Pillow Academy’s first taste of postseason success was sweet — and long overdue.
The PA seniors were in the sixth grade the last time the Mustangs won a playoff game, but that all changed Friday night with a 47-22 pounding of East Rankin Academy.
“It tastes like nothing I’ve ever tasted,” senior lineman Haynes Camp said. “And we want more of it so we will work our (tails) off this week in practice to make sure we get it.”
The Mustangs (8-3), winners of their last four games, advance to the State AAAA, Division II playoffs to face Lamar School (7-3), which received a first-round bye.
“This is a big win because if you are going to have a championship program this has to be the norm,” Pillow coach Tripp McCarty said. “My message to our kids was enjoy the heck out of this because they earned it, but that you don’t get rings for this win. We’ve got to get two more for that.”
Senior quarterback/safety Cole Whitfield played like a man possessed. He ran over the Patriot defense for 92 yards and two touchdowns and passed for 49 yards and a score while recording six tackles, including one stop for a loss and a sack.
“We had to get revenge and keep our season going,” said Whitfield, whose team lost 14-13 to the Patriots at home in the first round last season. “I knew I had to bring it tonight. With me being a senior and my last game at Bill Davis Field, we had to win. It was great to close my senior year being undefeated at Bill Davis Field.”
East Rankin, which ends the season at 2-9, was within striking distance at the half, down just 20-15. But the Mustangs outscored ERA 27-7 in the final two quarters.
Pillow chewed up the Patriot defense for a season-high 415 rushing yards on 46 carries.
“Our offensive line did a great job. Man, those guys did a heck of a job,” McCarty said of Camp, Swayze Pillow, Jacob Garrard, Hunter Upchurch and Logan Tucker. “John Madison (Brooks) ran the ball well. All of our backs did, but my hat is off to our front guys.”
Brooks was indeed the bell cow for the Mustang offense as he churned out 245 yards on 18 carries and scored a touchdown.
Pillow led 7-0 early after a 2-yard TD run by Brooks, but ERA came right back for an 8-7 lead.
PA then went ahead with a 79-yard scoring drive, capped on a 6-yard scamper by senior Peyton Turner. Whitfield had a 13-yard pass to Eli Burton and a 21-yarder to Woods Rose to key the drive.
The Patriots got a pick-6 with 8:56 to play in the second quarter to go up 15-14. The Mustangs took the lead for good when Whitfield bulldozed his way into the end zone from two yards out.
Whitfield had an 11-yard TD run early in the third quarter to put his team ahead, 27-15.
PA stretched its lead to 33-15 late in the third when sophomore quarterback Lake Giachelli made up for the earlier interception returned for a touchdown.
He scrambled under pressure to his right and lofted a pass over a leaping defender and into the hands of senior wide receiver Cleveland Totten for an 11-yard scoring strike.
Whitfield’s 4-yard TD pass to Rose, and a 4-yard scoring scamper by sophomore Floyd Melton closed things out for Pillow.
Melton ran for 50 yards on eight carries on PA’s final scoring drive that went 71 yards on nine plays.
Burton was the leading receiver with two grabs for 24 yards and also had one carry for 14 yards.
Defensively, senior cornerback Walker Coleman had a team-high 10 tackles, including two stops for loss.
Junior linebacker Luke Fondren was next with seven stops, including a sack and two tackles for loss.
Turner also made several tackles behind the line from his cornerback spot.
