GREENWOOD 33, BENTON 17
BENTON -- Greenwood brought its River Valley defense to Saline County and held down one of the state's top offenses.
The Bulldogs, who have been the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's No. 1 team in Class 6A for the first eight weeks of the 2017 season, limited Benton to 226 yards in a 33-17 victory on Friday night at Panther Stadium.
Greenwood (8-0, 5-0 6A-West Conference) stopped a Benton offense that averaged 38.9 points per game entering Friday.
The Bulldogs had nine sacks and held junior running back Zak Wallace, who had 976 yards and 14 touchdowns in 7 games, to 58 yards on 18 carries.
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"I was proud of the way our defense played," Greenwood Coach Rick Jones said. "They played really, really well. The coaches had a great plan for them, and the kids went out and played really well.
"Our defense, they were lights out. They got after it. They were physical, tough and played really good football."
Benton Coach Brad Harris had high praise for Greenwood.
"It was tough sledding all night," said Harris, who the Panthers' defensive coordinator before taking over as head in 2016. "Those guys are good defensively. They're really aggressive. They play assignment football.
"They're by far the best team we've seen this year, from a defensive standpoint."
Greenwood showed its prowess when Benton took more than five minutes off the clock during a first-quarter drive deep into Bulldogs territory.
Benton (5-3, 3-2) settled for a Taylon Akdamor 36-yard field goal, which gave the Panthers a 3-0 lead with 2:10 left in the first quarter.
From there, it was all Greenwood.
Two scoring runs from senior running back Kenny Wood, from 4 and 5 yards out, gave Greenwood a 14-3 lead with 7:43 left in the second quarter. Wood finished with 126 yards and 3 touchdowns on 24 carries.
Senior quarterback Connor Noland, a University of Arkansas, Fayetteville football and baseball commitment who passed for 169 yards, threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to junior Josh Barlow along the Bulldogs sideline to extend Greenwood's lead to 21-3 with 5:43 left in the first half.
Benton pulled within 21-10 at halftime when sophomore Gavin Wells threw an 18-yard pass to Bradyn Hendrix as time expired.
In the third quarter, Greenwood continued to roll.
Senior Grant Ennis kicked a 22-yard field goal to make it 24-10 Bulldogs with 6:00 left in the third quarter. Wood's 3-yard run with 2:52 remaining in the third quarter stretched the lead to 31-10.
Greenwood increased its lead to 33-10 with 8:52 to play in the fourth quarter when Benton punter Sean Thornton fumbled a snap in the end zone and Greenwood recovered for a safety.
Sophomore quarterback Peyton Hudgins, who passed for 115 yards, threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to junior Michael Allison with 2:36 left to cut the lead to 33-17.
Greenwood is 32-2 since the start of the 2015 season, with its losses coming in the Class 6A state championship games to Pine Bluff in 2015 and Russellville in 2016.
"It's consistency," Jones said. "You have to go out there and be passionate. You have to really want to make sure that everybody has to do it the right way. We have the Bulldog way. That's why we've been consistent all these years."
Sports on 10/21/2017