Heritage Academy used an early fake punt to grab the momentum, and Pillow Academy was never able to wrestle it away in a battle of unbeatens.
The Patriots took a 7-0 lead off the trickery and rolled to a 26-13 win Friday night in Columbus.
The Mustangs slip to 5-1, just missing the best start to the season under Tripp McCarty. PA also started 5-0 in his first season in 2014.
Heritage (7-0) established itself as the team to beat in Class 5A with the impressive win, moving to 3-0 in District 1-5A. Pillow is 1-1 in league play with conference foe Starkville Academy coming to town next week.
The Mustangs moved the ball well at times in the first half but had nothing to show for it as the Patriots led 20-0 at the break.
A couple of early uncharacteristic dropped passes, had some key penalties and commited a turnover in the red zone — allof which kept PA scoreless in the first two quarters.
The Patriots went up 26-0 in the third, and PA scored its only points in the fourth quarter. The first came on a 4-yard TD jaunt from junior Christian Belk, and senior Hagan Wilson found the end zone for the second straight week, hauling in a 40-yard scoring strike from senior quarterback Shane Houston Stephens. Wilson wound up with a team-high 91 yards on three receptions.
Stephens finished with 25 completions on 33 attempts for 296 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Jaden Simcox added 65 yards receiving.
While the Mustangs found success through the air, it was tough sledding for them on the ground — managing just 77 yards.
Heritage rolled up 156 rushing yards and 239 passing.
Lawes McCool paced the PA defense with nine tackles, followed by Sam Harris with eight.
