It took the sluggish Pillow Academy Mustangs more than a quarter to move past the hangover from last week's emotional win over Washington School and put the homecoming distractions behind them.
But once they did, the Mustangs rolled to a 34-7 win over Lee Academy Friday night at PA's Bill Davis Field to move to 4-0 on the season, 2-0 in the North AAA Division II standings.
The Colts fall to 1-3 overall, 0-1 in league play.
"I think the slow start can be contributed to a combination of a lot of things. One thing that took the air out of us was gaining 60-something yards on the first play from scrimmage before fumbling the ball away," Pillow coach Michael Fair said. "That kind of deflated us right there."
Quarterback Landon Taylor hooked up with fullback Luke Kimmel on a 69-catch and run, but Kimmel coughed the ball up at the Lee 3-yard line.
Pillow, ranked No. 3 in the statewide academy AAA poll, went three and out on its next possession but found a spark the next time it touched the ball, thanks to the newest Mustang, Leflore County High School transfer Ja'Quez Taylor.
J. Taylor ignited a nine-play, 72-yard touchdown drive with three runs for 58 yards, setting up a 1-yard plunge by junior tailback Myers Falls on a fourth-and-goal play. Cayson Cox booted the PAT kick to put Pillow up 7-0 with less than a minute into the second quarter.
The Mustangs went three and out on their next possession before quickly striking on an 86-yard touchdown drive, capped on a 58-yard scoring jaunt by J. Taylor, the first African-American to play football at the private school.
J. Taylor had 130 yards on six carries in the first half and had just one rush in the second half for four yards.
"We were glad to work Ja'Quez into the game a little. He looked good," Fair said. "He has worked hard in practice and gives us some much-needed depth. When you can rest a great running back like Myers with another one, it's a good situation."
Pillow led 14-0 at the half and scored just 42 seconds into the third quarter to take total control of the game. L. Taylor rolled out to his left and hit Falls in the flats with a 10-yard pass that Falls turned into a 35-yard TD reception.
Falls got key blocks on the outside by receivers Anthony Ola and Charles Nause as he broke free down the PA sideline untouched into the end zone.
On the Mustangs' next possession, L. Taylor engineered a 77-yard touchdown drive. The junior signal caller hit Nause for a 9-yard score on an out route to put the home team up 28-0 midway through the third quarter.
L. Taylor had a 26-yard pass to Falls to key the drive and finished the game 9-of-16 passing for 196 yards. Nause had four catches for 28 yards, and Falls had two for 61 yards.
After the Mustang defense forced another three and out by Lee, Kimmel partially blocked a punt. Junior Gaston Lyon scooped up the ball for a short gain and suffered a broken left collarbone on the tackle. Lyon, a starter at receiver and free safety, had surgery Saturday morning. Gaston's father, Paul, said Dr. Asa Bennett was putting a plate in his son's shoulder and that the doctor said Gaston might could return to action in six weeks - which would be the Mustangs' regular-season finale against Starkville.
"You hate to see that happen to such a great kid, but that's football," Fair said. "Championship teams, when a great player and teammate goes down, some folks have to step up."
Pillow closed out its scoring with 1:19 left in the third on a 3-yard run by Watson Turnipseed.
Pillow ran the ball 38 times for 290 yards. Falls had 46 yards on 10 rushes, and Kimmel added 30 yards on three attempts.
Defensively, the Mustangs shut down the Colts in the second half after giving up 134 total yards before the break, holding Lee to just three first downs in the final 24 minutes.
Kimmel led the team in tackles from his middle linebacker post with seven solo stops. Junior linebacker Cody Beam had seven stops, including four solos.
The Mustangs face a crucial North AAA contest this week at Magnolia Heights, which lost its first game Friday, falling 35-21 to Washington School.
"Magnolia Heights is very physical. The Pillow-Magnolia Heights is always a blue-collar game," Fair said.
