Greenwood razor-sharp in rout against Van Buren

GREENWOOD 45, VAN BUREN 14

GREENWOOD — When the Greenwood offense is clicking, you can’t waste any offensive opportunities.

Van Buren wasted two first-quarter opportunities, allowing the Bulldogs to pull away in the second quarter to open 7A/6A-Central Conference play with a 45-14 blowout at Smith-Robinson Stadium Friday night.

While the Pointers ( 22, 0-1) squandered its early opportunities, the Bulldogs were razor-sharp on offense. Greenwood (4-0, 1-0) scored on four of its five possessions in the first half.

Even the lone possession, Greenwood did not score, it was a lost fumble inside the Van Buren 10 midway in the second quarter. On the next play, Grant Morgan tackled Jaylynn Dye in the end zone for a safety.

“The safety was a killer. It went downhill quickly after that,” Van Buren coach Greg Werner said. “We had just made a big stand defensively. If we could have kept it 15-0 or 22-0 at half, at least we are feeling, to some extent, good about ourselves.”

Greenwood finished with 406 total yards, including 231 yards rushing.

“When we get into rhythm (on offense), we are pretty decent,” Greenwood coach Rick Jones said. “Except for a fumble, we were really efficient offensively.”

The Pointers’ game plan was to control the ball and clock and they did that in the first quarter, but did not get points on two strong drives.

The Bulldogs needed just 1:25 to score on a 17-yard run by Jordan Green to cap a 63-yard drive for a 8-0 lead midway in the first quarter.

Greenwood’s Jax Burgess then blocked his third kick in as many weeks. He blocked a punt, then scooped up the ball and scored with 3:10 left in the opening quarter for a 15-0 Bulldog lead.

“There is a knack to (blocking kicks),” Jones said. “It has been my experience as a coach that if they do it once, the will do it again. You can coach it and teach it, but there is something about actually doing it in a game that gives them get a feel for it.”

After the Morgan safety increase the lead to 17-0, Greenwood’s offense began to roll, scoring touchdowns on its next four possession to blow the game open.

“When the defense picked you up after a turnover, that is huge,” Jones said. “It’s good to have all three phases included in the scoring. That doesn’t happen too often.”

Reserve Connor Noland threw a pair of second-quarter touchdowns and Green added a 5-yard touchdowns run as the Bulldogs led 38-0 at halftime. Reserve back Kenny Wood ran for a touchdowns to start the second half for a 45-0 advantage.