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Showdown
Shutdown When two 8-0 teams tangle, you expect a struggle full of drama. However, Frank Cobbs, Josh Calfee and the rest of the Cougar cast took all of the tension out of this particular play. Pulaski County’s shocking 56-14 total dismantling of previously unbeaten Patrick Henry sent a message to future playoff opponents - among whom might well be these same Patriots.
The Cougars won the toss, and deferred. John Hedge’s kickoff went into the endzone for a touchback. Kevin Saunders lost 2 yards on 1st down. QB Maurice Robinson’s pass for Tim Gardner was incomplete. On 3rd-and-8, Robinson’s pass for Dujuan Johnson was also incomplete. Adam Peters punted to the PC 38, and Alan Wheeling returned it to the Cougar 46. It took only 5 plays for the Cougars to take advantage of this great field position. Calfee went off tackle right for 11 yards. This first carry of the night for Josh officially made him the All-Time Cougar Leading Rusher, passing Doug Hendricks. This would not be the only record to be tied or broken on this beautiful night for football. Cobbs ran the FB dive for 15 yards. Calfee’s 10-yard run to the 18 gave the Cougars 3 first downs in 3 plays. Cobbs gained 9 yards on 1st down. Calfee swept right from the 9 into the endzone. Hedge’s PAT made it 7-0. The Patriots got good field position on the ensuing kickoff. Ben Parrish took the short kick from the 25 to the PH 44. Robinson found Dujuan Johnson for 7 yards. Jermaine Myers moved the chains with a 5-yard run. Dujuan Johnson took the flanker screen for 15 yards. After a delay of game penalty, Robinson rolled right and hit Dujuan Johnson for 13 yards down to the 22, making it 2nd-and-2. Myers got the first down with a 5-yard run. He then lost 3 yards catching a flare pass out of the backfield. An incomplete pass left PH with a 3rd-and-13 at the 20. Robinson hit Gardner over the middle at the 3, making it 1st-and-goal. Myers took the option pitch right down to the 1. Robinson was just short on the QB sneak, but the Cougars were called for a personal foul on the play, making it 1st-and-goal at the 1/2-yard line. Myers ran it in for the score. Jeff King blocked Peters’ PAT attempt. PC still led 7-6 with 4:17 left in the quarter. This was as close as the Patriots would get all night. Peters kicked off to the 4, where Calfee took it. Josh went right, back to the middle, then left. He might have broken it all the way, had Peters not slowed him down. Calfee was tackled at the PH 46. Calfee went off tackle right for 13 yards. Cobbs was stopped for no gain. Calfee swept right for a gain of 8, being tackled at the 25. This set up 3rd-and-2. Josh then gained 7 yards down to the 18, moving the chains. Cobbs was stuffed on the FB dive. Calfee was held to a 2-yard gain, making it 3rd-and-8. An encroachment penalty made it 3rd-and-18. Alan Wheeling rolled left, but was tackled by David Kuilan for a 7-yard loss. The teams changed ends. On 4th-and-25 from the 33, Hedge’s 50-yard FG attempt was wide left. In high school, a missed FG comes out to the 20, so Coach Hicks was not risking giving the Patriots the ball at the 33. Robinson passed to Dujuan Johnson for a first down, but PH was flagged for holding on the play, making it 1st-and-9. After an incompletion, Myers gained 2 yards. It was 3rd-and-7. King knocked down Robinson’s pass. Peters punted, and King nearly got it as well. Wheeling fair caught the kick at the PC 41. Cobbs gained 4 yards on 1st down. Calfee also gained 4, making it 3rd-and-2. Wheeling faked a handoff and kept left, getting 3 yards to move the sticks. 1st-and-10 at the PH 47. That’s well within range for Cobbs. He broke the FB dive all the way into the endzone. The PAT made it 14-6 Cougars, with 9:12 left until the break. Myers took the kickoff from the 4 to the 27, where he was tackled by David Hale. Wheeling defended well on two consecutive pass plays, making it 3rd-and-10. Robinson found Dujuan Johnson at the 34, and he was tackled at the 41. Robinson passed to Dujuan Johnson again for 5 yards. Robinson was held to a yard on the option play, making it 3rd-and-4 at the PH 47. Key turning point here: Robinson was being pressured by Mike Alderman, and threw. Antione Meadows intercepted the ball at the PC 45, and returned it 10 yards into Patriot territory. Cobbs took the FB dive for 19 yards. Calfee went off tackle left, broke tackles, and carried tacklers all the way down to the 7, where it took 4 or 5 PH defenders to finally drag him down. On 1st-and-goal, Cobbs gained 2 yards. As he did against William Fleming two weeks before, Wheeling called his own number, getting down to the 1. After a timeout, the Cougars faced 3rd-and-goal. Wheeling snuck in for the score, but was illegally helped in by Cobbs. The penalty made it 3rd-and-goal from the 6. Cobbs redeemed himself on the next play, taking the option pitch in untouched. Hedge added the PAT, and it was 21-6. Robinson gave PH good starting field position, taking the kickoff form the 4 all the way to the Patriot 47. However, Things would only go further downhill for PH. After an incomplete pass, Robinson completed a quick pass to Dujuan Johnson, but Cobbs and Wheeling held him to no gain. Jon Anderson defended well on the next pass play, and it was 4th-and-10. Wheeling caught the punt at the 10, where he was tackled. The Cougars were penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct on the return, meaning that the drive would begin at the 5. Believe it or not - that was close enough for Cobbs! 