Sylvan Hills Coach Chris Hill admitted he felt there were times his team bent during the second half of Thursday night's 6A-East Conference opener against Pine Bluff, but the damage the Bears caused over the first two quarters ensured they wouldn't break.
Junior quarterback Corey Washington rushed for three touchdowns, and the Sylvan Hills' defense shut down Pine Bluff, as the Bears rolled to a 35-0 victory at Bill Blackwood Field in Sherwood.
Senior running back Taevion Cunningham ran for 126 yards on just five carries for Sylvan Hills (2-2, 1-0), which followed up last week's impressive performance at Jacksonville with an equally dominant effort against Pine Bluff.
The Bears had six players finish with at least 26 yards rushing and racked up 376 yards of total offense. Senior running back D.J. Smith carried 18 times for 62 yards and a touchdown, while Washington ended with 58 yards on 13 carries. Shajuan Esteen, also a senior, added a rushing touchdown as well.
"After our first series, the offense really got going," said Hill, who notched his first home victory with the Bears. "They had to settle in a little bit, but as our offensive line goes, we go. That group is the beat of our offense.
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"It they're good, we're good, and they're developing into a really good unit. Pine Bluff is physical up front, but I thought the guys met that physicality and played well."
The Bears' defense did its part, too. Pine Bluff was held to 157 yards, including 56 in the first half. The Zebras (1-2, 0-1) had trouble moving the ball most of the night and didn't record their initial first down until 2:14 remained before halftime.
By that time, Sylvan Hills had already built a 27-0 lead.
The Bears got on the board with 2:18 to go in the first quarter when Washington scored from 9 yards out to finish off an 11-play, 65-yard drive on his team's second possession. Esteen's 6-yard scoring run with 9:01 left in the second quarter pushed Sylvan Hills' lead to 14-0. Smith would later cap a quick two-play, 41-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run that was set up by a 39-yard completion from Washington to Esteen.
Washington would tack on his third score, a 16-yarder, with 3:05 remaining in the quarter to give the Bears their 27-point advantage.
Pine Bluff did manage to get its offense going briefly on its final series of the first half. After generating just 9 yards total the first four times they had the ball, the Zebras moved 47 yards behind sophomore quarterback William Howell to get deep in Sylvan Hills territory. But the drive stalled after the Bears forced an incompletion on fourth down.
The Zebras did threaten to score in the third quarter and early in the fourth after moving inside Sylvan Hills' 10- and 20-yard lines on separate drives. Again, however, the Bears came up with fourth-down stops, much to Hill's delight.
"I thought our defense played really well," he explained. "We did bend a little bit there in the second half, but man when it came time to make a play, we made a play and kept them out of the end zone. That's the kind of effort you want out of a team."
Washington's 1-yard dive with 10:15 left in the game capped the scoring.
"Just a solid performance," Hill said of his team. "Offense, defense, special teams, they all did a really good job. It was a good night for us, but we're not satisfied. We'll go back to work and find ways to get better."