GREENWOOD -- The Greenwood Bulldogs capped spring football with a 93-play scrimmage on Thursday night before a large crowd at Smith-Robinson Stadium.
"We're so fortunate and so blessed, and we probably take it for granted, you show up on a Thursday night in May and the stands are packed for a spring game," Greenwood coach Chris Young said. "It's awesome. It's a reminder how lucky I am to be a football coach at Greenwood and how lucky our kids are to play here."
A point of emphasis for the Bulldogs throughout spring practices was being more physical.
"We've opened up things a little bit physically," Young said. "We thought that was an area that we needed to get better in offensively and defensively. I thought our defense really got after us early in spring and was physical in the box and covered us well on the perimeter. Then early in the scrimmage, it kind of flipped and the offense really got after them and was able to run the football."
Sophomore quarterbacks Kane Archer and Cooper Goodwin, the only two quarterbacks on the roster, took all of the snaps except for three with senior receiver L.J. Robins taking those late for a series.
Archer and Goodwin guided their respective offenses to five touchdowns in the first half. Archer took the Bulldogs down the field on the opening 5-play drive capped by a 53-yard scoring run by Braeydan Davis.
"We had some success offensively in the first half," Young said. "The defense cranked it up in the second half and played better especially the ones."
Archer also threw a touchdown pass to Robins, who caught the short pass, quickly turned it up-field and finished the 75-yard play.
Robins is part of a quintet that will make up one of the top receiving corps in the state. He finished with four catches for 131 yards, Arrington had two for 40, Grant Karnes had two for 14, Noah Chaser caught three for 27 and Peyton Presson had two for 10.
"The receivers are really, really talented," Young said. "There are five of those guys that we consider starters right now. Grant and L.J., we didn't want to get them too many touches, we know what they're capable of doing and we wanted to spread the ball around to some of the younger guys. We've got guys that can take the pressure off our quarterbacks."
Goodwin quarterbacked the offense on six of the 10 first-half possessions and threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Arrington, a 41-yard scoring pass to Evan Reid and 20-yard touchdown pass to Cooper Bland.
Overall, Archer was 11-of-19 passes for 175 yards while Goodwin was 16-of-28 for 212 yards.
"We've got two sophomore quarterbacks, and we've got a long ways to go back there," Young said. "We have confidence in both of those guys. They're both talented and both can make some plays. They made some plays, but they were inconsistent. Kane's the guy, but we have confidence in Cooper, too, but both of those guys have to improve for us to be where we want to be at the end of the year."
Greenwood (10-3, 7-1 6A-West last year) will participate in three team camps in June, hosting one on May 31, going to Northside on June 7, and at June 15 at Russellville. The Bulldogs will also play in three 7-on-7 tournaments, including Alma, Russellville and Siloam Springs.
Charleston looking for depth
Last year at this time, the Charleston Tigers were already an experienced team heading into the summer after spring practices.
This year, coach Ricky May had to look deeper to find encouragement after wrapping up spring practices this week.
"It's hard to say, if you compare to last year, then no," May said. "If you look at how the young ones have grown, it is encouraging. We were more concerned with depth. Last year, especially on the line on both sides of the ball, we had a lot of depth. We're trying to find some depth on the line, and we found a little bit but not near as much as we'd like. Both lines, we've got to find some extra kids."
A total of 14 seniors graduated, including the top two offensive linemen, five of the front seven on defense, and most all of the offensive production.
Reese Merechka returns and will be a focal point of the offense while Hunter Little returns as one of the top defensive players.
"The kids we have coming back have come to practice with a good attitude and have worked hard," May said. "Our baseball team was still playing, so our underclassmen got an extra week by themselves. Our underclassmen even though they're young still have a lot of fight in them."
Charleston (14-1, 7-0 3A-1 last year) will host team camps on May 31, June 5, and June 12 with the last two hosting 14 teams. Charleston will also hosts 7-on-7 competitions in July.
