Eagles smash couch, Heidelberg on way to first victory|[8/26/06]

Published 12:00 am Saturday, August 26, 2006

HEIDELBERG – Porters Chapel proved to be quite the road warriors Friday.

First the team bus had to smash through a couch that was left stranded in the middle of Interstate 20 near Pearl, about an hour into the Eagles’ trip to Heidelberg Academy.

Then PCA got a solid road win, beating a seven-time MPSA state football champion in the Rebels 13-0 Friday night.

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Winning was nice but Eagles coach Randy Wright was just glad his team got to Heidelberg in one piece.

&#8220There was a couch in the middle of the road and our bus is doing 75 (miles per hour). We had to go through it because if our driver swerves to miss it, the bus would’ve turned over and we’ve got a bad accident,” Wright said.

The couch was destroyed, even though remnants managed to stick to the bus all the way to Heidelberg.

&#8220I couldn’t tell what it was and then I looked up and saw this couch,” said PCA linebacker/fullback Moose Carney. &#8220The bus smashed it up. There was wood and stuff sticking to the front of the bus.”

&#8220All I saw was splinters,” Wright added.

&#8220It was mighty weird,” PCA linemen Matt Hall said. &#8220You never know on our road trips. Last year we had a blowout going up to Greenville Christian, and now we run over a couch.”

Once at Rebel Field, the Eagles showed a similar toughness to Heidelberg.

The PCA defense picked up from last season’s 11-1 campaign by posting a shutout. The Rebels did not cross into PCA territory until the fourth quarter and their only scoring opportunity was stopped on downs at the Eagle 16 with seven minutes to play.

Offensively, the Eagles cashed in a turnover with a 7-yard TD run by Spencer Pell in the second quarter. Senior do-it-all Michael Busby provided a cushion with field goals of 36 and 37 yards.

&#8220They have a great kicker in Busby,” said Heidelberg coach Mike Taylor. &#8220He hit the two field goals and then kept us in a hole with his kickoffs and punts. I was impressed with them. They hit better than we did. And too, we haven’t seen much of the split-4.”

Penalities and dropped passes prevented PCA from enjoying a larger margin of victory. Two touchdowns were called back on flags and a sure passing TD by Hayden Hales to Cole Smith was dropped.

Still, Wright was pleased.

&#8220We racked up another shutout by our defense and we beat a big, physical team who has won a lot of state championships. It was a quality win,” Wright said.

Hales led PCA, hitting on 6 of 13 passes for 73 yards. Two of the completions came on a 42-yard drive right before the first half horn to set up Busby’s 36-yard kick that made it 10-0.

An 11-yard scramble by Hales late in the third quarter put Busby in range for his 37-yard kick that upped the lead to 13-0 with 11:07 left.

Heidelberg answered with its best drive of the night, reaching the PCA 16 following two pass completions of 35 yards by Rebel quarterback Nathan Quimby, who was 5-of-15 for 68 yards in the game.