The Pillow Academy Mustangs may be down, but they are by no means out.
That’s the word from PA head coach Michael Fair as his team continues to battle a numbers crunch. The Mustangs, competing in the largest MAIS classification, started the season with just 25 players and have never had that many players dressed out in a single game due to injuries and sickness.
The Mustangs are 1-5 with four games to play, but Fair insists his young team will keep fighting.
“With the record like it is, I haven’t seen any difference in how our guys come to work each day now as compared to the start of the season. This is just a special group. They’re going against teams with twice as many, some times three times as many, players on their roster. Not once have I heard one of our guys give an excuse,” Fair said.
The Mustangs will dress out just 21 varsity players Friday night against rival Washington School. Kickoff is set for 7 at Bill Davis Field.
The Generals come in at 4-1 overall, 1-0 in the North AAA, while the Mustangs are 0-3 in league play.
Washington had a bye last week following a 28-14 loss to Madison-Ridgeland Academy, while Pillow dropped a 45-10 decision to MRA.
Washington is talented and much deeper than Pillow. The only knock on the Generals is that all four wins came against Class AA schools.
“It’s a typical Washington team. They have speed across the board on offense, and defensively, they are aggressive and run to the ball,” Fair said. “But I have no doubt we will give Washington everything we’ve got.”
Both teams rely heavily on the ground game.
Washington averages 268 yards a game rushing, compared to just 77 passing. The Generals’ ground attack is led by Andrew Steinle, who is one of four players who average more than six yards per carry for Washington.
Steinle has a team-high 390 yards and six touchdowns on 42 carries, and Roman Fratesi is next with 266 yards and a touchdown on 37 attempts.
The PA defense, led by sophomore Bay Bennett and juniors Conner Sewell and Maury Sykes, will have to slow down the Washington run game for the Mustangs to pull off the upset.
• Contact Bill Burrus at 581-7237 or bburrus@gwcommonwealth.com. Follow on Twitter:@Bill_Burrus.
