VAN BUREN — Everytime Van Buren attempted a second-half comeback, Rogers answered and thus, stayed unbeaten.
The Mounties (5-0, 2-0) built a 15-point second half lead and held off the Pointers (1-4, 0-2) at the end 56-47 in a 7A/6A-West shootout Friday at Blakemore Field.
Van Buren had climbed to within 49-47 with 8 minutes, 5 seconds left on a 9-yard pass from Jacob Eason to William Walton.
Rogers, though, put the game away with a 60-yard, 13-play drive that chewed up nearly 6 1/2 minutes of clock time. Quarterback Nick Wary iced the game with a 1-yard sneak, and kicker Austin Griffin's eighth point-after kick made it a two-score game.
GAMEBREAKER
Rogers High 56
Van Buren 47
Why the Mounties won
Rogers finished the first half and started the second half with touchdown drives to take a two-score lead early in the third quarter and held on from there.
Why the Pointers lost
Van Buren rallied go get to within 2 points on two occasions in the second half, but its defense could not make one more stop to get the offense the ball with a chance to win.
The Mounties only threw three passes in the game (completing two for 39 yards), but rushed for 465 yards.
Ty Galyean, who played halfback and fullback, led all Mountie rushers with 183 yards and scored four touchdowns while Wary gained 125 yards with three scores and sophomore fullback Austin Pinkerton, who only played in the first half, had 93 yards in the first half.
Eason threw for 202 yards and four touchdowns while receiver Brad Eversole had two touchdown passes as well.
For the second straight week, Rogers had a high-scoring first half and led 28-20. The Mounties rushed for 215 yards in the first half.
The Pointers did have two leads in the first quarter. Van Buren opened the game with a 22-yard flanker reverse pass from Eversole to quarterback Eason 20 seconds into the game. Cameron Brisson's kick made it 7-0.
After Rogers answered on Wary's 32-yard run, the Pointers retook the lead on Eason's 11-yard touchdown pass to Walton, who kept a foot inbounds in the right sideline. The Pointers lead was 14-7 with 5:32 left in the opening quarter.
But from that point, the rest of the half belonged to Rogers.
The Mounties tied the game when Galyean scored on an 8-yard fullback dive late in the first quarter.
After the defense forced a Van Buren punt, Rogers took its first lead of the game.
The Mounties converted three third downs on the drive, the last one a 4-yard touchdown run by Wary for a 21-14 lead.
With the score 21-20, the Pointers failed on a fourth-down, fake punt attempt with 2:15 left in the half. Starting at the Van Buren 38, the Mounties marched to a score in six plays, capped by a Pinkerton 15-yard run, for a 28-20 lead at intermission.
Rogers then opened the second half with a three-play, 71-yard drive to open up a 35-20 cushion. Galyean scored on a 6-yard dive, but his 6-yard run on the previous play was the big blow.
Rogers plays Bentonville next week while Van Buren travels to Springdale Har-Ber.