It was billed as the “Game of the Week” in Arkansas by some, but it turned out to be an easy home victory for Pulaski Academy on Friday night.

The Bruins beat Little Rock Christian 52-10 for their ninth consecutive victory after opening the season with a loss to Helena-West Helena Central. Pulaski Academy wide receiver Neal Barlow, 6-7, 203, 4. 55 seconds in the 40-yard dash, caught four passes for 73 yards and also a 2-point conversion. Barlow, who has orally committed to Arkansas, was one of several college prospects on display.

“We didn’t play as well as we would have liked to. We turned the ball over a lot real early and didn’t play that well,” Barlow said. “We ended up coming out and winning, so it’s better to win ugly.”

For the season, Barlow has caught 63 passes for 1, 006 yards and 14 touchdowns. While the offense struggled for the Bruins to some degree early, Barlow was quick to give credit to his team’s defense that dominated Little Rock Christian running back Michael Dyer, 5-9, 200, 4. 37, and his teammates most of the night.

“They did play well,” Barlow said of the defense. “We had a great game plan. We bring a lot of pressure and rely on our secondary to hold their receivers. It worked out real well, and we tackled everyone real well.

“ Our tendency throughout the year has been hitting everyone real high, and that has been giving us a lot of problems. Now, we’ve figured out how to take out everyone’s legs, and it’s hard to run over you without any legs.”

Some called this the best Pulaski Academy team ever, but then they lost the season opener on the road to a Cougars team that is one of the best teams in Arkansas as well. Barlow feels the team turned the loss into a positive of sorts.

“I feel like Helena is a great team,” Barlow said. “We didn’t show up to play, and if you don’t show up to play against Helena, they’re going to thump you. It’s pretty obvious they thumped us.

“ That just kind of got us into the realization we kind of need to get our stuff together and go out there and play hard and do good. We have been practicing a lot harder ever since then and conditioning a lot better.”

Barlow has been to a few games in Fayetteville this season to watch his future team play. Though Arkansas has struggled, Barlow is impressed with new Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino and what he’s installing at Arkansas.

“I feel real good about it,” Barlow said of his decision to choose Arkansas over Kansas and others. “I think the offense is great. All the guys I was playing against last year are going up there and working hard and playing. The offense is great, and you can see there’s so much potential out there.”

One of the top juniors for the Bruins this season is offensive tackle Parker Mack, 6-4, 304, 5. 4. Mack has already collected scholarship offers from North Carolina and Boston College.

“We were pretty excited,” Mack said of Friday night’s game. “ It felt great to put the mercy rule on them. That was one of our goals.

Mack is hoping to gain an offer from the Razorbacks as well as others to go with the pair he has.

Dyer is rated the top junior in Arkansas and has a long list of offers. Rivals. com has Dyer among consideration for 5-star status in the Class of 2010 and considers him one of the nation’s elite players. On Friday night, Dyer rushed for only 55 yards on 21 carries. Dyer has battled an ankle injury in recent weeks and reportedly injured his other ankle Friday night.

Little Rock Christian junior tight end Dakota Mosley, 6-5, 240, 4. 8, had a nice game. He caught 8 passes for 98 yards and 1 touchdown and also had a carry for 11 yards. Mosley is hoping his team gets healthy as it prepares for Siloam Springs on Friday.