Kane Archer’s last memory of his friend Isaiah Arrington will be of his tireless work ethic and passion for football – and his smile. The speedy senior receiver sent his junior blue-chip quarterback teammate some video clips of Tuesday’s practice.
“He wanted me to look at [the clips] and see how he could run the routes better,” Archer, a four-star recruit, said in a phone interview Wednesday night. “That was just him, he was always trying to get better. You never saw that dude without a smile. He was always positive and ready to practice even if he had a strained hamstring or rolled ankle.”
Arrington, who had a scholarship offer from FCS program Southeast Missouri State, died in a house fire in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Also perishing in the fire were Arrington’s mother Wendy Medrano, 46, and his sister Vivian Medrano, who was set to turn six soon.
Archer said Greenwood High head coach Chris Young called his dad, Adam, shortly after the incident occurred, and the elder Archer elected to tell Kane when he woke up later for film study.
“He came in at 6:25 (a.m.) and sat next to me on my bed,” Kane Archer said. “I knew something was wrong with how slow he was talking. He told me there was an accident, a fire, and who was involved and that they didn’t make it out.”
Kane Archer got choked up recalling that moment.
“Obviously, it’s hard,” he said. “No one expects a day like this. He walked into the film yesterday smiling, and today he is gone. None of us expected this, it is heartbreaking.
“Me and [senior receiver Grant Karnes] were talking this morning, and we said that you see stuff like this on the news, but you don’t think it will ever happen to you. Sometimes you take life for granted. I have known him since I was eight, so this is tough. It’s just heartbreaking. We have all just been leaning on each other and crying. We have a bond as a team, and all feel the pain.”
A Memorable Season in the Making
This fall has been special even for a tradition-rich football town such as Greenwood. The town with a population of 10,000 that sits 18 miles south of Fort Smith is used to winning football games. The Bulldogs have notched 11 state titles since 2000. Winning is a way of life in Greenwood.
But this year, the Bulldog faithful may be witnessing the best Greenwood team of all-time. Even before the season began, some were lobbying for Greenwood, a 6A program, to be ranked No. 1 overall in the state. The Bulldogs have lived up to the hype scoring more than 50 points in six of their eight games. Their only close game was a 28-17 triumph over Shiloh Christian in the 6A-West Conference opener. The Bulldogs took an early 21-7 lead, but had to hang on when Kane Archer was knocked out of the game with a head injury in the second quarter. The Bulldogs own a 21-game winning streak, the longest streak in Arkansas, and have won 67 consecutive home games at electric Smith-Robinson Stadium.
Tuesday, the historic season in the football-rabid town had everyone on Cloud 9 as the regular season winds down. That excitement came crashing down early Wednesday as word spread quickly.
“Football is secondary in this situation,” Adam Archer said. “We all love this family. We have grown up with Isaiah and known him since second grade. We are all just heartbroken losing Wendy, Isaiah and Vivian. My ex-wife (Deborah Archer) was good friends with Wendy, and we’ve known Vivian since she was a baby. She was a good kid, and Isaiah was a good kid. They were just good kids. It’s one thing to lose an adult, but when you’re a parent it hits home when there’s kids involved. You want to hold your own kids a little tighter today. I texted them all and told them I loved them all. We talked in depth about it.”
Remembering Arrington as a Special Friend, Teammate
Adam Archer’s oldest son Cash, a senior star linebacker and three-star recruit, was in the same class with Arrington. He was the first Archer to play football with him, and Kane later joined them as he played up in youth football.
“When they were 11 or 12, they were all staying over at our house and got the boxing gloves out, and Isaiah was so quick,” Adam Archer said. “I had to tell them not to get too rough, but they were just having fun. He was at our house 15 or more times and traveled with us to camps. We talked a lot about football and getting stronger. He was a big part of our family. He called me ‘Papa Arch.’ I cried 10 times today.”
Adam Archer said he normally attends practice on Tuesdays. This week, the last player he spoke with was Arrington.
