With 1 minute, 36 seconds remaining and Heritage Academy facing a 4th-and-12 near midfield trailing by eight points, junior quarterback Thompson Regimbal dropped back to pass. The Patriots were in desperate need of a big play to move the chains and keep the drive alive.
Didn’t happen.
Pillow Academy brought heavy pressure up front and put immense heat on Regimbal, forcing an errant pass to a well-defended receiver across the middle that ultimately fell harmlessly to the grass surface here at C.L. Mitchell Field.
Game over.
So, too, were the Patriots’ hopes of winning their first game of the season. The Mustangs, guided by shifty quarterback Tate DuBard and powered by a quick-hitting, highly-effective running game led by Charlie Robbins, rallied from an early 13-0 deficit to walk away with a 28-20 come-from-behind victory over still winless Heritage here Friday night in the District 1-5A opener for both teams.
Dubard ran the ball 21 times for 141 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He took a knee on three consecutive plays to end the game as Pillow went to a victory formation and ran out the clock. Running back Charlie Robbins, meanwhile, had 169 yards on 20 carries including a pair of touchdowns. The Mustangs rushed the ball 48 times for 304 yards. They attempted just four passes - all in the first half - completing none.
“They were very effective in the run game, you have to give them credit,” first-year Heritage head coach Tobias Smith said. “It was a battle of physicality and they won that battle. They hit us harder than we hit them, and they made the plays when their number was called. We didn’t.”
Pillow snapped a two-game skid to improve to 2-2. Heritage dropped to 0-4 entering next week’s game at Leake Academy. The Patriots had won six straight in the series, including a pair of wins over the Mustangs last season. Heritage, winners of five straight and six of the last seven district championships, suffered just their second district loss in their last 32 games. The Patriots have already lost more games this season than the two previous seasons combined.
“The offensive game plan was outstanding,” said Pillow coach Jim Crowder, who returned just two starters from last year. “Our offensive coordinator Barrett Donahoe did a great job of using really quick stuff up front trying to get underneath some of the rushing. The offensive line did a fantastic job, too. We’ve had a rough go of it the past couple of weeks losing to Jackson Academy and Jackson Prep, but I thought our hard work really paid off tonight.”
Interestingly enough, Donahoe was the head coach of the 2012 Heritage state championship team. That team was honored at halftime.
The Patriots have won two of the last four state championships, but they have looked anything but through their first four games. Consistency has been an issue on both sides of the ball, and the same scenario played out against Pillow. Heritage compiled a season-high 322 yards of total offense and scored one more point than it had in its three previous games combined - without a turnover.
Still, it wasn’t enough.
An offense that has struggled to generate points actually opened the game with two quick scores to bolt to a surprising 13-0 lead just a tad over four minutes into the game. Regimbal threw a 73-yard touchdown pass to Noah Madan, then followed that with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Charlie Fowler following a Pillow fumble. Things looked good at that point for the home team.
Not so fast.
Pillow responded and did so in a big way, scoring a pair of touchdowns in a four minute stretch near the end of the first quarter to take a 14-13 lead. The Mustangs then surged ahead 21-13 less than two minutes into the second quarter. DuBard had touchdown runs of 38 and 24 yards sandwiched in between by a 64-yard scoring run from Charlie Robbins. Oddly enough, those three touchdowns came on three consecutive snaps by the Mustangs’ run-heavy offense.
A 6-yard touchdown from Robbins extended Pillow’s lead to 28-13 with just under three minutes remaining in the third quarter. Heritage finally answered with a 55-yard touchdown pass from Regimbal to Adyn Westmoreland with just under seven minutes remaining. It proved to be too little, too late, however.
Regimbal completed 19 of 43 passes for a season-high 258 yards and three touchdowns - all to players not named Cameron Kidd, who had all three of Heritage’s previous three touchdowns this season. Kidd, who was moved from receiver to running back in last week’s loss at Biggersville, rushed for 91 yards on 13 carries. Madan had 6 catches for 96 yards.
The Patriots went scoreless for 37-plus minutes after jumping out to the 13-0 lead, a stretch in which the Mustangs scored 28 unanswered. In the end, it doomed them. Heritage has been outscored 78-13 in the second and third quarters combined through four games this season.
“(Tonight) was all about momentum,” lamented Smith. “We made some plays early, then Pillow made some plays, and after that we never could get back on top of dominating the game. We started off dominant, but they did a good job of getting back in the game and they never let their foot off the gas. We played hard, we just didn’t make enough plays. We’ve got to be more balanced. We’ve got to be able to run the ball better. Us being one-dimensional is not going to help us out. We’ve got to get better as a whole, and that starts with me.”
Robbins (169) and DuBard (141) combined for 310 rushing yards against a Heritage defense that has allowed a 100-yard rusher in each game (Hartfield’s Reed Jesiolowski 196; Winston’s Omar Scott 215; and Biggersville’s Jason Hatch 145).
“My guys played so hard,” Crowder said. “I’m extremely proud of them. Neither one of us are perfect football teams. But both teams played hard, and it was a really good football game. We answered the call after falling behind early, got some momentum back and then we were able to go on a little run there. Heritage tried to get back in it, but my guys were able to hold on.”