JUSTIN — Argyle did lose the time of possession battle to Lake Worth on Thursday night.

But when you can score points as quickly as the Eagles, that hardly matters.

As Lake Worth tried to play keep away with the Eagles, Argyle made their possessions count with big scoring plays, leading to a 45-7 victory over the Bullfrogs in a Class 3A Region II Area championship game.

Argyle (12-0) will face the winner of today’s Texarkana Pleasant Grove-Farmersville game next week in a Region II semifinal contest set for Friday in Royse City. The time is still to be determined.

Lake Worth, which used every bit of clock it could when it had the football, held the ball for more than 15 minutes in the first half. But the Bullfrogs came away without any points, which became all the more glaring by the end of the contest.

Even with a well-executed strategy, the Bullfrogs (8-4) saw their eight-game winning streak come to an end.

“We knew coming in that [Lake Worth] had a great tailback, a good offensive line and a very good blocking fullback,” Argyle head coach Todd Rodgers said. “You could see that on film. What had me second-guessing myself was how physical they were up front.”

Rodgers needn’t have worried. Along with the big scoring plays, the Eagles forced five turnovers, four in the second half.

Lake Worth built its strategy around 2,000-yard rusher Joel Rockmore, and individually he didn’t disappoint. He finished the game with 34 carries for 137 yards and a touchdown, which came in the fourth quarter. He gave the Eagle defense all it could handle.

But his production went for naught. By the time Rockmore cracked the end zone, the game was well in Argyle’s hands.

Lake Worth started the game with a six-minute drive, methodically running the ball down Argyle’s throats until the Eagles finally forced the Bullfrogs out on downs at the Argyle 34.

That set the tone for Lake Worth. It could move the football, but it couldn’t close the deal, and that was never more apparent than with 9:47 to play in the second quarter and Argyle up 17-0.

The Bullfrogs started on their own 20 and, thanks in part to back-to-back Argyle 15-yard penalties (which followed two straight 15-yarders for the Bullfrogs), Lake Worth had the ball at the Eagle 20, poised to make it a ball game.

Lake Worth even picked up a first-and-goal at the Eagle 10, but a bad snap over the head of quarterback Donovan Vess forced a 15-yard loss, and another 15-yard penalty ultimately forced the Bullfrogs to punt on 4th-and-goal at the Argyle 40.

Predictably, with Lake Worth winning the time of possession battle, the No. 5 Eagles needed big plays to score, and big plays they got. Quarterback Austin Aune hit Justin Hommel for a 52-yard touchdown pass on Argyle’s second drive of the game, giving it a 7-0 lead.

That completion proved fortuitous for the Eagles, who exploded offensively from there.

“We saw pretty quickly that they were going to try and take the run away from us,” Rodgers said. “So we started throwing the ball a bit more until we were able to loosen them up.”

Hommel’s touchdown reception did just that, as Layton Lowry scored on runs of 33 and 41 yards in the second quarter. Lowry finished with 110 yards and three touchdowns on just 9 carries.

A Lake Worth fumble set up Lowry’s first touchdown run. Lake Worth’s Everette Miller, returning a kickoff after Chad Hedlund’s 28-yard field goal early in the second quarter, lost the ball at the Bullfrog 25. Argyle’s Nick Chrestopoulos recovered it at the Bullfrog 33. Lowry scored from there.

The Eagles put plenty of pressure on Lake Worth defensively in the second half, forcing four more turnovers. Blake Dunham and Dran Crenshaw both recovered fumbles, while Kyle Thompson and Job Jones each had an interception.

Argyle 45, Lake Worth 7

FIRST QUARTER

A – Justin Hommel 52 pass from Austin Aune (Chad Hedlund kick), 2:05

SECOND QUARTER

A – Hedlund 28 field goal, 10:15

A – Layton Lowry 33 run (Hedlund kick), 9:50

A – Lowry 41 run (Hedlund kick), :34

THIRD QUARTER

A – Jake Meeks 47 run (Hedlund kick), 10:08

A – Murphy Ellis 1 run (Hedlund kick), 5:38

A – Lowry 1 run (Hedlund kick), 1:01

FOURTH QUARTER

LW – Joel Rockmore 3 run (Donovan Vess kick), 1:52

TEAM STATS

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING — ARGYLE: Kevin Ryon 11-60, Layton Lowry 9-110, Adam Khan 3-12, Jake Meeks 2-53, Nick Chrestopoulos 3-5, Murphy Ellis 1-1, Scotty Seiber 1-1, Blake Dunham 2-11. LAKE WORTH: Joel Rockmore 34-137, Donovan Bess 12-73, Brandon Miller 3-43.

PASSING — ARGYLE: Austin Aune 8-21-0-134, Drew Davis 0-1-0-0. LAKE WORTH: Bess 3-9-2-61, Brannon Riley 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING — ARGYLE: Lance Sutton 4-38, Justin Hommel 1-52, Adam Khan 2-38, Taylor Brasher 1-6. LAKE WORTH: Montana Chitty 2-26, Brandon Miller 1-35.