Pillow Academy will carry some much-needed momentum into the second half, and most important part, of the season.
The Mustangs got three rushing touchdowns and one passing from sophomore quarterback Lake Giachelli en route to a 42-17 homecoming win over Manchester Academy Friday night.
Pillow moves to 3-2 as it heads into North AAAA play this week against archrival Washington School (2-2), which lost 17-10 to Starkville Friday.
“You always want to go into the Washington week with a win,” PA coach Tripp McCarty said. “Now is the time of year you want to be putting it all together as you move into the conference schedule.
“Our coaching staff did a great job this week as we were able to take a lot of things from the practice field to the game field and have success with it.”
The Mustang offense got off to a rocky start with back-to-back three-and-outs to open the contest. But after the Mavericks took a 3-0 lead at the 5:53 mark of the first quarter, the Pillow offense came alive.
Giachelli started things with a 25-yard scoring scamper off a quarterback counter keeper. He had a 7-yard touchdown run midway through the second to put PA up 14-3.
The Mustangs closed out the first-half scoring when senior quarterback Cole Whitfield connected with senior wide receiver Walker Coleman on a 46-yard TD pass, capping a three-play, 64-yard drive that took just 1 minute, 19 seconds.
“That was a nice play there. It was one of several quick strikes we had tonight,” McCarty said. “I thought our speed on both sides of the ball was a big difference in the game.”
In the second half, Giachelli had his third scoring run, a 4-yarder, and he finished with a team-high 86 yards on 13 attempts.
Giachelli later hit senior John Madison Brooks with a 66-yard touchdown toss. He completed 4-of-7 passes for 111 yards.
Brooks had 56 yards rushing on nine carries to go with 94 yards on three receptions. He also had one punt return for 59 yards.
“It was good to see John Madison have a big impact on the game because we didn’t know if he would even play after missing the last two days of practice with an illness,” said the third-year PA coach.
Fellow senior Peyton Turner had a couple of big plays on special teams, a 29-yard kickoff return and a 57-yard punt return.
Defensively, senior linebacker Walt Pillow had a dominating effort, recording a team-high 13 tackles to go with a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
“We were pretty active defensively and cut some guys loose to make plays,” McCarty said.
Sophomore defensive back Floyd Melton was next with 11 stops. Luke Fondren and Turner had nine and eight tackles, respectively.
nContact Bill Burrus at 581-7237 or bburrus@gwcommonwealth.com.
