Greenwood piling up 7A-West notches

GREENWOOD -- Though the Greenwood Bulldogs have not played a 6A-West game, they are now 3-0 against 7A-West teams.

The Bulldogs rolled up more than 500 yards of offense but had to withstand a late rally before claiming a 35-28 victory over Bentonville West on Friday at Smith-Robinson Stadium.

The game was played because both teams lost their conference opener because their opponents had to cancel over covid-19 concerns. Both teams will try to play conference games next week.

"That is a good football team over there, and I thought our guys got after them tonight," Greenwood Coach Chris Young said. "We whipped them on offense and defense tonight."

Greenwood (4-0) led 28-14 at halftime, but Bentonville West (2-2) seemed to grab the momentum going into the locker room when AJ Moss blocked Luis Morales' 22-yard field goal on the final play of the first half.

The Wolverines got the opening kickoff, and Carson Morgan returned it 27 yards to the West 48, but the Bulldogs' defense forced a three-and-out.

Greenwood then marched 85 yards in 14 plays, capped by LD Richmond's 6-yard keeper with 7:14 left in the third quarter for a 35-14 lead.

"The defense came up with a big stop, and the offense then came up with a big drive," Young said. "We knew [the blocked field goal] to end the half was big. That drive really put the game away for us."

West Coach Bryan Pratt said not taking advantage of the field position was disappointing.

"We have the ball at midfield after a great kickoff return and we go three-and-out," Pratt said. "We have to be in a rhythm offensively and not be in third and long. We didn't play well all around."

The Wolverines tried to rally, getting a Carlos Hall 1-yard run with 2:43 left, then added a 59-yard pass from Dalton McDonald to Ty Durham with 46 seconds remaining.

But onside kick attempts failed, and Greenwood ran out the clock.

"[Greenwood] is a great football team," Pratt said. "It's tough to prepare for them when we only have a couple of days to prepare. There is a reason why they are No. 1 in Class 6A. But we are not going to quit."

Richmond returned to the lineup as the Greenwood quarterback after missing last week's game and threw for 356 yards on 30-of-37 passing. He threw for a score and rushed for another

"He made play after play tonight," Young said. "He spread the ball around to all of the receivers, he made great decisions with his feet and he made great decisions throwing the ball. He did what he wanted to out there."

Running back Hunter Wilkinson rushed for 110 yards and a pair of touchdowns as Greenwood amassed 514 total yards and 26 first downs.

Greenwood seized control of the game with touchdowns on three consecutive possessions in the first half.

Wilkinson capped a 10-play, 78-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run with 2:03 left in the first quarter.

Greenwood then marched 60 yards, and Wilkinson finished that off with a 10-yard run with 10:10 left in the second quarter for a 21-7 lead.

The Bulldogs' last score of the half was helped by a negative punt by Bentonville West. The Wolverines were to kick the ball away from their 22, but a bad snap out of the reach of punter Trenton Davis forced him to barely get it away in his end zone. The kick hit a Greenwood player at the 10, and West recovered at its 6. Since the ball did not cross the line of scrimmage, Greenwood gained possession with a first and goal.

Reserve running back Ty Moose scored two plays later from the 5, and in just over five minutes a 7-7 tie became a 28-7 Greenwood advantage.