INDIANOLA — Both teams had to deal with it, but only one appeared to take it in stride.
Following a 45-minute lightening delay at halftime, Indianola Academy came out ready to play — scoring on its first possession and never looked back en route to a 41-14 win over Pillow Academy here Friday night in the season opener for both teams.
When he was asked if the long delay hurt his team, Pillow head coach Tripp McCarty said: “It dang sure looked like it, but we can’t blame that. They certainly appeared to handle it better.”
He added: “Our youth showed up a bit, but I can tell you we’re going to be a darn good football team at some point this season.”
Up 21-14, the Colonel defense got a stop to open the third quarter and then the offense went 75 yards in nine plays to put IA up 14 with 11:56 to play in the quarter.
The Colonels converted a third-and-10 on the drive on a 17-yard pass from quarterback Will Davis to wide receiver T.K. Bolden.
“That would have been big to get off the field right there by forcing a punt,” McCarty said.
Instead the Colonels went up 28-14 on a 5-yard plunge from fullback Wesley Lester.
The young PA defense, which started four sophomores, had no real answer for Lester and tailback Sebastian Harris, who finished with 158 yards on the ground and two touchdowns.
On their way to their 33rd straight home victory, the Colonels rolled up 320 yards on the ground to go with 132 through the air.
“We got pushed around pretty good at times. Obviously, we’ve got to do a better job of stopping the run, and I know that we will,” McCarty said.
Offensively, the Mustangs showed some flashes but lacked overall consistency.
“We did some good things, but then we would hurt ourselves and were unable to pull ourselves out of that hole,” McCarty said.
PA finished with 365 total yards, including 197 on the ground. Senior Luke Fondren led the way with 69 yards on seven carries.
Junior quarterback Lake Giachelli added 63 yards and a touchdown on 15 attempts.
Giachelli was 7-of-21 passing for 157 yards with one touchdown and one interception. The TD came on the first play of PA’s second possession, when he hit sophomore wideout Jaden Simcox over the middle for an 84-yard score.
Pillow’s second, and final, touchdown came on a 1-yard run by Giachelli that tied the game at 14 with 6:16 left in the first half. Simcox had two grabs for 96 yards before leaving the game with a back injury.
Defensively, sophomore mighty mite linebacker Sam Harris recorded a team-high 15 tackles. Junior cornerback Floyd Melton had 10 stops, including a tackle for loss.
Fondren added nine tackles from his defensive end post.
After opening with the cream of the crop in AAA, PA hosts one of the top teams in AAAA this week in Madison-Ridgeland Academy, a 49-0 winner Friday over Magnolia Heights.
