The final score does not begin to tell the story of this game. The Cougars needed a win to keep realistic playoff chances alive. They fell short. However, exactly *how* the game was lost was, in several ways, hard to take for Cougar fans.

The Cougars kicked off. Jonathon Smith took Paul Taylor’s squib kickoff 12 yards to the Fleming 47, but the Colonels were called for clipping on the play. This moved the ball back to the 18. Fleming got one first down before facing 4^th-and-5 on its own 44. Lamon Price punted for Fleming, and the ball was downed at the PC 28.

With the Cougars facing 3^rd-and-3 at their own 35, the Colonels were called for an offside penalty, giving PC a first down. On 2^nd-and-7 from the Cougar 43, Josh Calfee carried left for 22 yards. On the next play, he ran left, broke tackles, and followed the left sideline into the endzone. Taylor’s PAT made it 7-0 PC with 6:56 left in the first quarter.

Taylor’s squib kickoff went out-of-bounds, giving the Colonels the ball at their own 35. Both teams used this type of kickoff all night, avoiding the opponent’s dangerous kick returners. Two incomplete passes made it 3^rd-and-10 for Fleming. Hardy then carried for 6 yards, making it 4^th-and-4. Price’s punt was downed at the Cougar 40.

On 3^rd-and-3 from the PC 47, Calfee took the pitch left and got just enough yardage to move the chains. On 3^rd-and-4 from Fleming’s 44, QB Travis Roop kept the ball on the option right play, gaining 6 yards. Roop returned to action for the first time since the neck injury in the third game against Salem. Frank Cobbs’ 20-yard run on the criss-cross on 2^nd-and-11 moved the ball down to the 19. Calfee broke the next play down to the 2. On 1^st-and-goal. Calfee was stopped for a loss of a yard. On 2^nd-and-goal, Roop faked a handoff and rolled right, but was tackled for a 7-yard loss. On 3^rd-and-10, Cobbs took the criss-cross play right for the score. Taylor’s PAT made the score Cougars 14, Colonels 0 with 24 seconds left in the quarter.

Taylor’s kickoff was taken at the Fleming 20, and returned for no gain. Jermaine Hardy carried for 3 yards on first down, ending the first quarter. A short pass gained 2 yards. The next play was one of the turning points in the game. On 3^rd-and-5, Hardy took the handoff up the middle, shook off a tackle, headed for the right sideline, and outran the Cougar secondary for a 75-yard score. Elvir Berbic’s PAT was good. 14-7 PC with 11:14 left before halftime.

David Hale fell on Lamon Price’s kickoff at the 29. The Cougars gained only 5 yards on 3 plays. On 4^th down, Taylor shanked the punt, and it only went to the Colonel 48.

The Colonels made one first down, then faced a 2^nd-and-12 at the Cougar 40. A pass over the middle to Cedric Preston was good for 22 yards and another first down. Hardy gained 8 yards on first down. On 2^nd-and-2 from the Cougar 10, Frank Jones carried down to the 1. Hardy carried the ball in for the score on the next play. Berbic’s PAT was wide right. 14-13 PC with 6:31 left in the half.

Hale took Price’s kickoff from the 24 to the 37.

Now, the first of several strange decisions by the officials occurred. Calfee carried for an apparent first down. However, the Cougars were called for clipping on the play. The strange thing about the call was, the flag was thrown almost immediately after the snap, in the direction of the offensive line. This set the Cougars back for 1^st-and-25 from the 22. On the next play, Calfee carried left, and fumbled on his way down while being tackled. Fleming’s Vincent Pickney picked up the ball and ran it in for a TD. The Colonels decided to go for 2. Preston caught the pass, but was out-of-bounds. Fleming led for the first time, 19-14, with 5:51 left in the second quarter.

Hale took Price’s kickoff from the 24 up to the Cougar 40. On 3^rd-and-9, Roop’s pass for Chris Quesenberry was off target. Taylor’s punt was returned 15 yards to the Fleming 25.

On 2^nd-and-10, Milton Jeffries caught a pass for a 9-yard gain. Hardy was then stopped for no gain on third down. Price’s punt was almost blocked, and only went 17 yards to the Cougar 49. The Cougars had 2:23 left to try to score before the half.

On 3^rd-and-9 from the 50, Roop passed to Kenneth Fitzwater at the Colonel 21. He out-leaped the defender for the ball, and appeared to have possession. However, the ball came out when he hit the ground while being tackled. The pass was ruled incomplete. Taylor then punted the ball into the endzone.

Fleming ran two plays before the half ended with the score Colonels 19, Cougars 14.

Price kicked off for Fleming to begin the second half. Josh Bowling took his kick from the 15 up to the PC 25. On 3^rd-and-5, Calfee gained 3 yards. Taylor punted on 4^th-and-2. Preston returned the kick 13 yards to the Colonel 29.

The Colonels could not gain ground, either. On 4^th-and-10 from the 29, Price’s punt was fair caught at the PC 41.

The Cougars would get two first downs before facing 4^th-and-2 at the Colonel 26. Calfee carried left, but was met with a host of defenders, and gained only a yard. Calfee was seen limping off the field after the play. Fleming took over on downs.

