GREENWOOD (KFSM) - Greenwood football is 6-1 on the year, but it’s that one that stands out, and not in a way you may think.
"I think that’s the best thing that happened to us all season."
That’s one way to describe your first regular season loss since 2014, but that's how head coach Rick Jones wants his team to think.
"You have to be a spin doctor, and if you go undefeated that’s a great thing, and if yo have to come back from devastating losses that’s part of it to that’s part of what we do."
Senior running back Marc Jones is buying in.
"It’s like we had such a high last year, winning the sate championship ring, and then we come and have that it’s like a little reality check, we come and see we’re not where we thought we were, so it helps us find points where we can build upon and hopefully get to that end goal."
Since losing to Fort Smith Northside game one, the Bulldogs are 6-0, and determined to use that lose to fuel their season, not let it define them.
"I think it gives you a sense of what it’s like, when you role through it you don’t really know what tough times are," says Jones.
'We know, we felt the loss, and we’re not going to experience that ever again," says senior Joshua Maze.
For a team coming off an undefeated season and a state championship, it was a rare chance to look at their flaws, says Jones.
"You get beat fairly and squarely and you have to come home and examine yourself and examine your effort and examine your preparation, it’s a good wake up call for us."
"Since last year we never experienced anything, no one ever score 17 points on us, and coming through with a loss it just made us work harder," says Maze.
It's a scary thought for the rest of the 6A, because apparently what didn’t kill the Bulldogs, just made them stronger.