For White Hall's Bulldogs, it's one monkey down and another to go.
    Mike Vaughn's Dogs last week accomplished what no other White Hall team had done in a decade – win at Crossett. And this week, Vaughn is hoping White Hall bucks another recent trend of suffering negative results in homecoming games. A year ago, Crossett spoiled the occasion in a nightmarish encounter in which the Dogs couldn't hold onto the football long enough to outscore the outplayed Eagles.
    Friday night, White Hall will host 5A-Southeast Conference foe North Pulaski. At first glance, one might think the 1-1, 1-4 Falcons – among the league's weakest members the past several years – could represent an easy win for the 2-0, 4-1 Dogs, ranked fourth in the state.
    But hold on, Vaughn cautions.
    "Don't you even think about putting something like that in the paper," Vaughn growled. "I don't want my kids ever thinking they're automatically better than someone else, period.
    "In this conference, any team can beat any other on any given night, and you know that's how it is. There's not a team in this league that doesn't have several talented athletes, and I can assure you that North Pulaski will be ready for us and would be more than happy to spoil our homecoming.
    "I certainly don't want us contributing to a loss for us at homecoming or in any other game, but if we don't do what we need to do, North Pulaski and anyone else can and will kick our behinds. It's okay to have a big time with homecoming and click our heels a little after beating Crossett, but we've got to be focused first and foremost on beating North Pulaski.
    "If we're not prepared and don't execute, North Pulaski will take over our house and be dancing with our homecoming queen and her court and making us hum the music, but we're not going to let that happen."
    North Pulaski, under first-year coach Ricky Russell, has shown signs of improvement despite its lackluster record. The Falcons bounced Little Rock McClellan 35-13 two weeks ago. Against tradition-rich Beebe last week, the Falcons fell behind early but showed some grit by putting together a pair of sustained touchdown drives before finally falling by 34-13.
    "The final score doesn't show North Pulaski's effort," said Vaughn. "Beebe got ahead early with some big plays, but from there on, North Pulaski stood its ground and made Beebe earn it.
    "Coach Russell's got his bunch moving in the right direction. They just keep battling and battling and getting better and better, and when a team does that, they're usually not far away from turning the corner."
    The Falcons' scores came on respective runs of 11 and 25 yards by running backs Arlando Hicks and Derrick Hart.
    New quarterback Shyheim Barron is still developing as a passer, but he's already gained a reputation as a reliable runner. He scored three touchdowns against McClellan on keepers. Also throwing a TD toss, Barron racked up 101 rushing yards.
    "Once North Pulaski got on a roll against McClellan, you couldn't stop them," said Vaughn. "They were ahead 26-0 before McClellan finally scored, and that came on a turnover. And North Pulaski popped right back and scored on a blocked punt.
    "So, it was a complete win – offense, defense and special teams. That's the mark of a competitive football team."
    Vaughn is also respectful of Falcon kicker Matthew Ingersoll.
    "He's a soccer-style kicker who is probably one of the best in the state," Vaughn said of Ingersoll. "He's pretty consistent from the 45-yard range, and I'm told that he's connected on some kicks from more than 50 yards out in practice.
    "That's scary."
    Vaughn couldn't conceal his pride in White Hall's 20-13 overtime win over Crossett, which lost in overtime to Beebe the previous week.
    "It wasn't pretty, but I'll take ugly over a loss any day," he said. "It was about to get to a point to where Crossett was thinking we couldn't beat them on the road, and it's always hard to beat a team that believes they're supposed to win.
    "But this White Hall team figures it's supposed to win, too, and this game afforded us an opportunity to show just what we're made of. We had our backs against the wall time after time after time, but we never lost the desire or will to win. And we willed this win.
    "The coaches saw these guys' hearts and minds mesh so that they were in total sync. When an entire team sets its hearts and minds to win no matter what, they can turn back a tornado and make a freight train take a dirt road.
    "Our fans were right there with us and never stopped encouraging us, and I could tell they were getting just as excited as I was when our kids took charge. It was electric, and everyone could feel the surge."
    After Crossett moved ah-ead by 13-7 early in the fourth quarter, White Hall turned the tide in dramatic fashion, overcoming several penalties and boo-boos in a nine-play, 73-yard touchdown march. "We weren't perfect, but our offensive line started clicking and opening the way for us," said Vaughn.
    Quarterback/running back Larry Walls, who ran for 218 yards on 26 carries, capped the drive with a five-yard touchdown run. The score remained knotted at 13 when Heath Heinrich's point-after kick was blocked.
    Walls notched the winning TD on the first play in overtime, wrestling past several Eagle defenders on a 10-yard run around right end. White Hall lined up for a two-point conversion try, but an offside penalty brought Heinrich in for a kick.
    On its ensuing first down, Crossett reached the Dogs' 3-yard line. But White Hall's defense stiffened with Walls – pulling double duty – dumping running back Brandon Bryant for a six-yard loss. The Dogs then broke up a pair of passing plays to ice the win.
    Crossett never trailed during regulation. The Eagles took a 7-0 lead less than four minutes into the game on a snappy seven-play, 52-yard parade. White Hall tied the score when Walls bolted 46 yards for a TD on the first play of the second period and Heinrich toed a conversion.
    Walls, who brought his season rushing total to 1,181 yards, also completed two passes for 29 yards. Wide receiver Phillip Etheridge caught both. Running back A.J. “Mojo” Richardson ran for 127 yards on 22 touches. On the season, Richardson has 764 rushing yards.
    Junior defensive end Quenton Walls – a brother of Larry Walls – may have had his best game thus far, racking up nine tackles, including four for losses and two sacks.
    Steady linebacker Tyler Robinson led the Dogs in stops with 13 and recovered a fumble. Tim Cook had seven tackles while Nathan Lee, Ray Lewis and Tyler “T-Bone” Richmond each had six. Lee also snared an interception.
    Dion Young counted five stops and recovered a fumble.
    "This was a big, big win for us," said Vaughn. "Now we need to put an exclamation point on it by beating North Pulaski.
    "That would be two mo-nkeys off our backs in two weeks, and that would be about the best homecoming celebration I can imagine."