Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Greenwood cruises past Texarkana
GREENWOOD — Unleashing a variety of weapons Friday, Greenwood unloaded on Texarkana (Ark.) 55-10 in the 6A-West opener for both teams.
Kenny Wood ran for three touchdowns and Luke Hales passed for three more. The Bulldogs also found the end zone on special teams and defense. It took some time, however, for Greenwood to find its rhythm.
The Razorbacks (0-1, 1-3) lead 10-7 after the first quarter, but it was all Bulldogs (1-0, 4-0) after that. Greenwood reeled off 35 unanswered points to take a 4210 halftime lead. Texarkana helped Greenwood’s cause with more than 90 yards of first-half penalties.
“It was not very pretty in the first half. We did some positive things, but two turnovers, that’s just not going to get it done,” Greenwood coach Rick Jones said. “Our kicking game and our defense picked it up. We have to be aggressive in all three phases of the game. Texarkana sort of exploited some of the things that we have to get a lot better at. But hey, 1-0 in conference, we’ve got to be happy with that.”
The Razorbacks took a 107 lead late in the first quarter on Michael Caldwell’s acrobatic
TD catch off a deflection in the end zone. Caldwell and quarterback Tyler Braswell found a soft spot in Greenwood’s defense early, connecting on three big plays in a row at one point.
“That’s the thing with a young team (like Texarkana), you don’t want to give them any hope at all,” Jones said. “We turn it over right off the bat and we’re behind, and they’re fired up. They have some weapons and they utilized them. We had a hard time with their big receiver. We needed a ladder for him.”
Aaron Ohl blocked a Razorback
punt to set up Connor Noland’s 1-yard plunge, giving Greenwood a 21-10 lead early in the second quarter. Ethan Escalante followed that a few moments later with a 60-yard punt return for a touchdown.
Trey Woods returned an interception 15 yards on the final play of the game.
“We ran it well and our line’s getting better, but our defense scored and got some stops, and our special teams got a return, so I was proud of that,” Jones said. “They set it up beautifully. They were excited about it and
rightfully so.”
Greenwood travels to El Dorado next week while Texarkana hosts Lake Hamilton.