Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Greenwood back in title game for fourth straight year
GREENWOOD 31, SYLVAN HILLS 10
GREENWOOD — Greenwood continues its tradition of December football while Sylvan Hills sees it magical playoff run come to an end.
Thanks to a strong second half Friday night, the Bulldogs reach the Class 6A finals for the fourth straight season with a 31-10 victory over the Bears at Smith-Robinson Stadium.
Reaching a state championship game is a common habit for Greenwood (11-1) which has been to the state finals for 11 times in 15 seasons under coach Rick Jones. The Bulldogs have played in 13 championship games since 1996, winning eight.
“This is a hard-working group of kids that always work to get better,” Jones said. “There are obviously things we have to get better at. It is going to be a challenge for us next week.”
Greenwood will face Benton next Saturday at War Memorial Stadium. The Bulldogs beat the Panthers 62-33 on Oct. 19.
For Sylvan Hills (5-8), it is an end of a surprise run to the 6A semifinals. The Bears came into the playoffs as a sixth seed, then upset Russellville and Marion on the road but ran out of the magic in the second half.
The Bulldog defense did surrender more than 200 rushing yards to the Bears, but the only points the Sylvan Hills offense scored was a third-quarter field goal.
“The last three games, those guys have been pretty good,” Jones said of his defense. “Sylvan Hills can run the ball on anyone. They are very physical.”
Greenwood led 13-7 at halftime, but Sylvan Hills coach Jim Withrow felt confident his team would rally in the second half.
“I’ll be honest with you, when we walked into (the
locker room) at halftime, I thought we were going to win the game,” Withrow said. “That is how we have been playing … kind of grinding and grinding, finding a touchdown here and there. We just needed to make a few more plays.”
Greenwood took a 3-0 lead on a Grant Ennis 37-yard field goal, but the Bears took the lead after Amaad Yancy scooped up a fumble and raced 32 yards for a touchdown and a 7-3 lead with 9:43 left in the first half.
“When we got the stripand-score, I thought the game was going like the other two games were,” Withrow said. “But that is the way it goes. We needed a little more offense.”
The Bulldogs, though, never panicked and retook the lead late in the first half on a Hunter Wilkinson 3-yard run with 2:24 left before halftime.
Greenwood took control in the second half when Peyton Holt hit Lazaro Angel for a 24-yard touchdown pass with 7:24 left in the third quarter. Holt then threw to Isaiah Belue for the 2-point conversion to give the Bulldogs a 21-7 advantage.
The Bears offense could never find the end zone against the Bulldog defense. The only points the Greenwood defense surrendered was a 45-yard field goal by Tito Mendoza to keep Sylvan Hills close at 21-10 with 4:15 left in the third quarter.
The Bulldogs put the game away in the fourth quarter as Ennis booted his third field goal of the game and Holt scored on a 28-yard touchdown run with 6:21 left.