GREENVILLE - What was supposed to be a matchup between the top two teams in the North AAA conference turned into a trip to the wood shed for Washington School.
Pillow Academy dominated from start to finish en route to a 34-0 thrashing of Washington here Friday night. It was the Mustangs' fourth straight win over the Generals, and just
Pillow's second shutout in 35 games against Washington.
The swarming Mustang defense manhandled the Generals and kept Washington quarterback Billy Brozovich totally frustrated. Washington had 22 rushes for minus 34 yards as Brozovich was sacked seven times times, pressured many more and intercepted twice.
It was the third straight win of the season for Pillow, which moves to 4-2 overall, 2-1 in the North AAA Division I standings. Washington, ranked No. 4 in the statewide academy AAA poll, slips to 4-2, 3-1.
"This is a great win for so many reasons," PA head coach Herbert Davis said. "First, it keeps us in the race for a conference championship and gives us momentum for the second half of the season. Also, we beat our rival pretty good and gained some more confidence.
"We need to enjoy the heck out of this win this weekend and get back to taking it one game at a time."
Here are the stats that give the clearest picture of Pillow's defensive dominance: Washington had just two first downs and 41 total yards for the game. Fifteen of the Generals' 33 plays went for negative yardage.
"It was one of the best defensive efforts I've ever been a part of in my coaching career. They even impressed me," said Davis. "That's two weeks in a row that our defense has really played well."
Pillow set the tone for domination on the first possession of the contest as the Generals were knocked for a 3-yard loss on their first three plays. The Mustangs then marched 53 yards in 10 plays as senior slotback Tyler Counts capped it off with a 5-yard touchdown run with 5:26 left in the first quarter.
The key play of the drive came on a third-and-7 play, when senior slotback Lewis Buford caught a lateral behind the line of scrimmage, made two defenders miss and turned it into a 9-yard gain.
Counts' touchdown was the first of three scores for the speedy back, who also caught TD passes of 24 and 26 yards from quarterback Jacob Land.
After another three and out by Washington, the Mustangs went up 14-0 with a 47-yard drive in five plays as Land scored on a 1-yard sneak with 2:21 left in the first quarter.
Washington had its only scoring opportunity of the night on its next possession. A 67-yard pass and run set the Generals up with a first-and-10 at the PA 13, but Mustang linebacker Roland Webster thwarted any scoring chance when Brozovich hit him between the numbers. Webster returned the interception five yards.
PA pushed its lead to 21-0 right before the half on a 3-yard TD run by Chase Elliott. The senior running back finished with a game-high 77 yards on the ground on 21 carries.
Land keyed the drive with completions of 17 yards to Pate Shackelford and a 15-yarder to Counts.
With the way the offensive line was controlling the line of scrimmage, the junior signal caller didn't have to throw much, but when he did, he was much more effective than Brozovich, who entered the game leading the league in passing yards and completion percentage.
Land finished 6-of-10 passing for 113 yards and two touchdowns. Brozovich hit on just 3-of-11 for 76 yards, with 67 of those yards coming on one play.
"Jacob really stepped up because they rolled the dice on defense by stacking the line," Davis said. "Boy, give the offensive line a lot of credit, because we ran the ball right at them when they stuck all those guys in there."
The Mustangs, now averaging more than 350 yards on the ground in the last three games, had 51 rushes for 247 yards. They finished with a total of 360 yards, compared to just 41 for Washington.
Pillow went up 27-0 on the first possession of the second half on a 26-yard pass from Land to Counts. The two hooked up again late in the third for a 24-yard scoring pass - the fifth TD pass from Land to Counts this season.
In the fourth quarter, Pillow brought in the second team, but that didn't stop the domination of the Generals. They finished with minus 2 yards total in the second half.
Counts finished with 45 yards rushing and a touchdown on five carries. He had three catches for 66 yards and two TDs.
Senior slotback Gregory Sandifer had five rushes for 37 yards and one catch for 29 yards.
Pillow churned out 21 first downs and only had to punt twice, with one being downed at the Washington 1 and the other at home team's 2.
"It was just a great team effort, defense, offense and special teams," Davis said.
This week Pillow continues North AAA play with a trip to Columbus to face Heritage, Davis' former school and now the home of former Mustang head coach Riley Myers.
Heritage is 1-5 after falling 47-20 to Magnolia Heights Friday.
