North Little Rock took care of Mountain Home in the first half Thursday night. Harsh weather handled the rest.
K.J. Hill, a University of Arkansas commitment, scored three touchdowns in the first quarter as the No. 2 Charging Wildcats rolled to a 42-0 victory over the Bombers at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock in a game that was called at halftime because of a severe thunderstorm that rolled through central Arkansas.
North Little Rock (4-1, 2-0 7A/6A-East) ran 13 offensive plays and held possession for only 4:55, but the Charging Wildcats managed 243 yards of total offense. Mountain Home (0-5, 0-2) was limited to one first down and 43 yards.
Mountain Home, which has lost 25 consecutive games, had 42 players on its roster but only 37 available for Thursday's game. North Little Rock's roster listed 100 players.
"I wanted to see if some of our younger players could execute on special teams," North Little Rock Coach Brad Bolding said. "I thought they did, what little we got to see them play. ... This is a tough deal [for Mountain Home]. They have a new coach [David Joyce], a new way of doing things and a new philosophy. I've been where he is, and it's not easy."
The game was played with a running clock starting in the second quarter. As soon as the half ended, stadium officials asked all those in attendance to move to the ground floor until the storm passed. A few minutes later, the game was called.
Hill scored his three touchdowns in three different manners -- on a 52-yard run with 6:11 left, on a 64-yard punt return at the 4:24 mark and on a 43-yard pass from Heath Land with 2:17 left. Hill finished with 64 yards rushing on 2 carries and had 2 catches for 65 yards. Land completed 3 of 4 passes for 89 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Senior running back D.J. Brown was untouched on his way to the Charging Wildcats' first touchdown, which came on the Charging Wildcats' second offensive play. Sandy Burks added the first of seven extra points, and North Little Rock led 7-0 with 9:58 left in the first quarter.
Brown scored again on the first play of the second quarter. His 14-yard run gave the Charging Wildcats' a 35-0 lead.
North Little Rock's final touchdown came on a 14-yard pass from Land to senior wide receiver Danny Mitchell with 5:37 showing. The Charging Wildcats ran only one more offensive play before the half.
"We were prepared to play a lot of our younger players after the first series of the second quarter," Bolding said.
"But under the circumstances and with the bad weather, we were just happy to get out of there."
Sports on 10/03/2014