By I.C. Murrell
COMMERCIAL SPORTS EDITOR
WHITE HALL — What Tim Cook accomplished a week ago for White Hall — one defensive and four offensive touchdowns — was astounding.
That was at home against Hot Springs Lakeside. On Wednesday, the senior running back and linebacker said he and the Bulldogs feel a little more pressure to deliver in the 5A state semifinal at Batesville, knowing White Hall’s first championship appearance since 1987 is at stake.
“There’s a little bit of pressure, but in the playoffs, there’s pressure every game,” wide receiver/defensive lineman Jeremy Sprinkle said.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The Bulldogs (9-3) have already made history this season by reaching the semifinals for the first time since 1991. Their ability to score plenty of points and make big gains early and often has been a key ingredient in their nine-game winning streak.
As simple an ingredient as that seems, the trick for the 5A-Southeast Conference champions is keeping the momentum going against the 5A-East champ Pioneers (10-2).
“We’ve got to be able to run the football against them,” White Hall coach Mike Vaughn said. “We’re not going to be able to control every down against them. We don’t have to rush for 1,000 yards. We have to establish a running game where they can’t just line up and cover the pass.”
White Hall accounted for 203 of its 393 total yards against Lakeside on the ground in last Friday’s 38-21 victory. Cook ran 21 times for 118 yards, taking 15 of those carries in the second half.
“I’m sure Batesville’s going to focus on him,” Vaughn said. “He knows it and I know it. When we line up in our jumbo package, he’s going to be emphasis of everything, and someone else will have to pick up the load.”
The Bulldogs have had plenty of offensive weapons to pick up the load, including quarterback Nathan Lee and wide receivers Joseph Stewart and Sprinkle, to name a few. Lee will have to be well-protected against a Pioneers’ defense that sacked Greenbrier’s Chase Roberts eight times in a 16-6 victory last Friday.
One thing that doesn’t fool the Bulldogs by that score is the Pioneers’ offensive ability. “They’re going to put up points and we like to put up points, too,” Sprinkle said.
Vaughn said the Pioneers will be different in that the Bulldogs’ defense will have to shut down more than one all-purpose threat, as they did Blytheville’s Langston Jenkins and Lakeside’s Ajalen Holley. Jordan Childress is Batesville’s all-time rushing leader and is coming off a 155-yard game against Greenbrier, a game in which cousin Emprea Childress ran for 86 yards.
“They’re really good on the offensive line, and they have two really good running backs,” Vaughn said. “Defensively, their quickness (is impressive). They give you multiple looks. They catch you in all directions. They can run. They’re not big, but they can run.”
And White Hall has proven it can slow down the run, holding Lakeside to 39 rushing yards in the second half after allowing the Rams 100 in the first half.
“It’s been really important, because teams like to scheme around players and stuff,” Sprinkle said. “It makes them run to the other side, and players on the other side do well.”
Cook thinks the Bulldogs earned respect after eliminating a team that beat them 26-3 in the season opener. But the senior isn’t taking White Hall’s long-awaited return to the semifinals lightly at all.
“I take it to heart greatly because it’s my senior year,” he said. “I’ve never been this far. I’ve been to the playoffs for the past three years, and this is the farthese I’ve made it. I plan on gong farther than that.”