“I always tell people I love them when I say good-bye on the phone, and so as we were leaving I said, ‘Love ya, Isaiah. He said, ‘Love ya, Papa Arch,’” Adam Archer said. “He had that big smile on his face, and that’s how I will remember him.”
Arrington was undersized at 5-foot-11, 170 pounds, but stood out with 4.4 speed and sure hands. The 18-year-old had more than 700 yards receiving after eight games and would have most likely joined Karnes and Champ Davis in eclipsing the 1,000-yard receiving mark had he finished the season.
The scholarship offer from Southeast Missouri State came in the spring, but Arrington hoped to land at Missouri State and play for Bears offensive coordinator Nick Petrino with a possibility of transferring and playing for Nick’s dad, Bobby Petrino – the offensive coordinator at Arkansas.
Greenwood Playing Friday’s Scheduled Game
Kane Archer said the senior members of the team decided to play this week’s conference game at neighboring Fort Smith Southside Friday night. He added that Greenwood head coach Chris Young called a meeting with the Bulldogs seniors and gave them the option of playing. His brother told him the group all agreed that playing was the right decision.
“We know if he was in our shoes, he’d want us to play,” Kane Archer said while trying to maintain his composure. “He’d want us to go out there and kick [Southside’s] ass. So, we are going to play for him. Are we going to win? I don’t care. All I know is we are going to go out there and play for him.”
That attitude isn’t surprising. A blue-collar resiliency is what has made the Greenwood football program, other athletics programs such as girls basketball and softball, great over the years.
There is something in the fabric of the community that pushes its kids to persist toward excellence. I still vividly remember the 2010 Class 5A state championship football game in which legendary former Bulldogs coach Rick Jones’ squad scored 15 points in the final three minutes of regulation to shock a Camden Fairview squad, then led by head coach Buck James. Cardinals players had begun to celebrate thinking the win was in the bag. When the dust cleared, Camden Fairview had lost 36-35.
James, who later led Bryant to five straight Class 7A state championships, was speechless as reporters huddled around him waiting for a comment on the stunning turn of events. He was visibly shaken.
A Greenwood player told me following the game that he and his team never doubted they’d pull out the win. That seems a likely thing for a teenager to say following an improbable win, but I got the feeling this wasn’t just lip service. That three minutes was years in the making in the weight room and summer practices and the prodding from Jones, the master motivator and current staff member at Missouri.
Greenwood had also pulled off last-second wins against Wynne (25-24) in the 2005 Class 5A semifinals and a memorable 56-55 last-second, shootout win over Pulaski Academy in the 2006 Class 5A title game. There’s a mystique surrounding the program, and that will be at work the next few weeks with the Bulldogs as they try to win for their fallen teammate.
Hogs fans saw the resiliency of the town up close in three stars who called Greenwood home. Standout QB Tyler Wilson is one of several standout signal callers the Greenwood program has produced, and he starred for Arkansas while showing a knack for standing tall in the pocket even when taking shots in the face.
Drew Morgan initially committed to Arkansas State, but when new coach Bret Bielema took over, he re-evaluated the recruiting and offered the crafty route runner a scholarship, and he became one of the better receivers in school history. His brother Grant, a linebacker, walked on for the Hogs and eventually became a key part of the Razorbacks’ defense, playing his senior year with a serious arm injury. He was a finalist for the Burlsworth Trophy in 2020 and won the award given to the top former walk-on the following season. Of course, the award was named after former Razorback All-American offensive lineman Brandon Burlsworth who died in an auto accident shortly after being drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in 1999.
There are special people and a special culture in Greenwood. What happened Tuesday night is a gut punch that was felt statewide. You only had to look at other school districts’ social media pages to see the tragedy affected more than just the Greenwood residents, but two things will happen now.
The entire community will rally around the family members left behind to provide them both emotional and financial support, and part of the healing process will involve football. The scene will be emotional Friday night at Southside and again next week when the program honors its seniors in a regular-season finale against Mountain Home. The Bulldogs will persevere, play and win because that is the ‘Greenwood Way.’ That’s the way Arrington lived his life, expecting his teammates to do the same.
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