It’s not offense or bust at Greenwood

A day after forecasts of severe weather postponed high school football playoff games across Arkansas, there was nothing Saturday to slow down high-powered offenses except defenses.

And the Greenwood Bulldogs brought it.

War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock was a bowl of sunshine throughout Greenwood’s 45-14 victory over the Benton Panthers in the Class 6A state championship game. Although Greenwood’s offense put up 45 points, the Panthers’ defense was just as impressive.

“We played great,” senior defensive lineman Morgan Hanna said. “They scored 14 points on us in the state championship game. That’s awesome.”

Benton (10-3) averaged 38.7 points a game through its first 12 this season, and scored 68 points in its previous two playoff games.

“Their defense is really good,” Benton Coach Brad Harris said. “I’ve said that about them since I’ve been in Benton when we’ve played them. Everyone talks about Greenwood’s offense, but Greenwood’s defense is what’s so impressive to me. They are really sound at everything they do. They’re relentless.”

“The whole Greenwood coaching staff all the way down, they work fundamentals into you from a young age,” Greenwood senior defensive back Dawson James said. “It’s just built into us.”

Senior linebacker Travis Cox led Greenwood (12-1) with nine tackles. Hanna had seven tackles with two sacks.

“No one gets easy yards against our defense,” Greenwood Coach Rick Jones said.

Senior running back Zak Wallace led Benton with 145 rushing yards, but he said each yard was gained with great difficulty. Greenwood held Benton to 289 yards of total offense.

“They played with a chip on their shoulders,” Wallace said. “They were very intense all four quarters.”

Hanna said he knows Greenwood’s offense draws most of the attention. Senior quarterback Peyton Holt passed for 284 yards and 2 touchdowns, and rushed for 84 yards and 3 touchdowns to lead Greenwood to 518 total yards of offense, statistics somewhat common to Greenwood.

With a literal nod toward the scoreboard, Hanna said his unit’s performances kept pace.

“[Hanna] plays with fire and passion,” Jones said. “It’s a compliment when coaches say a guy’s got a motor, and that’s the way that guy is. He has a great, great motor.”

After Greenwood took a 31-14 lead on Holt’s 8-yard touchdown pass to junior receiver Treyton Dawson with 6:29 left in the third quarter, Benton took over at its 20 with a chance to cut Greenwood’s lead to two scores.

Benton’s first play from scrimmage was a loss of 5 yards on a sack by James. Two plays later, James intercepted a pass from sophomore quarterback Garrett Brown to give Greenwood possession at the Benton 17. A 7-yard touchdown run by Holt gave Greenwood a 38-14 lead with 5:15 left in the third quarter to fuel the rout.

“We try to get turnovers any chance we get,” James said. “Our defensive line makes it easy.”

“Our defense, they’ve kept us alive,” Jones said. “They’ve done a fantastic job. Our defensive coaches do a great job of figuring out what the other team’s doing to us and what we can do to stop them, plus our kids chase the ball like crazy.”

“The whole Greenwood coaching staff all the way down, they work fundamentals into you from a young age. It’s just built into us.” Greenwood senior defensive back Dawson James