Clinton Gatewood told anyone who would listen that Greenwood would surprise folks this season after losing a large, talented senior class.
A lot of Gatewood’s confidence might have fallen on deaf ears, but you can bet the Bulldogs have everyone’s attention in Region 3-4A with two games left to play.
Greenwood (6-2), winner of five straight, can wrap up second place in the region with a win Friday night at home against Gentry and keeps its hopes alive for a third division title in Gatewood’s five seasons at the helm of the program.
The Bulldogs have an open date next week before closing out the regular season at home Oct. 31 against an undefeated Cleveland team that was the preseason consensus pick to win Region 3.
“It’s a big game because a win puts us at home in the first round of the playoffs and puts us in position to defend our region title,” Gatewood said. “We’ve caught the attention of some folks, but we still haven’t earned the respect around the state that we think we deserve.”
Gentry comes in at 3-4 overall, 1-1 in region action after last week’s 48-14 rout of Amanda Elzy.
The Rams boast one of the most explosive players in the Mississippi Delta in 5-foot-9, 185-pound senior Ladarious Galloway. The running back has 98 carries for 1,222 yards, an average of 174 yards per game, and has accounted for 16 of his team’s 19 rushing touchdowns.
Galloway will also take some snaps at quarterback, where he has completed 6 of 12 attempts for 154 yards and two TDs.
The Bulldogs will counter with a defense that is only allowing 14 points a contest and a mere seven points a game against Region 3 foes. That unit is led by senior defensive end Bennie Higgins, sophomore defensive end Marquiss Spencer, junior linebackers Tarren Smith and Antwoine Williams Jr. and senior defensive backs Josh Thurman and Jordan Freeman.
“We took the biggest hit on defense from last year. We’ve grown so much on that side of the ball and have gotten better each week, and we know we will need another good effort,” Gatewood said. “The name of the game for us is stopping Galloway. We’ve got a lot of respect for him because he has great break-away speed, but we’ve always played him tough. And that’s what we will do again.”
Spencer leads GHS in tackles with 84, and Higgins has 78. Both players have an incredible 22 sacks each.
Williams 81 stops, while Smith has 78.
Offensively, the Bulldogs are led by senior quarterback Booker T. Chambers and junior running back JohnDerrick Smith.
Chambers has completed 88 of 151 passes for 1,385 yards with 15 touchdowns and two interceptions while rushing for 289 yards and a touchdown. His favorite targets are Tyler Glass (20-332, 4 TDs) and Danny Nevels (22-298, 2 TDs). Nevels is expected to miss Friday’s game with a high ankle sprain.
Smith leads the ground attack with 80 carries for 532 yards and seven touchdowns.
