When Bobby Bolding and his younger brother Brad met on Friday night in North Little Rock, it was not for some family reunion.
It was the third time the two brothers have met on the football field with Bobby winning the first two matchups, but Brad got his first victory with North Little Rock’s 47-10 drubbing of Pine Bluff, its first loss of the season.
Even though Brad’s Charging Wildcats handled Bobby’s Zebras for much of the game, Bobby still had kind words for his young sibling.
“I told him great game and that he did a great job,” he said.
The Boldings’ parents were in the stands, and while the game brings the family together, Bobby would rather not have to play against his brother, even though Bobby leads the series 2-1.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“I can’t stand it and I hate playing it,” he said. “They couldn’t find a third date and we couldn’t find a third date.”
Some of the Charging Wildcats were looking forward to the game, though, and wanted to get Brad his first win in the series, according to the coach.
“Obviously he has put a thumping on me a couple of times and it felt good to do that,” Brad said. “They are a very good football team and we really respect them.”
There was one play that may stick in Bobby’s mind come the holiday season. In the second half with a 35-3 lead, North Little Rock (2-1) was deep in Pine Bluff (2-1) territory on a fourth-and-1. Instead of kicking the field goal, Brad Bolding brought four-star recruit and Alabama commit Altee Tenpenny back in the game, who scored four touchdowns before halftime.
Tenpenny was able to get the first down and the Charging Wildcats later got a touchdown from Juan Day.
Brad said that could affect the type of present he receives at Christmas.
“I probably won’t be getting one,” he joked.
Starting in a new conference
Dollarway has played Newport in football before, usually in the state playoffs.
But the players of 2012 will be unfamiliar with each other when the two teams clash at Cardinal Stadium, marking the start of Dollarway’s first run in the 2-4A Conference after many years in the 8-4A. The unfamiliarity is one of the challenges Dollarway coach Cortez Lee said his team will face in a new conference.
“We’ve never competed against these players before,” Lee said. “We’ve never seen these players before other than on film.”
Dollarway last played Newport in the 2008 4A semifinals, winning 24-23 before finishing as state runner-up in Lee’s first season at the helm. The current seniors were eighth-graders then.
As the players get a feel for each other, Lee will get a feel for his new opponents.
“As a coach, you wonder what are some of (the other coach’s) tendencies,” he said. “I’m unfamiliar with how these coaches coach.”
Just satisfaction, not relief
White Hall coach Mike Vaughn said it was his team’s turn to beat Sheridan, and the Bulldogs lived up to the statement.
Now, White Hall goes into 5A-South Conference play with the relief of ending a two-year losing streak to the Yellowjackets. Or is it relief?
“Not a lot of relief, but a lot of satisfaction,” Vaughn said. “It’s a good feeling. Our seniors were looking forward to it. They had never beaten Sheridan.”
Nor have they gone into conference play unbeaten. White Hall is 2-0, a year after starting 0-3 before winning the 5A-Southeast Conference title.
“Last year after the third game, we had settled down and found our identity,” Vaughn said. “This year, now we’re starting conference, that (2-0) doesn’t mean a thing. Everyone starts over. Magnolia starts over, too.”