White Hall's Bulldog Stadium hosted a session of friendly competition between four southeast Arkansas high schools Wednesday.
Dumas, Rison and Hamburg joined the Bulldogs for a 7-on-7 football camp. The teams played a round-robin schedule and were more focused on getting quality practice than keeping score.
Interim White Hall football Coach Jason Mitchell said the event went well.
"Everybody got a lot of competition, a lot of reps in," Mitchell said. "Good, friendly sportsmanship, so everything went well. Got a lot of things to work on, but that's why we're out here doing it."
This was White Hall's first varsity camp since head coach Ryan Mallett died last month, though the junior high team had a camp Tuesday. Mitchell was named interim coach July 10 and will lead the Bulldogs through the coming season. White Hall canceled its plans for last week to focus on adjusting to the coaching change.
Mitchell said it is good to get the players back on the field.
"These kids are in their environment again," Mitchell said. "It's good to come out here and watch them do what they love to do, so that's the biggest thing."
The camp provided a bit of a reunion for some of the visiting head coaches. Dumas' Antonio Lovelady and Hamburg's Blake Johnson coached alongside Mitchell on the White Hall staff when Bobby Bolding, Mallett's predecessor, was the Bulldogs' head coach. Lovelady was offensive coordinator, and Johnson was defensive coordinator.
Mitchell, who took over as offensive coordinator before being named interim head coach, called Lovelady and Johnson two of his best friends.
Lovelady said the group of former Bulldog assistants took a picture together before the camp began.
"It's always good to get back together," Lovelady said. "We're all competitive. We all know what everybody's going to do, and we're all here for the same purpose: to get better."
White Hall faced Hamburg to start the camp, then took on Dumas before finishing up against Rison. Dumas and Hamburg faced off on the other end of the field during the final round in the lone conference matchup of the day.
White Hall will not face any of the other three teams this season, but Dumas will face both Rison and Hamburg.
Lovelady said the camp went well for Dumas.
That the team was able to compete, and to "get a little adversity with this heat, of course, in July, is always a good thing," Lovelady said. "Made them work out this morning at 6 a.m. and get on the bus and come to White Hall and compete, and we competed well, I feel."
Mitchell and Lovelady said this was probably their respective teams' final camps of the summer. Both programs will focus on strength and conditioning until football practice begins July 31.
The 2023 football season begins Aug. 25. White Hall will open against Sheridan, while Dumas and Rison will go head-to-head. Hamburg opens at Ashdown.
White Hall sophomore Logan Chapmon scores a touchdown during a 7-on-7 camp Wednesday at Bulldog Stadium. (Pine Bluff Commercial/Tanner Spearman)