Pulaski County football preview: Little Rock Hall

Little Rock Hall football coach Kipchoge VanHoose.
Little Rock Hall football coach Kipchoge VanHoose.

The first in a series profiling Pulaski County high school football teams.

Kipchoge VanHoose has been at Little Rock Hall for less than a month, but that hasn't stopped him from finding some good in a difficult situation.

VanHoose was hired as the Warriors new head coach on July 20 after Tim Scarborough's resignation in June. Scarborough spent four seasons at the struggling football program that was once a statewide power.

Warriors at a glance

COACH Kipchoge VanHoose

CONFERENCE 6A-East

2016 RECORD 2-8, 0-7

KEY RETURNERS WR/LB Braylon Coulter (Jr., 5-11, 190), WR/S Chaidez Sanders (Sr., 5-11, 165), WR/DB Dante Green (Jr., 5-9, 155), WR/DB Malik Goggins (Sr., 5-10, 175), OL/DL JaRodne Cegers (Sr., 5-9, 283)

2017 SCHEDULE

DATE;OPPONENT

Sept. 1;at LR Fair

Sept. 8;Mills

Sept. 15;LR McClellan

Sept. 22;at Pine Bluff*

Sept. 29;Marion*

Oct. 6;at West Memphis*

Oct. 13;Jacksonville*

Oct. 20;Mountain Home*

Oct. 27;at Jonesboro*

Nov. 2;at Searcy (Thu.)*

*6A-East game

Hall has won seven state championships, the last one coming in 1982, but is going through a period of futility. The Warriors, who haven't had a winning season since 1993 and last won a playoff game in 1994, have gone 23-136-1 since 2001. During a four-year stretch between 2012-2015, Hall went 0-39-1, with 38 of those losses coming by 10 or more points.

Scarborough led the Warriors to victories in their first two games last season against Little Rock Fair and Mills, but they lost their final eight games by an average of 38 points.

To compound matters, Hall hasn't beaten a team that's finished with a winning record since 1996.

VanHoose isn't dwelling on the Warriors' woes. Instead, he's pointing toward the future, particularly this season.

"It's all about progression right now," VanHoose said. "I really can't speak much on the past problems and situations. It really wouldn't be fair to do so because I wasn't around during those times. But right now, we're moving forward in the right direction, and we're starting to get into the groove of things.

"We've had some pretty good practices, with the occasional bumps and bruises. But the guys are working hard."

VanHoose, who is Hall's 10th coach in the past 21 years, is no stranger to the central Arkansas area. He went to Watson Chapel in high school and later graduated from the University of Central Arkansas. He'd previously coached the junior varsity team at Bethel in Hampton, Va., before accepting the job at Hall, but the 44-year-old also has coached semiprofessionally with the Kansas City Kaos of the North American Football League.

VanHoose knows he has his work cut out for him with the Warriors, who've been battling low participation numbers for years while trying to compete in the state's larger classes.

"Right now, we've got about 26 or 27 kids, but they're working really hard," he said. "We're expecting to see a few more come in once the school year starts. A lot of kids have been out of town, and things like that.

"But we've got about 25 core guys right now. Hopefully we'll get 15 or 16 freshmen come in and about 10 upperclassmen. So things are looking up."

There's nowhere to go but up for the Warriors, who were outscored 389-114 during their 2-8 season in 2016. Hall gave up at least 32 points in all seven of its 6A-East Conference games, including a season-high 52 in a 46-point loss to Pine Bluff.

The Warriors don't have many starters back this season, but VanHoose has three that he'll be counting on heavily to provide leadership on and off the field.

"Chaidez Sanders, Dante Green and Braylon Coulter ... those guys want to win badly," VanHoose said. "They've stood out and want to be involved in this process. As a team, we want to be able to compete every time we step out on that field, and those three want to step up and serve as leaders.

"As a coach, you love to see that out of your players."

Sanders, a 5-11, 165-pound senior; Green, a 5-9, 155-pound junior; and Coulter, a 5-11, 190-pound junior have been working at wide receiver. All three will play on the defensive side of the ball as well, especially Coulter, who registered 62 tackles up front as a sophomore. He's expected to play at linebacker this year while Sanders and Green will both be in the secondary.

VanHoose has high expectations for the Warriors, but he isn't sure how that'll translate in terms of wins and losses. Besides, he isn't interested in putting a number on success in 2017.

"As a group, we just want to get better and better," he said. "Every time we play, we want to be better than we were the game before. We never want to plateau.

"We're not going to put a ceiling on what we can do, but we are certain that we want to play hard and be competitive regardless of the outcome."

Sports on 08/16/2017

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