LITTLE ROCK — The White Hall Bulldogs can thank their defense and a pair of backup running backs for their first victory of the season, a 28-13 thriller Friday night at Sylvan Hills.
White Hall halfback A.J. Richardson suffered a foot injury after just three carries in the first quarter. Richardson ran for 250 yards last week, but junior Nathan Lee made sure the Bulldogs didn’t miss a beat.
Lee had 26 carries for 185 yards and 3 touchdowns to pick up the slack while carrying the load for White Hall(1-3, 1-0 5A-Southeast). Lee got stronger with each of his first four carries after entering the game, going for 9, 11, 22, and finally a 27-yard touchdown on the Bulldogs’ opening drive.
“We’re playing a lot of juniors and sophomores and he’s one of those good underclassmen,” White Hall Coach Mike Vaughn said. “We finally played hard for four quarters tonight.”
White Hall seemed to take control of the game early in the third quarter. After receiving the second half kickoff, Leecarried six times for 50 yards and scored a touchdown to give White Hall a 21-7 lead.
The Bulldogs recovered an onside kick and were on their way to putting the game away when a fumbled exchange led to Sylvan Hills’ Nate Clark scooping up the loose ball and racing 44 yards for a touchdown. The extra point was low, leaving the score at 21-13.
Sylvan Hills had its chance midway through the fourth quarter with a third-and-3 situation at the White Hall 5. A loss of two yards on a slow developing play to the outside led to White Hall stopping the Bears on fourth down.
WATSON CHAPEL 49, CROSSETT 0
PINE BLUFF - Aaron Lagrone took ascreen pass 77 yards for one touchdown and ran 9 yards for another to lead Watson Chapel (1-3, 1-0 5A-Southeast) to a victory in its conference opener.
Chris Jones added a 1-yard run for the Wildcats and Kyle Coleman, who threw the screen pass to Lagrone, added a 40-yard touchdown pass to Sam Bass.
Crossett dropped to 0-4 and 0-1 in the 5A-Southeast.
MILLS 36, MONTICELLO 22
MONTICELLO - Senior quarterback Chris Hampton ran for three touchdowns, including the go-ahead score late in the third quarter, to lift Mills past defending Class 5A state champion Monticello.
Mills (4-0, 1-0 5A-Southeast) scored 22 points in the second half to overcome a 22-14 halftime deficit.
Senior fullback Michael Mayon capped an eight-minute drive to open the second half with a short scoring run to pull the Comets within 22-20.
Sports, Pages 26 on 09/25/2010