WHITE HALL -- Bouts of difficulty in the first half of Thursday night's game against White Hall forced Little Rock Parkview to keep things simple after halftime to knock off its former 5A-Central Conference foes.
Senior quarterback Landon Rogers ran 18 times for 150 yards and scored two of his three touchdowns in the second half to help the Patriots pull away for a 41-13 victory at Bulldog Stadium.
Junior running back James Jointer added 79 yards on 17 carries for Parkview (2-0), which didn't attempt a pass over the final two quarters. Instead, the Patriots lined up and wore down the smaller Bulldogs by keeping the ball on the ground.
"I think a lot of that is because we don't have any guys going both ways," said Parkview Coach Brad Bolding, who now owns a 4-3 edge in head-to-head meetings with his brother, White Hall Coach Bobby Bolding. "That's an advantage for us, and we decided we were going to try to wear them down some. And fortunately, we were able to get some things going there after halftime.
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"Landon, though, put us on his back with some huge plays to get us going."
Rogers, a University of Arkansas commit, threw two first-half interceptions but kept White Hall on its heels by using his legs. He had touchdown runs of 2, 12 and 46 yards for Parkview, which outscored White Hall 28-0 during the game's final 24 minutes.
Junior quarterback Caleb Taylor completed 9 of 11 passes for 178 yards and 2 touchdowns for White Hall (2-1), which made things tough on the Patriots in the opening half. Senior receiver Kam Robinson hauled in the majority of Taylor's tosses, finishing with seven catches for 170 yards.
But the Bulldogs didn't have an answer for Parkview's ground game after the break.
"They outmanned us in the second half," Bobby Bolding explained. "They were bigger than us and bullied us around. I was afraid they'd do that because they gave us a chance in the first half by throwing it around some.
"That kind of played to our strengths in the first half, but then they started pushing us around and making plays by running it."
The White Hall defense also made plays when they had to have them in the first half. The Bulldogs forced three turnovers in the first two quarters, all of which occurred in their territory.
All three takeaways kept the Bulldogs within range, especially after Parkview shocked them early when sophomore running back Willie Eackles returned the opening kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown to give Parkview a 7-0 lead.
The Patriots threatened to increase their margin on their second possession, but junior defensive back Braylon Johnston picked off Rogers at the Bulldogs' 19 to end their drive.
White Hall eventually tied the game at 7-7 with 11:39 left in the second quarter on Taylor's 56-yard scoring pass to Robinson. The touchdown came one play after the Bulldogs recovered a fumble by Eackles on their own 46-yard line.
Parkview did regain the lead, 13-7, with 6:25 left before halftime when Rogers dove into the line of scrimmage and broke away for his 46-yard touchdown run. But White Hall again had an answer.
Following an interception from senior defensive back Jacobrien Eichelberger, Taylor polished off a seven-play, 64-yard drive by finding Robinson in the back of the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown with 12 seconds remaining in the second quarter. The extra point sailed wide right, leaving the teams tied 13-13 at halftime.
Parkview, however, took complete control from that point. Rogers' 2-yard touchdown run with 49 seconds remaining in the third quarter snapped the tie and gave the Patriots the lead for good.
Senior linebacker Montaivous Goins had a 29-yard fumble return for a score with 11:03 left in the fourth quarter to put Parkview ahead 27-13. Rogers' final score, the 12-yarder, made it 34-13 in the fourth before Eackles' closed it out with an 11-yard touchdown with 2:21 left in the game.
"[White Hall] had a good game plan, and we made a lot of mistakes in the first half," Brad Bolding said. "I'm not going to take anything away from them because they've got a good team and will do well in 5A. But I thought our defense did a great job of being around the ball, and special teams made some big plays that really helped us out."