PREP FOOTBALL: Jasna anchors stingy Greenwood defense

GREENWOOD -- It isn't hard to spot Greenwood senior cornerback Jayden Jasna on the field.

His bright orange shoes help give him away. But another indicator is he usually is one-on-one with no one else around him against the opposing team's best wide receiver.

It is not an easy task what the Greenwood defense asks from Jasna, but it is one he has embraced and flourished in all year. Jasna has the assignment of getting the top wide receiver from the other side each week and more often than not has them without much help. It has worked out well for the unbeaten Bulldogs and its defense that is allowing just 16 points per game heading into postseason play.

Greenwood (10-0) hosts West Memphis (2-8) today in a first-round matchup of the Class 6A state playoffs.

"Getting to line up across from the best on their team and getting that high level of competition, it makes games 10 times more fun," Jasna said. "We all trust each other on defense. Our season has been going great. We feel on defense we've taken the game plans and executed them well. We want to keep that going."

Jasna has played corner for the Bulldogs since he was a sophomore. A season ago as a junior, he earned all-conference honors finishing with a team-high five interceptions to go along with 38 tackles. He has taken his play to another level this year as a senior.

"Jayden is definitely one of our leaders of our defense," Greenwood coach Chris Young said. "He is a high character kid that has a great attitude and great effort every day when he comes to practice. You're lucky when you have a kid like him on your team because it makes everybody else better."

Jasna, who has three interceptions on the season, is a big part of the scheme Greenwood defensive coordinator Jason Gill loves to run. The Bulldogs regularly leave Jasna alone on the top wide receiver from the opposition to help create advantages elsewhere on the field.

"He's that lockdown guy for us that we can put on the single side," Gill said. "He just allows us to do a lot of different things with the defense because we can trust him over there one-on-one with whoever their best guy is. It doesn't matter if they are big or small. He can handle all the matchups. We rely on him a lot. We couldn't run the defense we run without him."

The strategy has worked well in the past for Greenwood and Gill, now in his eighth season at the school, and it is again this season for the Bulldogs. The unit has held teams to fewer than 100 passing yards five times and are giving up about 150 yards per game in the air.

"Jasna in that position of being one-on-one allows us to be aggressive," Gill said. "We can really unleash our defensive line and linebackers. It's the way we like to play. We know teams are going to make plays. When you are an island out there, you have to forget plays when teams do make plays. We believe in our guys out there to win the battles."

Jasna also makes a big impact on special teams, as he is on all four of the Bulldogs' kickoff and punt units. He has the task of returning punts and often is able to set up short scoring drives for Greenwood with a return or with just the fear of a return from him.

"He's a dynamic player," Young said. "We have him on all our special team units, we have him at corner and he even could play wide receiver for us a little this year. Our offense opens up so much with better field position. Jayden is back there and gets a good return or forces a bad punt because they don't want to kick it to him. He is just a weapon for us."

The backside of the defense has shown improvement in several matchups from a year ago in the regular season. Last season against Russellville, the defense allowed 370 yards in the air but yielded just 175 yards this time around. After dropping a key game to Benton last year, Jasna and the Bulldogs wanted revenge. The Bulldogs got it in Jasna's best performance of the year, finishing with an interception, three pass breakups and nine tackles in the 42-28 win, which handed the Panthers their first conference loss of the year.

Jasna, who has offers from Arkansas Tech and Hendrix, came up big in the victory when the Bulldogs needed it most in the fourth quarter. He swatted a pass away on fourth down to end one drive then had an interception later in the final quarter. He flipped the flip with the turnover too, going 46 yards on the return.

"It was our biggest game of the year to that point, and I had my best game of the year," Jasna said. "That game meant a lot to us seniors. Our mentality is 10 times different than last year. We wanted that game really bad. That was huge for us."

Jasna wasn't asked to cover a lot of passes in the Lake Hamilton game to end the regular season because of the offense's tendency to run the ball. But he still was able to make a big impact in the return game, one of his best of the season, to help secure the 6A-West Conference crown. He took one kickoff back to the 50 in the game and had a couple of impactful punt returns.

"Punt return is a big thing for us," Jasna said. "I enjoy it. I love getting the ball and seeing wide open holes the punt return team is making for me. I think the coaches and the trust they put in me makes me better. I think special teams is a key to success in a lot of football games. It comes down to one play sometimes. Getting those 20 or 30-yard returns or making key stops can make a big difference."

The Greenwood defense as a whole stole the show in the final moments beating previously unbeaten Lake Hamilton. The unit recovered two fumbles in the last three minutes, including one going for a touchdown in the end zone from Parker Gill in a 32-28 victory. Jasna had back-to-back tough assignments in the regular season against Benton and then Van Buren, both teams who love to pass the ball. His role most of the night was to shadow Benton's Cameron Harris, 6-3, 195, and then line up against Van Buren's Jaiden Henry, 5-9, 150.

"In the Benton matchup, he is a bigger receiver and was a challenge for me that I embraced as a smaller corner," Jasna said. "The quarterback knew where he was going with it. I was there to make enough plays for my teammates. The Van Buren game was a fun matchup. Jaiden is the best route runner I've seen all season. He is a good receiver and is a great aspect of that team. I think it was a great matchup. We both had our ups and downs. But I'm glad we walked away with the win."

With the playoffs set to begin, the Bulldogs don't need a reminder of how their season ended a year ago. It's still a fresh memory of losing to Searcy in the semifinals. Greenwood now wants to make another long run and look for the program's 10th state championship.

"We saw last year what it's like to lose early," Jasna said. "We all have a chip on our shoulder this year. We don't want to come up short. It means a lot to these seniors. This year I think we will know we want this more than anybody else this year.

"We want to make this happen."