LITTLE ROCK -- The road from Greenwood to Little Rock is a pretty smooth, straight one on Interstate-40.
The "Journey to the 'Ship," which was the mantra of the Bulldogs this season, had some bumps and bruises but nothing that could keep them from winning the state championship.
Greenwood finished off an undefeated campaign with a 41-23 win over Little Rock Christian at War Memorial Stadium on Dec. 1 for the Class 6A state championship before an announced crowd of 12,219.
Greenwood (13-0) wrapped up its fourth undefeated season in school history along with the 2020, 2017 and 2011 teams in winning its 11th state title, which ties Pulaski Academy for the most in the modern playoff era that began in 1968.
Greenwood won its 15th conference title in the past 19 seasons and concluded the season with 63-straight home wins.
The Bulldogs trailed just two opponents all season: Pulaski Academy briefly early, and Little Rock Christian in the first half of the regular-season finale.
Greenwood applied the Arkansas Activities Association's Sportsmanship Rule nine times and outscored opponents by a 669-221 margin for the season.
"Our kids knew what was at stake," Greenwood coach Chris Young said. "We've been on the other side the last two years, and that's tough. Our goal wasn't to get to the championship game, our goal was win the state championship. That was really, really important. Some teams are happy to get here. We knew what our goal was. We handed out shirts in August that said 'Journey to the Ship' and we were talking about the game. We were talking about winning it. Our kids did that."
In the championship game, the Bulldogs jumped to a 14-0 lead.
Greenwood's defense forced Little Rock Christian to punt three plays into the game, and Kane Archer hit Grant Karnes for a 27-yard touchdown pass on the Bulldogs' fifth play with 9:18 left in the first quarter.
After forcing another punt, Archer capped a 14-play drive with a 1-yard leap over the top of the offensive line for a two-score lead with 2:26 left in the opening quarter.
The Bulldogs had 124 yards of offense in the opening quarter on 21 plays while the defense limited Little Rock Christian's offense to just 43 yards on 11 plays.
With a comfortable 21-9 lead at the half, the Bulldogs relied on the ground game in the final half.
The Bulldogs, led by the power running of Brayedan Davis and the elusiveness of Kane Archer, ran 27 times for 167 yards in the final half.
"We knew we were going to have to run the football," Young said. "We talked about it all week. They play a light box, and they're a little bit undersized on the defensive line. Then, they're really skilled in the secondary. They play a three-high look, so we knew we were going to have to run the ball to be successful."
Davis finished with 29 carries for 156 yards, including 17 times for 101 yards and a 4-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter with 3:17 left that had Greenwood up, 34-16.
Archer finished with 16 totes for 95 yards, including nine carries for 76 yards and a touchdown in the final half.
Archer earned the Most Valuable Player award for the game after completing 22-of-29 passes for 187 yards and two touchdowns, and his 95 rushing yards and two scores.
Senior receiver L.J. Robins caught seven passes for 43 yards, and Karnes and Isaiah Arrington each caught touchdown passes.
Defensively, Greenwood held Little Rock Christian to just 59 rushing yards.
"We want to take away the run first," Greenwood defensive coordinator Jason Gill said. "We were able to do that. I think we got their quarterback flustered a bit. We got after him with our rush much better this time than we did the first time we played them. We put an emphasis on putting pressure on him. We preached that if we put pressure o n him, he will throw us a few and he did."
Caden Nelms, Landon Nelms and Brady Mackey intercepted pass for the Bulldogs.