White at home at Waldron
Cain White has only been in Waldron eight weeks but already feels settled in.
"This is week eight that I've been here, and I'm settled," White said. "I was nervous moving five hours away. I've always been in northeast Arkansas in Trumann, where I grew up, or Manila. It took some gumption, but I noticed everyone here is so exciting. It's a small-town atmosphere but big-time football. It just means a little more over here, football in this part of the state just means more. It's a different animal."
White, a Trumann native, took Manila to the playoffs in both of his years as the head coach there and took over at Waldron in March.
"This is home," White said. "Home is where you make it. This is home to me now. It feels good."
White becomes the seventh football coach at Waldron in the past 16 years.
"I spent the first four weeks, no X's or O's, just getting to know these guys in this room and my kids on a personal level," White said. "The first two weeks was just one-on-one and a little weight room. Building relationships first helped me get settled."
White took his Bulldogs through his first spring game on Friday night, and the Bulldogs will be a Flexbone run-heavy option offense.
"It will be a little different, it will be about 80 percent run," White said. "It will be option football."
Senior Noah Patrick and junior Keegan Lynch guided the two offenses.
Senior slotback and linebacker Kason Davis, a track standout, junior fullback and linebacker Damion Dickens, junior slotback and defensive back Cole Bailey, senior fullback and linebacker Logan Young are returning players who will be counted upon.
White had 40 dressed out at the scrimmage, including 14 seniors.
"The first couple of days of practice were just getting use to a routine and tempo of practice," White said. "How quick those guys picked up on that was really good. We're learning how we're going to attack people. We didn't install a whole lot. We had nine days to install six base runs. We got those in. They're simple, but we're confident in those six base runs. They're coming together in unity."
Waldron (2-7, 0-5 4A-7 last year) will participate in 7 on 7 tournaments at Russellville and at Lake Hamilton.
Robinson has high hopes for Mansfield
Offensive coordinator Layton Robinson took the Tigers through the final two days of spring practice following the reassignment of Tim Cothran.
"We've looked good," Robinson said. "We've got a young line, but we've brought almost all of our skilled guys back. I think we'll have a good year."
Senior quarterback Cole Kindle threw for 1,505 yards and 13 touchdowns last year and receiver Daniel Burton caught 55 passes for 738 yards and seven touchdowns.
"If we get our line hashed out we've got some guys that can go make plays," Robinson said. "They're young and they'll get that figured out."
Mansfield went through spring practices with close to 30 out but with only five seniors. The Tiger welcomed 17 freshmen off a junior high team that went 8-2 with the only two losses coming to Booneville and Charleston.
Only Turner Wright returns on the line so possibly three of the incoming sophomores will be counted on up front.
Mansfield (7-4, 4-3 3A-1 last year) will go to Russellville for team camps and 7 on 7 workouts.
Ozark looking to fill holes
The Hillbillies spent their spring looking to replace just about the entire offensive line.
"We trying to find some spots on the offensive line," Ozark coach Jeremie Burns said. "We've been repping some younger guys coming up that will be 10th graders."
All-State Charlie Vandenberg, a 6-4, 295 pound senior, does return and will anchor both lines for the Hillbillies.
"He's had a really good spring," Burns said. "He's running real well. He was timed at the Monster Camp in Little Rock at a 5.37 hand-held time. He's still just 16."
The Hillbillies have huge holes to fill at quarterback and running back, but Koby Wilbanks appears ready at quarterback.
"He had an awesome spring," Burns said. "He played free safety and some H-back. He's going to move into the quarterback role. He's hit the weight real good since last year and has thrown the ball well. He's real accurate and has some speed."
Gavin Gilbreth returns at linebacker, where he led the team with 14 tackles for loss, will also play running back.
Ozark (8-4, 6-1 4A-4 last year) will participate in three teams camps at Charleston in June, two 7-on-7 practices at Charleston in July before wrapping up summer practices with a team camp at Farmington on July 26.