Pats ‘really clean’ in runaway victory
It was hard for Little Rock Parkview Coach Brad Bolding to find a fault in his team’s performance Thursday night at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
Other than a holding penalty on their third play from scrimmage, the Patriots played a near-perfect first half to take a 35-0 lead.
The Patriots then leaned on running back Jaden Ashdord and their defense in the second half to halt any comeback attempts and wrapped up a 42-0 win over Wynne in a second-round game of the Class 5A state playoffs.
Bolding said as he knew by the time his team stepped off the bus at War Memorial that they would play well.
“I thought it was pretty really clean,” Bolding said of the first-half performance. “I thought, ‘This is the time of year that you want that to happen.’ … The way we were when we came over here, there wasn’t a word said in our fieldhouse, on the bus, in [the locker room]. They were totally locked in, so I knew from the get-go that we were going to play well. Just didn’t know it was going to be that well, and it was pretty impressive, especially the first half.”
Parkview (10-2) won the opening coin flip and chose to receive. Four plays later, that choice paid off when quarterback Eric McGehee hit Cameron Settles on a 43-yard wheel route. Settles trotted into the end zone untouched to make it 7-0.
“I thought offensively this week we were executing well in practice, and then we were able to come out, and really right off the bat we were able to do what we’re capable of doing,” Bolding said.
Not long after, the Patriots’ offense was back on the field following a punt by Wynne (9-3).
Wynne wasn’t able to find any more success on its second drive on defense. Parkview came out with four plays of 10 or more yards, then running back Darien Bennett capped off the drive with a 2-yard burst into the end zone to make it 14-0 less than six minutes into the game.
The Parkview defense held strong once again and forced Wynne into a three and out and a second straight punt.
The Patriots offense could do no wrong in the first quarter, and their next drive exemplified that. Three plays into their drive, wide receiver Monterrio Elston took a pass in the short flat 67 yards for a touchdown, making it 21-0 with 3:42 left in the quarter.
Wynne opened the second quarter by converting a fourth down attempt, but that drive stalled out immediately after as Parkview made tackles for losses of 6 and 14 yards on two of the next three plays. The Yellowjackets punted to end their most successful drive to that point.
Elston and Parkview didn’t waste much time making it four straight possessions to end on a touchdown. Parkview called the same play to the right flat for Elston and he broke free for a 24-yard touchdown to make it 28-0.
Elston ended his night there, totaling 3 catches for 99 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The level of success that Parkview saw in its passing game was in large part due to the play of McGehee.
Bolding said before the season he was unsure who would be his starter behind center between McGehee and sophomore Chase Forte. McGehee ultimately won the job but was thrown into the deep end with games against Bryant and North Little Rock in nonconference play.
McGehee had to be taken out midway through the North Little Rock game to reset mentally. He eventually returned as Parkview fell in two overtimes, but Bolding said that experience has shaped him into the quarterback he is now.
“When we played North Little Rock and Bryant, [McGehee] was a nervous wreck because he just hadn’t had a lot of reps on him,” Bolding said. “But now he’s settled and has been able to throw the ball. … We knew he had a great arm, and he was capable of being a really good quarterback, but he’s really turned out to be a lot better QB than I really thought initially he would be this year. I knew it was going to be good by the time he was a senior, but it’s happening faster than what I thought.”
McGehee finished 7-of-9 passing for 194 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Settles broke through a group of three Wynne defenders to complete a 40yard touchdown run and give Parkview a 35-0 lead.
Between Bennett, Settles and Ashford, the Patriots rushed for over 200 yards and scored three touchdowns. Wide receiver Willie Eackles joined in with a fourth rushing score in the second half to make it 42-0.