Greenwood impressive once again

An assignment for the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's annual preseason football section sent me down to Greenwood last week.

I was there for only the tail end of a Wednesday morning practice, but I saw enough to know that the Bulldogs will once again be barking in the direction of another state football championship.

Greenwood has a quarterback, you've probably heard of him, by the name of Connor Noland. He's received 12 Division I football offers and he's also a standout baseball player. He's only a junior and has already committed to play football and baseball at the University of Arkansas. (Side note: The Siloam Springs baseball team handed Noland a loss on the mound 4-2 back on April 28.)

Now get this, technically Noland isn't even the starter at the position for the Bulldogs.

Last year, Luke Hales took the first-string snaps at quarterback for the Bulldogs and is back for his senior year. He has a scholarship offer from Southeast Missouri State and will likely have more by the time the season comes to an end.

Both of these guys can throw the ball on a rope, and they can both cause a lot of damage with their legs. They were impressive to watch in practice.

So as the practice was coming to a close, Greenwood's No. 1 offense went up against its No. 1 defense in a situational period. The first situation was third-and-eight, and over and over again Greenwood's defense stopped its own offense. The same thing happened when the Bulldogs went to a third-and-12 to close out the session.

Greenwood head coach Rick Jones said last season he thought his defense played as well as it ever has, and it doesn't appear like there's going to be any drop-off this season either.

Greenwood routed Siloam Springs 42-0 at home last season, but the Panthers weren't alone in being crushed by the Bulldogs. They literally crushed all of their first 12 opponents in 2015, winning each game by at least 10 points. They also beat seven Class 7A schools -- Springdale, both Fort Smith schools Northside and Southside, Van Buren, Conway, Bryant and Little Rock Catholic. Their only loss, ironically, came at the hands of Class 6A Pine Bluff 28-21 in the 6A state championship game.

Greenwood is the smallest school in Class 6A and a surge in another district's enrollment could easily send the Bulldogs back to 5A one day, similar to what happened with Alma returning to 5A for the 2016-18 cycle.

But the smallest 6A school is also one of the top football programs in the state, and that goes for any classification.

You can count on the Bulldogs being in the 6A title contender conversation all season, and they visit Siloam Springs on Oct. 7.

-- Graham Thomas is the managing editor for the Herald-Leader. He can be reached at [email protected]. The opinions expressed are those of the author.