SPRINGDALE — Kyle Pianalto had trouble finding his wide receivers early on, and it didn’t help that Springdale High’s defense applied constant pressure on the quarterback.

Hoping to get his offense into a groove, Pianalto tried practically everything in the first half of Springdale Har-Ber’s rivalry game against Springdale in Jarrell Williams Bulldog Stadium.

But none of it seemed to work — at least not until the third quarter.

Pianalto jumpstarted Har-Ber’s offense after halftime, throwing four touchdown passes in the third quarter as the Wildcats scored 28 points in the second half and held on for a 31-17 win over their crosstown rivals.

“Going into the week, I liked that matchup if we had time and I knew their (defensive backs) were going to have some plays because they’re so talented,” Springdale Har-Ber coach Chris Wood said. “But I just felt if we could sit back there with a lot of our passing game underneath, over the top, I thought we’d have a couple of chances.”

Pianalto eventually took advantage of those opportunities.

He connected with four different receivers on touchdown passes of 8, 71, 36 and 18 yards in the third quarter, giving Har-Ber (6-4, 5-2 7A/6A-West Conference) the spark it needed to overcome a 7-3 halftime deficit and continue its recent dominance over Springdale (4-6, 2-5).

The 5-foot-11, 161-pound junior made his mark on Har-Ber’s Senior Night, completing 13 of 23 passes for 290 yards and four touchdowns, all coming in the third quarter. He showed his accuracy after halftime, and he had more time to stand in the pocket and find his targets open downfield.

Wood said the Wildcats made some adjustments to their protections after getting beat too many times by the Bulldogs. The second half was a different story as Pianalto routinely picked on Springdale defensive back Chris Owens, beating him on several long touchdown passes.

“(Pianalto) just threw it as far as he could, and they ran under it and caught it,” Springdale coach Shane Patrick said. “And I think Chris (Owens) will tell you that’s what they were doing, and we didn’t do a great job of covering them.

“They made plays, and that was the difference in the ball game.”