Greenwood High will need to play better to win Region 3-4A for a fourth straight year, but the Bulldogs did enough Friday to clear the first of four hurdles in their path.
Greenwood improved to 3-3 overall, 1-0 in the league standings with a 39-14 homecoming victory over winless Yazoo City at Bulldog Stadium.
“It was a sloppy win. I am not at all satisfied,” GHS head coach Clinton Gatewood said. “We’ve got to execute better on both sides of the ball and cut out these unnecessary penalties.
“We’ve got to get back to work Sunday and get better and ready for Gentry.”
Raymond defeated Gentry 28-26 Friday to also move to 1-0 in the Region 3-4A race, while Cleveland had an open date.
Greenwood senior running back Rico Owens had his way with the Indian defense in the first half. He ran for nearly 100 yards in the first half before suffering a mild knee injury.
He had one carry in the second half to finish with 104 yards and two touchdowns on nine rushes. Gatewood said his star player could’ve played more in the second half if the Bulldogs had needed him.
The Bulldog defense opened the scoring with a safety when junior lineman Jalen Bedell made a tackle in the end zone for a safety. The junior finished with a team-high 12 tackles, including a sack.
Owens had touchdown runs of 2 and 10 yards to help GHS move out to a 15-0 lead. Then the Dog defense scored again when cornerback Thomas Smith picked off a pass, made two Indians miss him as he found the end zone from 22 yards out.
Yazoo City (0-7, 0-1), which came in averaging just nine points a contest, got on the board right before the half to make it 21-6 at the break.
Sophomore defensive end-turned- quarterback Jaylen Stanley, starting in the place of the injured Tranleson Tribblett, got the Bulldog offense rolling in the third quarter. He had a 3-yard scoring run and 65-yard TD pass to Kobe Chambers.
Stanley completed both of his passes for 96 yards, with both going to Chambers.
Senior Deonta Watkins, a senior transfer from Amanda Elzy, closed out the scoring for GHS with a 5-yard TD plunge.
Sophomore running back Walter Ivory added 33 rushing yards for Greenwood on five attempts.
“We did do some good things out there. It was good to get everybody in the game and to see our backs make some good runs,” Gatewood said. “But we have to improve our discipline and execution going forward.”
