SPRINGDALE — Woodland's defense had the best performance of its young season and used that to defeat Southwest 17-3 Thursday night at Jarrell Williams Bulldog Stadium.
Coming off a 21-14 loss to conference-leading Bentonville Gold, Woodland head coach Bobby Crockett challenged his defense to step up physically and they answered the call Thursday.
"Our defense came out and did a good job tonight," Crockett said. "They played solid and very well tonight. We were looking for a more physical effort out of them, and I think they did that tonight."
Woodland (3-1, 2-1 NWAC) held Southwest to a three-and-out on the game's opening possession and then put up points on its first offensive possession.
Austin Allen's 25-yard scamper on 3rd-and-1 gave Woodland afirst down at the Southwest 16, and three plays later, he scooted in untouched from seven yards out and a Ryan Starr extra point made it 7-0.
Southwest (1-3, 0-3 NWAC) mustered very little on offense until the last drive before halftime. The first play of the drive saw Dalton Clinkscales evade a sack in the backfield and throw a 46-yard bomb to Dashaun Stark to put the Cougars in Woodland territory.
They would only muster a Bryan Lemus field goal before the teams headed to the locker room.
"We missed a tackle in the backfield, and their quarterback comes out and made a great play," Crockett said. "He threw it over our safeties becausethey fell asleep, and that's the only time they really threatened us."
The Cowboys got the ball coming out of the break and proceeded to control most of the third quarter clock with a 13-play, 65-yard drive that ended with a 30-yard field goal by Starr.
Nursing a 10-3 lead, Woodland relied on its defense again, and they recovered a fumble on the ensuing Southwestpossession to get the ball back.
They couldn't make anything of it and punted, but turned around and pinned Southwest back inside their own 20, and eventually pushed them back to the 7-yard line, where the Cougars attempted a fake punt run but couldn't convert.
Two plays later, Allen trudged in from 7 yards out for a 17-3 advantagethat finalized the scoring.
Allen would pick off a Southwest pass on the ensuing possession to erase any doubt and seal the victory for the Cowboys.
Allen finished with 71 yards on 17 carries with the two touchdowns.
"Austin did a great job tonight," Crockett said.
The eighth grade Cowboys defeated Southwest 21-16, handing the Cougars' their first defeat of the season.
Sports, Pages 8, 9 on 09/25/2009