Warriors’ White shines for head Hog

SPRINGDALE — Sam Pittman has things to do which, if anyone needed a reminder, was apparent with a person wearing a Cincinnati Bearcats shirt just feet from where the Arkansas coach stood while watching a high school football game at Shiloh Christian Friday night.

Pittman will be locked in on the Bearcats when Arkansas opens its season at 2:30 p.m. today at Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Like any college coach, Pittman is always looking for talented high school players and Little Rock Christian quarterback Walker White made his trip north to Springdale on Friday worthwhile.

White is a 6-foot-4 junior who accounted for six touchdowns while leading the Warriors to a 49-14 victory over Shiloh Christian in a non-conference showdown between two private school powers in Arkansas. White threw three touchdown passes and ran for three more, including a 34-yard surge to put the Warriors ahead 42-14 in the third quarter.

“Walker White is one of the best quarterbacks in the state and he’s considered one of the best quarterbacks in the nation,” Little Rock Christian coach Eric Cohu said. “He’s really fast, strong, and our receivers caught the ball well.”

I’ve seen top recruits turn in subpar performances with college coaches at their game. But White was superb with Pittman and Arkansas assistant coach Dowell Loggains in attendance.

“I knew they were going to be there,” said White, who threw for 181 yards and 3 touchdowns and ran for 87 yards and 3 scores. “I just tried to stay zoned in. I saw coach Sam Pittman on the sideline and, honestly, I forgot he was even here.”

Little Rock Christian bolted to a 21-0 lead before Shiloh Christian scored twice and threatened to draw within a touchdown after Bodie Neal returned an interception to the 8 with 1:47 left in the first half. But Little Rock Christian maintained its two- touchdown lead by stopping Eli Wisdom on a quarterback keeper on fourth down at the 1.

The turnover killed the Saints’ momentum and Little Rock Christian went on to claim the victory in the season-opener for Shiloh Christian, which will attempt to recover this week at Victory Christian in Tulsa. Little Rock Christian will attempt to move to 3-0 at Lake Hamilton.

Champions Stadium has hosted several top recruits before heading off to college and Pittman received an eyeful from White, a standout passer who fired a bullet while rolling right for a touchdown in the first quarter. He later turned and lofted a soft toss on a throw-back pass that went for a touchdown in the second quarter.

I described this game while making my high school predictions “The Competitive Equity Factor Bowl” after both teams were bumped up this year in classification. Despite the loss, no one should be surprised if Shiloh Christian makes a deep run in the Class 5A state playoffs at the same time Little Rock Christian is going deep in Class 6A.

The loss dropped Eli Wisdom to 27-4 as the starting quarterback for the Saints. That’s a mighty fine ledger for any high school quarterback and there is no doubt the senior will lead his team to more victories before his career is over.

For now, all the credit goes to Little Rock Christian, which came a long way by bus and pinned a rare home loss on Shiloh Christian. The Saints will be OK, providing they can avoid a 21-0 hole like they tried to dig out of Friday night.

That doesn’t work against many teams, especially those as good as Little Rock Christian.