The Pulaski Academy Bruins beat the Greenwood Bulldogs 42-35 in the Class 6A Championship
To make it to the State Championship game it is an honor. It is a culmination of 13 weeks of things going just right to put you in the position to go. There’s hours of practice, being in the film room, working in the weight room all to to play a game and to have pride to do it for your school and town. Two teams went to battle and momentum swings were huge in the game. Pulaski Academy would go on to win their 11th State Championship, Greenwood would get their 6th State Runner-Up.
On a cold night in Little Rock, among the confines that is War Memorial, the Class 6A State Championship game, that folks predicted would happen in preseason, was about to be underway. State Championship winners this week were momentous, Izard County captured their 1st 8-man Championship. 2A Hazen would win their first State Championship ever. 7A Bryant would absolutely steam roll Bentonville to win their 5th in a row. Former Greenwood Defensive Coordinator Brad Bolding would get that elusive State Championship as Little Rock Parkview would beat Shiloh Christian for the 5A Championship. Friday night Bonneville and Charleston punched their tickets to face each other in the 3A Championship game. Then two of the states most-storied programs of this century were about to face off in the Saturday night game, Hollywood couldn’t have written a better script.
Pulaski Academy would get the opening kickoff. A batted pass at the line of scrimmage would get to the hands of Greenwood Defensive Back Josh Allen for the interception. Greenwood has short field position and Junior Brayden Davis gets it in for the first Touchdown of the game. Bodey Steinfeldt’s kick would be good putting Greenwood up top 7-0 with 9:53 in the 1st. The Bruins would answer back and Kenny Jordan would punch it in for 6, the 2 point conversion would fail. Greenwood’s drive would find them backed up 3rd and 20 when Hunter Houston would find Isaiah Arrington to get them close to the first down. Greenwood would get the first and then Jake Glover would rumble it in for the touchdown, kick was good 14-6. Kel Busby answers back with a deep pass of his own and then calling his own number to run it in the end zone for the TD. 2 point would fail 14-12 with 2:29 in the 1st quarter. Hunter Houston makes quick work and finds Jake Glover on the screen pass. Glover takes it down the Pulaski sideline for the touchdown kick was good 21-12 1:40 still in the 1st quarter. Pulaski then drives down into Greenwood territory as time expires.
Kel Busby again rushes it in for the touchdown and the 2 point try would fail 21-18 11:32 in the 2nd quarter. Greenwood has a shot to put the game up by 10 but are stopped on 4th and 5 deep in the red zone. The Bruins take the opportunity to drive down the field and Kenny Jordan gets it in for Pulaski’s first lead of the game. 2 point would fail leaving the score 25-21. With 3:40 left in the half. Greenwood’s next drive would end in a punt. The Bruins would take over but would try to go through the air after big stop by Cash Archer. Brady Mackey would get an interception to take it into the locker room. Halftime 25-21
Greenwood receives the 2nd half kick and drives down into Bruin territory. The ‘Dogs would be stopped on 4th down. Pulaski’s drive would stall on their side of the field with a stop from Evan Williams, an intentional grounding call, and what looked like another Josh Allen interception would have the Bruins punting on 4th down. Greenwood would punt on 4th down as well. Pulaski would punt again after a defensive stand with a stop from Eli Whitaker and a pass breakup from Isaiah Arrington. Greenwood’s next drive would be highlighted by a Grant Karnes catch. Karnes would lineup at QB start to run to the left then pitch to Houston. He would try to throw over the middle but it would be incomplete. Houston’s next pass would be just out of reach of an open Aiden Kennon. On fourth down Houston passes to Karnes who comes up short from getting the 1st down. The Bruins took over on the suddenly now defensive chess match waiting for the for either team to break the ice. Brady Mackey would get a pass breakup on the first play of the drive. Two plays later on a screen play, Busby would find Kenny Jordan, Braden Skaggs and Evan Williams stopped what was the first big play for the Bruins in the 2nd half. Stops from Josh Allen, Mackey, and Brady Pettigrew would have the Bruins settle for a Field Goal. 28-21. Greenwood would get back to work. Runs from Glover and passes from Houston to Karnes and Kennon setup a long pass to L.J. Robins for the T.D. Steinfeldt kick was good score 28-28 8:20 in the 4th.
The Bruins would drive down the field facing 4th down a critical pass interference call set up another Kenny Jordan TD the extra point would be blocked 34-28. A pass from Houston popped in and out of the hands of L.J. Robins into the hands of a Pulaski defender. Two plays later Busby would find the end zone and Pulaski would get their first two point conversion of the game. 42-28.
Greenwood would get a deep kick from Pulaski Academy, with Houston finding L.J. Robins open behind the Bruin secondary. Kick was good 35-42. On the first play of the drive Brady Pettigrew would come through and force a fumble that would be recovered by Kel Busby. Busby would complete one pass on the drive then punt the ball away putting Greenwood deep in their own territory, giving the ‘Dogs one drive to tie or win the game. A high pass intended for Aiden Kennon would fall incomplete. A pass to Karnes is complete but still short of the first down. An incomplete pass on the next play set up 4th down. Houston would go over the top to L.J. Robins and the Pulaski defender broke up the pass sealing the game for the Bruins. They would take a knee to run out the final minute.
“Greenwood kids are special, they don’t give up. I am proud to be their football coach, I am lucky to be their football coach. We [have] an outstanding group of young men in there that make us proud every single day.” Head Coach Chris Young said after the tough loss. “We got beat by a great football team tonight. You got to take your hat’s off to Pulaski Academy. Those guys are very talented, they’re good at what they do.”
Regarding the Seniors class “That’s small group for us. We talked to them last night, there’s a lot of local teams that we play around. That these guys actually played a full season more than the Seniors at those schools did, because they played 4 weeks in the Playoffs for 3 years.” Coach Young went on to say, “We had a young football team, but we had great leadership from those eleven. And we have some great football players in those eleven guys. Although we got a lot of guys coming back next year, we lost a lot of really good football players.”
Author’s Note: Over the past 5 seasons I have followed this team in different capacities. Doing photos for the Greenwood Dog Pound, Sideline Highlight video, and writing for this excellent newspaper. We take for granted that Greenwood goes to State every year no matter the sport. But underneath these are still kids that have a passion for the game. This was the first Senior class that I became close to due to how much I was able to be around. Covid almost took away their Sophomore year, but they fought through and played for a Championship and won. The next year was full of adversity and injuries and still made it back to the Championship and took a loss to El Dorado. This year had it’s highs and lows but still ended in the same stadium. I cannot thank these Seniors like Tanner McKusker, Evan Williams, Hayden Webb, and Logan Taylor enough for upholding the Tradition at Greenwood. Adding yet another trophy to the cases at H.B. Stewart and a seasons worth of memories.
My son who has been a part of this team alongside me has become friends with the Upperclassmen in this time. He hugged the Seniors as they walked off the field, embraced his classmate and long time teammate Kane Archer. He then stood by himself watching Pulaski celebrate their 11th Championship. Folks will say it is just a game. For some it is a way of life. A dream since he was 3 years old watching Current Co-Offensive Coordinator Stephen Hogan throw the ball all over the field at Smith-Robinson Stadium. I asked Coach Young as we walked away from the Post-Game press conference “When do you start preparing for the next one, tomorrow?” He chuckled a little bit and said “We will take a little time off.” For some preparation starts today.
