Indianola Academy dominated in the trenches to keep their winning ways going against Pillow Academy.
The Colonels racked up 259 rushing yards and churned out 22 first downs en route to a 33-12 win Friday night before an overflow crowd at Bill Davis Field. It’s the fourth straight win in this rivalry that was renewed in 2013.
“No matter all the fancy stuff in football these days, it still comes down to controlling the line of scrimmage. And that’s what Indianola did,” PA coach Tripp McCarty said. “We gave up too much on first downs, and that made it hard for us to get off the field on defense.”
Pillow found the bulk of its offensive success through the air — gaining 199 of its 335 total yards via the pass. That’s not what McCarty was hoping for.
“They shut down the run and made us one dimensional. We didn’t want to pass it that many times (30),” he said.
Junior quarterback Shane Houston Stephens led the Mustangs in rushing with 53 yards on eight carries. He also completed 11 of 24 passes for 174 yards, a touchdown and one interception.
PA opened the game with a 13-play, 80-yard touchdown drive. Stephens had an 18-yard run on the drive, and running back Lake Giachelli had a 25-yard scoring toss to Jaden Simcox off an option pass. The PAT kick was blocked.
But IA came right back to go up 7-6 with an 8-play, 61-yard TD drive. Senior quarterback Will Davis finished it off with a 10-yard scamper.
Pillow had problems in the punting game all night. A short one set up a 52-yard scoring drive for IA to go up 14-8 on a 3-yard plunge from Wesley Lester on the first play of the second quarter.
IA later went up 20-6, but the Mustangs got back in it when Stephens hooked up with Simcox for a 67-yard TD pass. Simcox turned a 15-yard out into a big play by making a couple of defenders miss and blazing down the sideline for the end zone. Simcox finished with three catches for 97 yards.
Hagan Wilson was next with two grabs for 41 yards.
Giachelli was the only other PA player with a rush of more than 10 yards and finished second on the team with 45 yards on seven attempts.
Linebacker Seth Hollis had a team-high 12 tackles, while safety Christian Belk and linebacker Sam Harris added 11 each.
nContact Bill Burrus at 581-7237 or bburrus@gwcommonwealth.com.
