Pillow Academy appears to have flipped the script on rival Indianola Academy.
After losing four straight to the Colonels, the Mustangs hammered IA 52-0 last year to end its 49-game home win streak and turned around Friday night and beat Indianola 27-16 at PA’s Bill Davis Field.
“Hey, our guys were ready to get that sour taste out of their mouths from last week (a 49-14 loss to 6A Jackson Academy), and we felt like this game would bring out the best in our guys,” PA coach Tripp McCarty said. “I am proud of our kids and coaches. We had a curve ball thrown at us (with two-way starter Christian Belk out), so hats off to my coaching staff. They worked it out.”
It took the new-look Mustang offense longer than McCarty would have liked to get going, but the veteran coach liked what he saw once the ground attack got rolling.
“We just couldn’t get out of our own way there for a while, but we know what these young guys are capable of once we eliminate some of these mistakes,” said McCarty, whose team lost two fumbles and gave up a pick-six.
The Mustang defense, led by senior middle linebacker Lawes McCool, forced four turnovers and held the Colonels to just seven points in the second half. McCool was all over the field on defense, recording a game-high 10 tackles, knocked down a pass and had a dazzling interception return for a TD wiped out on a dead-ball offsides call on IA.
After a scoreless first quarter, PA struck first on a 40-yard touchdown pass from junior Nelson Hodges in his first start under center. Senior Gavin Lessley was on the receiving end of the scoring strike.
Lessley sparked the offense in the second half with his feet, though. He finished with a game-high 113 yards on 10 carries. Senior Alex Tanksley was next with 53 hard-earned yards between the tackles on 15 carries.
The Mustangs finished with 288 yards on the ground. Richard McQueen showed off his speed with some nifty running in the second half, including a 25-yard scoring jaunt around the right end.
After a 16-yard run by Lessley, Hayes Bennett ripped off a 12-yard TD run to make it 27-16 with 9:07 to play.
Defensively, McQueen finished second in tackles with seven. Nolan Marshall and JC Garrard were next with six each.
“Defensively, our guys really got after them pretty good,” McCarty said.
Pillow (1-1) hosts Canton Academy next week.
nContact Bill Burrus at 581-7237 or bburrus@gwcommonwealth.com.
