White Hall Bolding Used to Title Matches


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War Memorial Stadium is nothing new for the White Hall Bulldogs.

They played there on September 10, when Brad Bolding and host Little Rock Parkview outscored brother Bobby’s Bulldogs 13-10.

Playing at the War Memorial for a championship will be a whole different story at White Hall – a 34-year history – but nothing new for Bobby Bolding, who is 3-5 in the state final.

“We have to understand that there is going to be a big crowd, but what happens between the white lines is what matters, not the rest,” he said.

Only one other Bulldogs team has played at the top of Arkansas high school football. It was 1987, and Tom Ed Gooden’s Bulldogs lost to Arkadelphia, 21-6.

White Hall will be the third team Bolding, 55, to coach in a state final. Just as a reminder to his players, he wore two of his three championship rings around the Bulldogs new flag earlier this week.

“I never wear them,” Bolding said on Tuesday, sporting one of his two Pine Bluff rings (2014-15) along with a gray “Bulldog Athletics” shirt. “I was wearing my Stuttgart ring [on Monday] and I wore it today. I think our players know what they are playing for. I want them to see a reminder every day. “

Bolding first won a championship in the old AAAA class with Stuttgart in 2002, a year after coming terribly close on his debut in the title match.

“What’s easier is the logistics of it all,” he said. “There are a lot of organizational and logistical things that come into play in a state championship game. I have enough experience in this area. I know how to handle it and I have done it all. [Tuesday], around noon, so that I could concentrate on the football. That’s what I did this weekend. “

Still, Bolding and the Bulldogs (11-2) are quite familiar with Pulaski Academy (12-1), a team that has won nine state titles since Bolding was first coached in the final.

PA inflicted a 63-28 loss on White Hall on October 8, ultimately making the difference by winning the 5A-Central Conference Championship. White Hall was the finalist for the conference.

“They’re going to do what they do,” Bolding said. “They haven’t changed Coach [Kevin] Kelley to Coach [Anthony] Lucas. They are going to put a lot of pressure defensively. They will pass the ball to 6 [Joe Himon] and throw the ball on the field, you screen and you play tricks. We will do what we do. I think we’re better on the offensive line than the first time we faced them. We’ll see what happens from there. “

Physical play on the offensive line, however, is expected in 5A-Central, Bulldogs assistant head coach Jason Mitchell said.

“Week after week, you’re going to be playing physical lines, up and down,” Mitchell said. “We love this physical brand of football. [Pulaski Academy is] very physical, but it’s not something we don’t see. “

To help with preparation, Bolding keeps the training week as normal as possible. He even brought the parents of the players together inside the field after last Friday’s semi-final victory over Little Rock Christian Academy to emphasize the importance of not doing anything grand.

“I know they’re going to play the best they can on Friday,” Bolding said. “We don’t have to do state championship motivational stuff. It’s about getting them ready, getting them there and keeping them healthy, fresh and ready to play.”

There’s a little problem with the Bulldogs’ workweek: They’ll be training at the War Memorial today. Bolding said it will give players the full Championship week experience.

He doesn’t expect today’s practice to be any different from other Thursday practice. He just wants his assistant coaches to keep the players free, assuming mistakes will be made in the game.

Mitchell enjoys the normalcy that an important week like this can otherwise bring.

“The kids are convinced and they love it,” he said. “It’s just another week of football for them.”

White Hall High School coach Bobby Bolding sports a state championship ring from his days at Pine Bluff High School in his office on Tuesday, November 30, 2021. Bolding said he used the ring to show off his White Hall players the price they were looking for. continuing in Friday’s 5A State Championship game against Pulaski Academy. (Pine Bluff Commercial / IC Murrell)

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