PEARCY -- Greenwood coach Rick Jones had no qualms with how his offense performed in its regular-season finale.
The Bulldogs starters scored on all six of their possessions Friday as Greenwood clinched the 6A-West Conference's No. 2 seed with a convincing 42-14 victory over Lake Hamilton at Wolf Stadium.
"You go six-for-six in your offensive possessions, and that's exactly what you need to do when you play a team that can control the ball as well as they can," Jones said. "I was proud of how our kids played.
"We had fire and intensity, we played smart and didn't get into any tussles that could have cost us with penalties and stuff like that."
Quarterback Jace Presley led the offensive charges as he completed 25 of 32 passes for 223 yards and threw for four touchdowns for Greenwood (9-1, 6-1 6A-West). Even when he felt pressure from Lake Hamilton's defense, he was able to pull down the ball and get occasional gains or buy enough time to get an allow a receiver to get open.
Presley went 6-for-8 on the opening drive and capped it with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Peyton Carter midway through the first quarter. The last pass he threw was a 29-yard touchdown strike to Lazaro Angel after a holding penalty forced the Bulldogs into a third-and-24 situation.
"For a lot of the night, they had a lot of guys deep," Presley said. "They were using a three-man rush most of the time, so I know my guys are going to block that up. I was just waiting for a guy to get open. I did have a couple of throws where I missed them -- more than I would have liked."
Presley's second touchdown pass, a 2-yarder to Treyton Dawson, and Hunter Wilkinson's 1-yard touchdown run gave Greenwood a 21-0 lead before Lake Hamilton (8-2, 5-2) made its first threat of the game. The Wolves used their ball-control offense to go 67 yards and 12 plays, capped by Owen Miller's 5-yard touchdown run that made it a 21-7 game with 1:28 before halftime.
Greenwood, however, quickly countered with Presley's 2-yard touchdown pass to Caden Brown with 16 seconds left in the first half. Presley's touchdown pass to Angel came at the 8:06 mark in the third quarter, then Wilkinson's second 1-yard touchdown run made it a 42-7 game and forced the running clock.
"It was a great night offensively and a great night defensively," Jones said. "The kicking game solid. It was a well-played game for us."
GREENWOOD 42, LAKE HAMILTON 14
Greenwood 14 14 14 0 — 42
Lake Hamilton 0 7 0 7 — 14
First Quarter
Green — Carter 13 pass from Presley (Stewart kick), 6:34.
Green — Dawson 2 pass from Presley (Stewart kick), 2:17.
Second Quarter
Green — Wilkinson 1 run (Stewart kick), 8:05.
Lake — Miller 5 run (Hillard kick), 1:28.
Green — Brown 2 pass from Presley (Stewart kick), :16.
Third Quarter
Green — Angel 29 pass from Presley (Stewart kick), 8:06.
Green — Wilkinson 1 run (Stewart kick), 1:14.
Fourth Quarter
Lake — Miller 15 run (Hillard kick), 3:18.
Four Downs
• Miller finished with 156 yards on 18 carries to lead Lake Hamilton, including a 15-yard touchdown run to cap the scoring with 3:18 remaining.
• Dawson was Greenwood's leading receiver with nine catches for 102 yards and his one touchdown.
• Wilkinson carried the ball six consecutive times leading up to his second rushing touchdown.
• Greenwood earns a first-round bye and returns to action Nov. 22 with a home quarterfinal game against the winner of next week's game between Marion and Siloam Springs. Lake Hamilton, now the No. 3 seed from the 6A-West after the loss, hosts Sylvan Hills in a first-round playoff game next week.
Preps Sports on 11/09/2019