Pillow Academy coach Michael Fair has laid down the gauntlet.
After dropping three straight games, Fair challenged his players Monday at practice to get tougher mentally and physically.
"Our guys got after each other pretty good in practice. I told them football is like everything else. If you're not getting better, you're getting worse. There is no staying the same," said Fair. "As we've learned, the better you practice the better you play.
"We've just gone back to the fundamentals this week, going back to blocking and tackling. You have to know how to tackle but also be willing to tackle."
The Mustangs (1-3) will look to break out of their funk Friday night at home against a struggling Magnolia Heights team that is 1-3 after losing 55-32 to North Delta last week. The Chiefs, usually a North AAA Division II powerhouse, opened the season with a 36-13 loss to Marshall, beat Kirk Academy 31-20 and then lost 22-0 to Starkville.
Fair says his team is in no position to overlook anybody.
"Magnolia Heights has got the same number of wins as we do. It's not necessarily a down year for them, but they just haven't been able to break through yet," Fair said. "They have a very fast running back and quarterback. It will be a challenge containing those two guys."
Defensively, Pillow is led in tackles by senior outside linebacker Cody Beam with 34, including 19 solos. Fellow senior outside linebacker Michael Huoni is next with 17 solos, followed by Alec Dunn, Anthony Ola and Andersen Lucic with 14 each.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at PA's Bill Davis Field. The school is holding a tailgate party at 5:30 p.m. under the new baseball pavilion next to the stadium.
This is the North AAA opener for Magnolia Heights. Pillow is 0-1 in league play after losing 49-14 last week to JA.
"It's a very important game. They all will be from here on out," Fair said. "It will take us stringing together six good games in a row for us to get to where we want to be."
Two of PA's three straight losses came to JA, which is the top-ranked team in the statewide academy AAA poll, and No. 2 Jackson Prep. The other came at the hands of SBEC, which is 4-0.
Thankfully, the Mustangs' toughest part of their schedule is behind them. But next week's matchup with No. 3 Madison-Ridgeland Academy is expected to be a tough one as well as the Sept. 30 contest at No. 4 Washington.
n Contact Bill Burrus at bburrus@gwcommonwealth.com.
