For the first time in more than a half-century, Watson Chapel and White Hall will not play each other in football next fall.
The head coaches of both schools confirmed to The Commercial this week the annual rivalry game between the Wildcats and Bulldogs will not be played in 2026 or 2027. This comes after the Arkansas Activities Association announced the new football alignments for the 2026-28 cycle, which will see Watson Chapel drop to Class 4A while White Hall remains in Class 5A.
Both teams will still play Pine Bluff next season. White Hall and Pine Bluff will remain conference opponents, as they have been since 2022, while Watson Chapel Coach Steven Heard said the Wildcats will play the Zebras on Sept. 4, 2026, in a non-conference game.
Heard said though his team will not play White Hall next year, he hopes to get the Bulldogs back on the schedule in the future.
“It’s a pretty good rivalry, a pretty good game for the fans,” Heard said. “If it’s your home game, you’re going to have a packed house. You’re going to make some revenue off it, and the revenue goes back into the program for the kids, so I think we will make it a reality.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
A preliminary look through historical records showed the game has been played every season since at least 1969, though incomplete records leave open the possibility the last season without a game between the two could date back further. The Bulldogs hold a 38-28-3 record against the Wildcats.
White Hall Coach Daryl Patton said the Bulldogs’ non-conference schedule for the next two seasons is already set. The Bulldogs will scrimmage against Monticello before playing Highway 270 Classic rival Sheridan, followed by games against Hamburg and Stuttgart.
Patton said the Bulldogs may schedule Watson Chapel at some point in the future but did not give any specifics.
The loss of this rivalry game, at least for now, will be just one of many changes to Jefferson County football schedules next year.
Watson Chapel will move to Conference 4A-8 next year alongside Stuttgart, Warren, Monticello, Star City, DeWitt, Hamburg and Crossett. The Wildcats were already playing in 4A-8 with Warren, Monticello, Star City, Hamburg and Crossett in all other major sports, while only the football team played in Class 5A.
Heard, a Helena-West Helena Central alumnus who faced many of these schools as a player, said he is excited to join 4A-8.
“It’s a very, very tough and talented, deep conference,” Heard said. “If you can have success in this conference, you know you can make a deep run in the playoffs. With my younger guys being as talented as they are, and they got a lot of experience last year, I think we can, as the new guys, maybe sneak up on a few people before they realize how good we could actually be.”
This past season, 4A-8 produced two of the four Class 4A semifinalists in Stuttgart and Warren. Four of the conference’s five playoff teams were eliminated by Elkins or Dardanelle, the two championship game participants. Dardanelle, of note, is moving up to 5A next year.
White Hall and Pine Bluff will remain in Class 5A, but they too will have a new conference. The Bulldogs and Zebras will leave the 5A-Central to join the 5A-South next season alongside Hot Springs, Hot Springs Lakeside, Camden Fairview, Magnolia, De Queen and Texarkana.
Patton said he is excited about the change.
“Most of these teams, we play in other sports,” Patton said. “I think we align real well with them. I’m excited about playing against some teams that I’ve never coached against before. That’ll be a first for me, so I think it’s a great move for the school, and we’re ready to get started and see what happens.”
Like Watson Chapel’s move to 4A-8, this move to the 5A-South comes with White Hall and Pine Bluff already playing in the 5A-South in the other major sports.
Lakeside, Hot Springs and Texarkana are in that league alongside the Bulldogs and Zebras outside of football, though the rest of the conference will be different. De Queen, Magnolia and Fairview are 4A outside of football, with the rest of the non-football 5A-South consisting of 6A football schools.
Patton said though the South won’t be a cakewalk, he believes White Hall can be a playoff team.
“Those teams, we play baseball against them,” Patton said. “We play basketball against them. You look out on the floor, the talent level is pretty close in all those sports. I just feel like, me personally, I just feel like we’re going to match up pretty well in the conference. We got some young talent coming up. I just feel like it’s a good move.”
The 5A-South, like 4A-8, had two state semifinalists this past season. Third-place Lakeside defeated second-place Little Rock Parkview to reach the finals. Joe T. Robinson, the 5A-Central champion, beat the Rams in the championship game. As part of this wave of realignment, Parkview will leave the South to join the Central, essentially swapping places with White Hall and Pine Bluff.
The South’s other playoff teams were conference champion Hot Springs, which lost in the second round, and Fairview, which lost to Robinson in the first round.