PLEASANT HILL – Friday night’s homecoming game was a big night for Pleasant Hill as it faced its crosstown rival, Creswell. The Billies were not very gracious hosts, blanking the Bulldogs 36-0.
The victory was due in large part to freshman running back Kai Davis, who rushed for 116 yards and a touchdown.
“Kai has been our energy guy. He gets us going, he makes a lot of nice reads,” Billies coach Jeremy Heacock said. “For a freshman he plays like a veteran. He sees those gaps and runs hard so when the O-line opens up a gap, he really takes advantage for us.”
In the first quarter, neither team was able to find a rhythm with the period ending scoreless. It wouldn’t take long for points to be tallied from there, though, as Pleasant Hill’s Jacob Neely scored on the first play of the second quarter. Neely tracked a downfield pass – thrown by Creswell running back Hunter Mustin – and brought the interception back for a score to give the Billies a 7-0 lead.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Bulldogs fumbled, giving the ball right back to the Billies. Unfortunately for Pleasant Hill, it wasn’t able to capitalize, throwing an interception just two minutes later.
The chaos didn’t end there, though, as only three plays later the Billies sacked quarterback Darien Dewey in the end zone for a safety. That score put Pleasant Hill up 9-0 and gave it the ball back for a chance to score again before halftime.
The running game continued to impress for the Billies. From Creswell’s 45-yard line, Davis rushed three times for 24 yards before Neely rushed the other 21 for his second score of the night, putting Pleasant Hill up 16-0.
With a little over six minutes left in the half, the Billies were somehow just getting started. After forcing a three-and-out on defense, the Billies offense took three minutes to score again – putting them up 22-0. The 11-yard score came courtesy of a Steven Bounds pass to senior receiver Nic Perkins.
Using all of their remaining timeouts, Pleasant Hill got the ball back with five seconds for one final play. That time management ended up paying massive dividends, as Bounds threw a 55-yard touchdown to sophomore receiver Doug Green. That put an exclamation point on the Billies’ already-dominant second quarter, as they put up all 29 of their points in this time.
Offensively, the Billies cooled down after their red-hot second quarter as they went scoreless in the third. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, they weren’t able to put up any points either as Pleasant Hill’s defense – especially the line – didn’t miss a beat.
“(The linemen) are super important,” Heacock said. “That’s a very tight-knit group, they’ve worked hard all offseason, and it was great to see them perform well on both sides of the ball.”
On that same note, the Billies’ final score of the night came from their workhorse of the night, Davis – punching in the one-yard fourth-down score after a 19-yard third-down run.
Creswell and Pleasant Hill are both now 3-5 on the season. For the Billies, they look to finish strong at home against Madras at 7 p.m. on Nov. 1.
“It’s all about practice,” Heacock said. “It’s just about getting these kids at this time of year to show up, and you count down the days in the sense of making every day count. We’ll have to hold each other accountable, but that’s what it is, every day just take advantage of it and realize that how we practice is how we play.”
