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On a mild afternoon turned messy by a series of heavy rains, the Eleanor Roosevelt High School football team shook off the frustration of an Oct. 19 loss to Bowie by using its ground game to roll past Parkdale, 40-14, on Saturday.

Roosevelt (6-2) took a basic approach: The Raiders ran the ball on 17 of their first 19 plays and scored touchdowns on their first three possessions. Parkdale countered with two touchdowns to get within 21-14, but the Raiders scored again in the last minute of the first half and added two more touchdowns in the second half, which was played under abysmal conditions.

"We just had way too many turnovers [against Bowie]," said Eleanor Roosevelt coach Tom Green, whose team lost two of its five fumbles in a 19-8 loss to the Bulldogs. "In pee-wee to the pros, if you turn the ball over too many times and lose the turnover battle there's a 90 percent chance you're going to lose that game."

Parkdale (3-5) needed the victory to get back to .500 and keep its slim playoff chances alive, but the Panthers dug themselves into an early 21-0 hole. Parkdale got back into contention when quarterback Marcus Kennedy connected with Jerome Davis on a 15-yard scoring strike. Kennedy then had a 1-yard touchdown run with four minutes remaining in the first half.

But the Raiders went 56 yards in nine plays and scored with 43 seconds left in the half when Shawn Petty hit Ryan Stevens on a 13-yard scoring toss to give the visitors a

28-14 halftime advantage.

"We just didn't have a run defense," said Parkdale coach Richard Holzer. "We didn't have a lot of guys at practice this week. We probably had 12 guys each day miss practice."

Roosevelt opened the game with a methodical, eight-play, 58-yard drive, running the ball on every play. Richard Aiyegoro had 36 yards on the drive and scored on a 5-yard touchdown run. After the Panthers went three and out on their first possession, the Raiders marched 79 yards on 11 plays, nine of which were on the ground. Petty connected with Howard Wilder for a 13-yard touchdown to end the drive.

Roosevelt capitalized on the game's first turnover when Antoine Johnson intercepted a Kennedy pass and returned it to the Panthers' 26-yard line. Four plays later, Dominic Shepard scored on a 3-yard runmaking it 21-0 early in the second quarter.

After Parkdale scored twice in the second quarter, the Raiders took advantage of a short field to go 56 yards to end the half with a touchdown. Petty found Ryan Stevens wide open in the end zone, and the Raiders owned a 28-14 halftime lead.

The rain intensified during halftime, and after Roosevelt scored with 2:06 remaining on a short run by Jarius Cook, the officials stopped the game after the ensuing kickoff after spotting lightning on the horizon.

E-mail Ted Black at tblack@gazette.net.