GREENWOOD - Hayden Davis paced the MRA sideline, hobbling from spot to spot the best he could. Dressed in a blue polo shirt and khaki shorts, hat turned backwards and with his injured left ankle in a boot, all he could do was watch. The Patriots’ standout sophomore quarterback so desperately wanted to be out on the field helping his team out the way only he can. But he couldn’t. And there’s no question he was missed. A lot. With Davis out, MRA failed to capitalize on numerous trips into the red zone and as a result lost to Pillow 17-7 here on a gloomy, unseasonably cool Friday night at Bill Davis Field. The Patriots – relying heavily on their running game, namely Clint Moses - moved the ball fairly effectively against the Mustangs between the 20s. But once inside the 20, the offense stalled. “You have to give them a lot of credit,” MRA coach Herbert Davis said. “Their effort was incredible tonight. The bottom line is when we got it in the red zone we just didn’t finish for whatever reason. We had a few penalties…a few missed assignments. We have to find a way to cut down on mistakes and find a way to get the ball in the end zone. The same thing happened last week (14-6 loss to Taylorsville). We got the ball down their a couple of times and only got six points out of it. “It’s consistency, that is what we are lacking,” Davis continued. “At times we moved the ball really well…we picked up a lot of yards on the ground. We would get a 7 or 8 yard run, then we would get a penalty or something. We are doing some good things, we just have to put it all together.” With Karter Bounds and Hayden White filling in at quarterback, MRA’s offense possessed the ball for a majority of the game. The Patriots totaled 315 total yards – 185 rushing, 130 passing – on 74 plays. And 19 first downs. In contrast, Pillow had 201 total yards – all rushing – on just 40 plays. And five first downs. Outside of Pillow’s two long scoring runs – a 39-yarder by John Madison Brooks on the Mustangs’ first possession and a 87-yarder by Bay Bennett early in the second quarter – MRA’s defense allowed only five other yards in the first half. In the second half, Pillow fumbled on its first drive and managed only 24 yards until putting together its lone sustained drive of the night (14 plays, 48 yards) late in the game to nearly run out the clock and tuck away the win. MRA was stopped on a 4th-and-3 at the Pillow 17-yard line, a 4th-and-goal at the 2 and a 4th-and-3 at the 11. The Patriots also reached the Pillow 24-yard line once before being stopped. “The defense played really well except for a couple of plays,” Davis said. “It still comes back to us not being able to score when we get the ball in the red zone. We got down there tight several times, but we couldn’t run it between the tackles and that put us in a bind.” Pillow, coming off a few lean years, improved to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in North AAA under new head coach Tripp McCarty. The Mustangs won their first three games by a combined score of 130-20 against AA teams. Still, there was some questions about the validity of this year’s team. And, there may still be some – albeit fewer - considering MRA was without Davis, the Patriots’ leading rusher and passer. However, there is no question Pillow is a much-improved team playing with more effort, energy and execution than in recent years. And there’s no question it earned its latest victory – its first over MRA since 2010. The Patriots had defeated the Mustangs by an average margin of 31 points the past three years. “Our guys played their hearts out tonight,” McCarty said. “We played extremely hard. Our defense was on the field a lot tonight, but they kept playing with great effort. They were flying to the football. There were some short yardage situations where we really took it to them.” “I’m really proud of this football team, I’m happy for them,” McCarty continued. “And I’m happy for our assistant coaches. They have worked really hard. We’re not a good team yet, but we are trying to get there. We can’t look back and say we’re doing better than the past couple of years or whatever. We have to focus on the present. We are 1-0 in the conference this year. This is the 2014 team. We can’t be comparing to what we’ve done in the past.” MRA, ranked No. 4 in The Clarion-Ledger Academy AAA poll, dropped to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the conference with its second straight loss. Things don’t get any easier for the Patriots, who play Jackson Prep, Magnolia Heights and Starkville Academy the next three weeks. All three are undefeated, and Prep and Magnolia Heights are considered by many the top two teams in the MAIS – although Oak Forest and Jackson Academy also have to be in that conversation. It is unclear at this point when Hayden Davis will return. He said Friday night that he hopes to be back for this week’s Prep game at home. Davis sustained a high ankle sprain on the final play of the second quarter during last week’s loss to Taylorsville. Aside from the obvious – Davis has accounted for nearly 600 yards and eight touchdowns this season – he also brings a high doses of intensity, toughness and leadership that has been lacking the past couple of weeks with him sidelined. “We’ve got what it takes…we’ve got the parts,” Moses said. “We’ve just got to focus more and stay positive. The coaches always tell us its not going to be perfect; the key is to make less mistakes than our opponents and we haven’t been doing that the past couple of games. And I didn’t think our effort was very good the first quarter. It seemed like when something went wrong, or they would score, our vibe would go down. We can’t do that. We have to keep playing. Really, we’ve just got to find a way to put it all together.” Moses, a 6-2, 200-pound junior, did his part, often punishing would-be tacklers en route to a team-best 127 yards on 23 carries. On many of those runs he was first hit at, or behind the line of scrimmage. The same can be said for Bounds, who juked and jived his way to 58 yards on 16 carries – including a 1-yard touchdown run with 7 minutes, 49 seconds left in the game – while splitting time between quarterback, running back and slot receiver. Hayden White, a sophomore, saw his first playing time at quarterback as part of a new package put in by the coaching staff this week. After entering the game late in the first quarter, White completed 8 of 10 passes for 106 yards. His favorite target was 6-2 wideout Ian Dixon, who hauled in seven catches for 81 yards after being quite for a couple of games. Dixon injured his right ankle late in the game and didn’t return. MRA fumbled on the second play of the game at its own 41-yard line. Two plays later, Brooks raced 39 yards to stake Pillow to an early 7-0 lead much to the delight of loud contingent of mostly yellow-clad fans on the home side. Pillow extended its lead to 14-0 on Bennett’s 87-yard touchdown run. He was hit near the line of scrimmage, but broke that initial tackle in the middle of the field and raced untouched into the end zone. Bennett’s run came just three plays after MRA was stopped for a four-yard loss on 4th-and-goal at the 2. Another MRA miscue led Pillow’s final points – a wind-aided 36-yard field goal by Steve Pannell with 5:31 left before halftime. The Patriots gave over the ball on their own 5-yard line as the punt snap sailed over the head of Austin Scott. MRA’s defense has allowed just five touchdowns and one field goal through the first four games. The Patriots have yet to be scored on in the second half.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 20:27:55 +0000
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