The strangest event of the game occurred next. On 1^st-and-10, a quick slip screen pass to Fleming’s Craig Calfee hit the ground. He caught the ball as it bounced up to him. Not even attempting to run the ball, he stood sheepishly waiting for a whistle to confirm that the play was (as he assumed was obvious) an incomplete pass and not a lateral. But for 2 to 3 seconds, no whistle was blown. A pair of Cougars came up to tackle him. At this point, 3 officials approached Calfee and blew their whistles. It appeared to all that the play was merely an incomplete pass, confirming Calfee’s assumption. There was no indication otherwise from the officials at the time.

Hardy took a pitch right for 2 yards. Fans, players and coaches thought that it was now third down. However, the down marker still showed second down. This became a real controversy.

Coach Hicks was obviously upset, and argued with the officials who came over to explain the situation. Cougar fans in the stands, including myself, were irate. However, the down marker was not changed.

After the game, one of the officials, backed up by another official, said that the first down play resulted in an "inadvertent whistle", and thus did not count. There was no obvious announcement of this at the time of the play, to say the least.

On what was called 2^nd-and-8, a pass attempt fell incomplete. A pass to Ryan Bratton on 3^rd-and-8 was just enough for the first down at the 37.

After an incomplete pass on first down, Hardy took the ball down the right sideline all the way to the PC 14. Hardy again carried on the next play, gaining yardage down to the 2. On 1^st-and-goal, the Colonels ran it in for the score. Hardy scored on the two-point conversion. Colonels 27-14 with 1:21 to go in the third quarter.

Hale took the short kickoff from the 25 up to the Cougar 36. On the play, the Fleming player who tackled Hale was injured. Play stopped for an extended period of time while trainers attended to him. The situation reminded Cougar fans of the death of Lee Cook in this same stadium two years earlier. Eventually, an ambulance was called as a precaution, and the player was escorted off the field on a stretcher. This was probably wise, considering that a lawsuit for $5 million was recently filed concerning the alleged mismanagement of Cook’s injury during the 1997 PC at WF game.

The EMS workers were *probably* just being cautious. From what was gathered from unofficial reports after the game, the injury was not as serious at it appeared.

The first play of the fourth quarter had the Cougars facing 3^rd-and-3 from their own 43. Calfee took the pitch left for 5 yards and a first down. On 3^rd-and-2 from the Colonel 44, Calfee gained 8 yards. On 2^nd-and-10 from the 26, Calfee’s run, plus penalty yardage for a facemask violation, put the ball at the 10. On 3^rd-and-goal from the 7, Roop rolled right and scrambled up the middle to the 1. On the next play, Calfee took the pitch left and cut back upfield for the score. Taylor’s PAT put the Cougars within 6 at 27-21 with 7:32 left to play in the game.

Taylor’s squib kickoff was touched by a Colonel up man, and went out-of-bounds at the 26. Fleming gained only 4 yards in 3 plays, and was forced to punt. After a bad snap, the kick was a poor one, being shanked and going only 3 yards before bouncing out-of-bounds. The Cougars took over with 6:05 left in the game.

On 1^st-and-10 from the 33, Calfee ran left down to around the 22. A penalty for a late hit on Calfee out-of-bounds after the play moved the ball to the 13. On 1^st-and-10, Hale carried up the middle down to the 5. Calfee then ran left down to the 2 for a 1^st-and-goal. However, Calfee was injured on the play, and need assistance in slowly walking off the field. He did not return for this series. Roop carried on two consecutive quarterback sneaks, the second of which was good for a TD. Taylor’s PAT gave the Cougars the lead, 28-27, with 4:34 remaining.

Taylor’s squib kick was again touched by an up man, and went out-of-bounds, this time at the 20. A pass in the left flat to Hardy gained 6 yards. On the next play, Hardy carried left, broke tackles, and cut back across the middle. Only a saving tackle by Alan Wheeling at the Cougar 10 prevented an immediate score. On 1^st-and-goal, Marcus Smith carried for 4 yards. On 2^nd down, Hardy took the pitch left, but slipped and was tackled by Jonathan Anderson for a 6-yard loss. On 3^rd-and-goal from the 12, QB Richard Barrett faked a handoff and rolled right. He found Preston coming back for the pass on the right side at the 6. Preston slipped off of at least one tackle, turned around, and beat the defender coming over to the endzone. A pass attempted for the two-point conversion fell incomplete. Colonels 33-28 with 2:21 to go.

Price’s squib kickoff went all the way to the Cougar 10 before being picked up by Josh Bowling, who returned it to the 12. On 1^st-and-10, Roop’s attempted pass was tipped away by Charles Corner, who nearly picked it off. Roop then passed to Fitzwater for 9 yards. A controversial illegal procedure penalty, which brought a disbelieving Coach Hicks onto the field, set the Cougars back to the 16 for a 3^rd-and-6. Roop rolled left, but overthrew the open Cobbs. Calfee carried for only one yard on 4^th down. Fleming took over.

Hardy ran for a short gain, then Barrett took knee. The contest was history. The Cougars had given all they had, but it just wasn’t quite enough.