The game was there for the taking.
Despite allowing a back-breaking touchdown in the final minute of the second quarter that dropped it in a 21-point hole at halftime, the Heritage Academy football team found a spark in the third quarter.
A Michael Ledbetter 90-yard kickoff for a touchdown to open the second half suggested the final 24 minutes were going to be different. When Heritage Academy followed the touchdown by recovering an onside kick, you had the sense the Patriots could take the next step to complete the comeback.
Unfortunately, Heritage Academy couldn’t take the next step on its next two drives to close the gap. The inability to score came back to haunt Heritage Academy as it lost to Pillow Academy 31-7 in a pivotal Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Class AAA, District 1, Division II game at C.L. Mitchell Field.
“We didn’t play well,” Heritage Academy coach Barrett Donahoe said. “There is no reason for it. … We’re not happy, I am not happy, nobody’s happy. I am sure there are a lot of unhappy people right now, and I am by far, I promise you, the one who is the most unhappy.”
The loss left Heritage Academy (4-4, 1-3 Division II) with little room for error. It will play host to Leake Academy next week in a non-division game before going on the road to play Starkville Academy and Magnolia Heights on back-to-back weeks. Those games likely will determine the two teams from District 1, Division II that will advance to the playoffs. Starkville Academy is 7-1 and 4-1, while Magnolia Heights is 6-2 and 3-2.
The victory helped Pillow Academy improve to 6-2 and 2-2. The Mustangs used a solid ground game that piled up 253 yards on 45 carries. Pillow Academy threw only 12 times for 23 yards, but it didn’t need to be balanced because it had five running back share the load behind a strong offensive line.
“It really has (been our M.O. all season),” Pillow Academy coach Tripp McCarty said of his team’s offensive line. “We have kind of built this thing around our offensive line, and they keep rising to the challenge and doing a good job. We still have some work to do, but Heritage is a good ballclub. We were able to push them around a little bit late in the game. We are still relying on our ground game. We don’t have a passing game where we need it, so we are still having to do everything on the ground.”
Despite falling behind 21-0, Heritage Academy had a stronger pulse 15 seconds into the second half. Ledbetter fielded the kick and started to his right. As he slowly ran out of real estate, Ledbetter turned the ball up the middle and ran virtually untouched down the right sideline, holding off three Mustangs. Hunter Sykes was positioned perfectly to recover the onside kick that set the Patriots up at the Mustangs’ 49-yard line. After a rush by Cayde4n Upton went for no gain on first down, quarterback Tyler Anderson found Ledbetter on a 49-yard touchdown pass, but the play was called back due to a holding penalty. Still, Heritage Academy regrouped and used a 53-yard pass from Anderson to William Hardy to get a first-and-goal at the Pillow Academy 10. The Patriots caught a break on third down following an incompletion, as the Mustangs were penalized for a horse collar tackle. The call gave Heritage Academy a second chance at third down, but Anderson was dropped for a 1-yard loss. The Patriots didn’t fare any better on fourth down, as Ledbetter’s halfback option pass fluttered incomplete.
The drive included perfect examples of Pillow Academy’s ability to get penetration into the backfield. The aggressive play by the defense never allowed Anderson or quarterback Dylan Barker, who threw two interceptions, to get comfortable.
“Defensively, we try to speed up the offense’s clock with some of the things we do,” McCarty said. “We are not big enough to kind of sit in there and root, so we have to move some guys and move around a little bit and change the tempo of their play and make everything happen a little faster. We did on some occasions, especially on some big downs we did that.”
Heritage Academy’s defense did its part on the next series by getting a three-and-out. The stand allowed the Patriots to take over on the Mustangs’ 34. But Heritage Academy managed only 4 yards on four downs. Three of the plays were incomplete passes. The Mustangs had pressure on all three, as the Patriots’ quarterbacks were flushed from the pocket or chased into awkward throws.
“We got the touchdown called back on a holding call and then we got down to the 3-yard line and couldn’t score,” Donahoe said. “That wasn’t very good game management on our part. That was bad play-calling on my part. I don’t feel like we did a very good job of managing that situation. At that point in the game, we weren’t controlling the line up front and we kind of got away from what we wanted to do. We never got in a rhythm.”
Pillow Academy used a 36-yard field goal by Steve Pannell with 1 minute, 1 seconds left in the third quarter to extend its lead to 24-7. It used a 39-yard touchdown run by Will Jennings with 3:32 remaining to seal the deal.
McCarty said the road victory was huge, especially with the way he felt his special teams unit played.
“They were pathetic. Our kickoff team was absolutely terrible,” McCarty said. “They did a terrible job all night. They get enough work in practice. That is not something we neglect. We spend a lot of time on special teams, so there is no excuse for that.”
The victory was especially important for Pillow Academy, which was coming off a 22-3 loss to Jackson Academy and a 34-31 loss to Magnolia Heights. It will take on Starkville Academy on Nov. 7 in Greenwood.
“We have had to (re-focus) the last two weeks with JA and Mag Heights,” McCarty said. “This team is pretty battle proven as far as responding. Hopefully, we will continue that.”
“This definitely helps. It is so shook up that if you get a loss you’re going to have to have a lot of help, and a lot of help might not even be enough, so we have to keep winning to stay alive. We don’t just want to get in. We want to get in and be at home in the first round.”
Donahoe also hopes his team can rebound to earn its third-straight playoff appearance. While he was pleased with the way his defense responded in the second half following a change to its front, he said the Patriots didn’t execute like they need to if they want their season to extend deeper into the month of November.
“They did a very good job of getting pressure on us off the edge,” Donahoe said. “We didn’t do a very good job. Our scheme wasn’t good, we didn’t play fast, and we played bad. That is all there is to it.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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