GREENWOOD — In a four-minute span, Greenwood blew open the game and cruised to another easy playoff win.
The Bulldogs scored 27 unanswered points in the second quarter, including 20 points in that critical span, to dominate West Memphis 55-7 in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs Friday at Smith-Robinson Stadium.
Greenwood will host Mountain Home, which rallied past Pine Bluff 24-20, in next week’s 6A quarterfinals.
The Bulldogs dominated the game after West Memphis tied the game at 7-7 on the first play of the second quarter on a 1-yard run by Elijah Eulls. Greenwood scored the final 48 points.
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“Our kids responded after a bad first quarter,” Bulldogs Coach Chris Young said. “We could have hung our heads and let it bother us. I was proud of the way we responded. We made some adjustments and got a good win.”
Greenwood compiled 440 yards — including 206 rushing led by Hunter Wilkinson’s 122 yards and three first-half touchdowns — as the Bulldogs built a 34-7 halftime lead. Quarterback J.D. Richmond was 16-of-18 passing for 186 yards and 2 touchdowns in just over a half of play.
The defense also was solid for Greenwood, limiting the Blue Devils to just 155 total yards and returning two interceptions for touchdowns.
“We had some momentum, but we shot ourselves in the foot [in the second quarter],” West Memphis Coach Robert Hooks said. “We’ve been doing that all year. We are a young team and we have to learn how to finish ball games and not let the little things beat us.”
After the Blue Devils tied the game, Greenwood drove 57 yards in 10 plays, capped by Wilkinson’s 8-yard run with 9:43 left in the second quarter.
After the defense forced a three-and-out, the Bulldogs needed just two plays to score as Richmond hit Luke Brewer for a 37-yard touchdown and a 20-7 lead at the 7:41 mark of the second quarter.
Three plays later, Colin Daggett picked off a Blue Devil pass and scampered untouched for a 25-yard touchdown return with 5:31 left before halftime and suddenly it was 27-7 Greenwood.
The Bulldogs added one last touchdown in the quarter as Wilkinson scored from 3 yards out with 1:38 left in the half increasing the lead to 34-7.
The Greenwood starting offense played one more possession — the first of the second half — as Richmond hit Caden Brown for a 30-yard score. Richmond then hit Jase Strozier for the two-point conversion for a 42-7 lead with 10:34 left in the third quarter.