GREENWOOD -- Senior linebacker Colt Owenby provided just the play needed for Greenwood on Friday night at Smith-Robinson Stadium.
Coming off a touchdown drive, Owenby kept the momentum going for the Bulldogs. He intercepted a pass and took it for a 34-yard touchdown less than two minutes later. That spark allowed Greenwood to pull away for a 31-7 victory against Mountain Home in a 6A-West Conference matchup.
"That pick-six was a huge play," Greenwood Coach Chris Young said. "He is always at the right place. And lucky for us he was able to get it in the end zone. That was a turning point in the game no doubt about that."
The pass was tipped high in the air by Landon Nelms. Owenby was able to track the ball in the sky, catch it and take it for a score and a 24-7 lead in the second quarter.
"It was just right there in the air and I went and snagged it," Owenby said. "You could feel when it happened it was a big swing. It made the lead much more comfortable for us."
Greenwood (3-2, 1-1 6A-West) was forced to start third-string sophomore quarterback Cole Kindle because of injuries. He completed 9 of his 16 passes for 96 yards. He finished the first half 7 of 9 for 70 yards.
"We had to go pretty vanilla on offense because we just moved him to quarterback about three weeks ago," Young said. "He played some quarterback in junior high. But we saw we needed a third guy a few weeks ago. We tossed him in the mix. I was really proud of him competing tonight."
With a third-string starter and even a fourth quarterback in Strom Scherrey seeing action, Owenby and the defense took it as a challenge. The unit allowed 48 points last week in a loss to Little Rock Parkview.
The Bulldog defense was up to the task. Mountain Home (1-4, 0-2) used a 46-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Brady Barnett to Blake Bentley to tie the game at 7-7 early in the first quarter. But after that, Greenwood allowed nothing else.
"The second half we wanted to shut them out, and that's what we did," Owenby said. "We allowed the initial touchdown of the game, but we knew it was just one play. We knew we could get it done after that."
Greenwood, which snapped a two-game losing streak, took a 24-7 lead into halftime after getting the defensive score from Owenby.
The Bulldogs marched 82 yards with a 1-yard touchdown from Jake Glover capping the drive in the second half. That helped put the game away with Greenwood up 31-7 with less than four minutes in the game.
"The offense was turning around and giving the ball back in the second half," Young said. "It was nice to get a score at the end. But I credit our defense. The defense just kept going out there and getting stops. I'm proud of them."
Glover finished with 98 rushing yards on 18 carries with a score for Greenwood. The Bulldogs also got touchdown rushes from Cameron Krone and Dylan Tucker.
Mountain Home was guided by Barnett, who entered the game with less than 5 passes thrown all year. He finished 10 of 20 passing for 138 yards with a touchdown. He also rushed 18 times for 56 yards.
Greenwood was playing without six starters, including quarterbacks Hunter Houston and Slade Dean. All-state wide receiver Luke Brewer was also held out of the game for the Bulldogs.
"We are getting healthier, and that's what needs to happen," Young said. "I've never seen anything like this with injuries. It's next guy up. Our kids played great tonight."