Bolding Bowl offers little bit of everything

Brothers Bobby and Brad Bolding will be on opposite sidelines tonight with Pine Bluff and North Little Rock at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

If the coaches had their way, their teams wouldn't play each other.

Tonight’s game

PINE BLUFF AT NORTH LITTLE ROCK

WHEN 7 p.m.

WHERE War Memorial Stadium, Little Rock

RECORDS Pine Bluff 1-1, North Little Rock 1-1

COACHES Pine Bluff: Bobby Bolding; North Little Rock: Brad Bolding

"We've got the easy part of it," said Brad Bolding, North Little Rock's head coach. "We don't have to put our pads on and line up. We've been there and done it so many times.

"We honestly don't enjoy playing each other. We root for each other every week except this week. I think it's great for the kids because the media builds it up to be a Bolding Bowl or whatever you call it. It makes us a little uncomfortable at times."

Bobby Bolding, Pine Bluff's coach, has tried to treat tonight's game like any other game.

"It's like coaching against Mike Falleur or Rick Jones," said Bolding, referencing the head coaches at Fort Smith Northside and Greenwood. "It's not any different."

Tonight's game shouldn't need any extra build-up.

North Little Rock is ranked No. 5 and Pine Bluff is No. 7 in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's rankings going into their matchup at War Memorial Stadium, which is serving as the temporary home for North Little Rock while construction of a new on-campus football stadium is being completed.

North Little Rock (1-1) blew a five-point lead in the fourth quarter of a 43-33 loss at Fayetteville on Friday. The Charging Wildcats led 33-28 with 8:25 left, but the Bulldogs took advantage of a strong rushing attack that piled up 255 yards to pull out the victory.

Turnovers were a key reason North Little Rock lost its first regular-season game since Sept. 27, 2013, at Cabot. The Charging Wildcats fumbled three times.

"When you make mistakes against a team like that, you won't come out ahead," Brad Bolding said. "We had a good third quarter, but the fourth quarter we weren't there. You have to give credit to Fayetteville. They have a good football team. They made less mistakes than us."

Brad Bolding said his players went through a five and a half hour film session Sunday to go over their mistakes. He called it the longest film session of his coaching career.

Tonight's game also will feature several of the state's top playmakers. The Charging Wildcats are led by senior receiver K.J. Hill, who has orally committed to Arkansas. Quarterback Ladarius Skelton leads the Zebras' talented junior class.

"We match up well," Brad Bolding said. "It's a great finish for the nonconference season. They've got guys who can make plays all over the field. It will be a great matchup."

Bobby Bolding said Pine Bluff made several changes defensively, including moving linebacker Rod Bailey to defensive end and going to rotations on the defensive line.

After committing six turnovers in a 26-15 loss at Fort Smith Northside in the opening week, the Zebras rebounded to beat crosstown rival Watson Chapel 45-12 on Friday with Skelton accounting for two touchdowns.

"We eliminated mistakes," Bobby Bolding said.

Tonight marks the fifth meeting between the Bolding brothers, who have split their previous four meetings. Bobby won the first two meetings, leading Stuttgart to a 49-12 victory over Brad Bolding's Mayflower team. The Boldings moved to Pine Bluff and North Little Rock in 2007. Pine Bluff shut out North Little Rock 28-0 in a 7A-Central game.

Pine Bluff moved down to Class 6A in 2008, but the schools agreed to play each other in 2012 and 2013. North Little Rock has won the past two meetings, 47-10 in 2012 in North Little Rock and 35-14 last season in Pine Bluff.

Brad and Bobby Bolding -- who is also Pine Bluff's athletic director -- have tried to schedule other nonconference teams. But with the proximity of the two schools and the schools' success in recent years, they'll at least play each other this year and next season.

"If we can find a good alternative, then we would look to changing that game," Brad Bolding said. "We don't want it to be about us as much as people want it to be. It's about how our kids play and how well they're coached going into the game."

Sports on 09/18/2014

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