GREENWOOD (KFSM) - Fans are used to seeing offenses light up the scoreboard at Smith-Robinson Stadium in Greenwood but this year, that's been just one side of the scoreboard.
Bulldogs coach Rick Jones has always been known for having a high-powered offense but it's the other side of the ball that's impressed during the most crucial part of the season.
"It's everybody doing their best job to their ability," senior defensive lineman Joshua Maze said. "It's the d-line winning the battle. It's the secondary winning the battle with the receivers. Everybody just doing their best."
"Preparation. The perfect preparation we do every week. The attention to detail that we have," senior defensive end Morgan Hanna added.
During the Jones era with the Bulldogs, Greenwood has done nearly all you can do at the high school level. That includes winning seven state championships but one thing they had not done was post back-to-back shutouts. Until their past two contests.
Greenwood shut out Lake Hamilton 40-0 in the regular season finale and then blanked Searcy 35-0 in the quarterfinals of the 6A playoffs. The feat had last been accomplished in 2002 for the Bulldogs.
"I say it all the time, I just don't say it enough but our defensive coaches just give our guys a great plan," Jones said. "They work hard at it. They spend Saturday and Sunday up here until dark-30 just working on getting the best plan possible for our personnel."
The Greenwood defense hasn't just shown up late in the year, though. Opponents have been held to 14 points or less in seven of their last nine games.
"I think everyday we just go out and work hard and we treat every week like it's our last week because it could possibly be," Maze said.
"We play tough and we're undersized so we have to play a little bit harder than everybody else," senior defensive end Austin Archer said. "So we get out there and just play our game."
Greenwood hosts Sylvan Hills in the semifinals on Friday.