IN SHORT: McClendon scores four rushing touchdowns to lead LR Parkview past Sylvan Hills.
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
The Little Rock Parkview Patriots cruised their way to a 42-7 victory over Sylvan Hills on Friday to hand the Bears their second loss of the season.
The Patriots (2-1) got a four-touchdown performance out of senior running back Chris McClendon and triggered the 35-point sportsmanship/timing rule against the Bears (1-2) early in the fourth quarter.
The rule calls for the clock to run almost continually when a team takes a lead of 35 points or better.
“When they got off the bus, we looked at each other and said ‘This ain’t good,’ ” Sylvan Hills coach Jim Withrow said. “We could not match them physically; we were out there with as many as five or six sophomores on defense at one point. They are an impressive group physically.”
Bears quarterback J.D. Miller engineered Sylvan Hills’ only scoring drive in the fourth quarter by moving the ball with timely pass plays, while running back Willie Johnson capped off the series with a 25-yard touchdown run with less than eight minutes left to play.
“I think it’s a good wake-up call,” Withrow said. “We had four sophomores and two guys who didn’t play last year out there on defense. They weren’t playing bad, but I think they realized how physical the game is.”
Parkview scored on the first play from scrimmage with a swing pass that caught the blitzing Bears defense off guard and turned into a 65-yard touchdown.
Sylvan Hills did not capitalize on a big opportunity in the second quarter when a long pass play from Miller to Anthony Featherston ended with the Patriots stripping Featherstone of the ball deep in Patriots territory.
The youthful Bears opened with a loss to Vilonia then rebounded to take a road victory at Little Rock Christian.
“I don’t like to look at the negative without considering the positive,” Withrow said. “We’ll look at this as a learning experience and go from there. I think we’ll get better as we go along. We had some young guys who made plays tonight, and who were in position to make plays.”
