) in a 31-16 defeat. But they responded with 564 yards of total offense in the 52-27 victory over Southside.

Senior quarterback Peyton Holt was a big part of that, rolling up 455 yards of total offense (375 passing) and accounting for four touchdowns. But Holt’s success depends on others to do their job, too, Jones said.

“It’s a combination of a lot of things,” Jones said. “It doesn’t matter who you are if you don’t have time to throw. You also have to have receivers to get open. The quarterback is the guy who sorta runs the show, but it totally depends on the guys up front.

Peyton went through his reads and made great decisions with the football.”

Greenwood plays host to Sand Springs, Okla., which has made deep playoff runs since Oklahoma split 6A in Division I and Division 2.

“They are some hard-nosed kids,” Jones said.” They have a lot of great wrestlers come out of there. They aren’t gonna be afraid of anybody. Our guys know nothing about them except what they see on film. But they are competitive with the Bixby’s and the Booker T’s. They made some deep runs in the playoffs once they got away from Jenks and Union.”