95 yards. Straight up the middle. The line blew open a hole a truck could have driven through untouched - which is exactly what Cobbs did. The run was a mere 2 yards short of the longest TD run in Cougar history. Hedge’s PAT made it 28-6, with only 3:22 left before halftime. One had to feel a little bad for the shell-shocked Patriots. But, there was more to come. Hedge’s kickoff was taken at the 5 by Robinson, who took it 21 yards up to the 29. When it rains, it pours. Robinson’s 1st down pass was picked off by Wheeling, who took it from the PC 44 all the way to the PH 12. The Cougars were in business once again. Calfee swept left down to the 1. Cobbs went in on the next play. PC 35-6. 2:50 on the clock. An unsportsmanlike penalty on PH was assessed on the ensuing kickoff, meaning that Hedge would kick from the PH 45. He decided that he needed some long field goal practice, and booted the ball through the uprights. Unfortunately, it did not qualify as a score, but it was nice to see anyway. After an incomplete pass, Robinson was again intercepted by Wheeling, who returned it 3 yards to the PH 22. A facemask penalty on the play moved the ball down to the 11. A holding call on the next play made it 1st-and-17. Wheeling kept right for 5 yards. Cobbs gained 3 yards, setting up 3rd-and-9. The next play was one of the very few low points of the game. Wheeling attempted to pitch, but was hit, and fumbled. Danny Cox picked it up for PH, and headed upfield. Fortunately, the speedy Cobbs brought him down from behind at the PC 47. Showing just what kind of night it was, PH was not able to take advantage of this miscue. Rbinson kept for 4 yards. After an incomplete pass, the Patriots called a timeout. Wheeling defended well on a deep 3rd-and-6 pass; so well,, in fact, Dujuan Johnson was called for offensive pass interference. This moved the ball back to the PH 42. Peters’ punt hit inside the 20, and bounced towards the sideline inside the 5. Once again, the Patriots could not catch a break, as the ball bounded out of bounds, but just barely after going past the pylon for a touchback. Cobbs gained a few yards, then the half ended. The ‘Game Of The Year’ was turning into the ‘Rout Of The Year’. This trend did not change in the second half. Calfee took the kickoff from the 8 for 30 yards to the 38. Calfee moved the chains with an off tackle run for 4 and a sweep for 24 yards. Cobbs went straight ahead for 9, and Calfee followed with a 6-yard run for another first down at the Patriot 20. On 2nd-and-7, Calfee swept into the endzone for a TD, but a holding call reduced it to a 3-yard-no-play gain. On 2nd-and-4, Cobbs bulled ahead to the 5. Calfee carried off tackle right for the score. 42-6. Dujuan Johnson took the kickoff from the 1 to the 21. Myers was held to a gain of a yard on first down. PH simply could not get any sort of running game going on this night. Robinson kept right on the option, but was stopped for no gain. Robinson rolled left on 3rd-and-9, but soon found King breathing down his neck. He threw the ball incomplete out of bounds, and it was again time for the Patriots to punt. David Hale almost blocked the kick, but Peters got it off. The punt rolled out of bounds at the Cougar 45. Calfee swept right for 9 yards, into PH territory. Cobbs took the FB dive for 13 yards and another first down, one of 27 on the night for PC. The offense showed no signs of slowing down. Greg Cobbs carried the criss-cross right for 3 yards. Calfee gained 4 yards, making it 3rd-and-3 at the 26. Josh was then held to a 2-yard gain on a sweep left, making it 4th-and-1. Calfee took the quick pitch left, and found his way to paydirt. Hedge tacked on the PAT, and it was 49-6, with still 3:35 left in the quarter. Robinson took the Hedge kickoff from the 6 up to the 26, where he was hit hard by Hale. Robinson passed to Johnson for 8 yards. Myers gained 4 on an off tackle left play, finally getting the Patriots a second half first down. Robinson passed to Treymayne Johnson for 5 yards. A flare pass to Myers was held to a gain of a yard. On 3rd-and-4, Robinson rolled right, and kept for 3 yards, setting up 4th-and-1. PH had no alternative but to go for it. Myers tried the off tackle left, but the Cougars stuffed it, and the measurement showed that it was just a bit short of the marker. PC took over at the Patriot 48. Hale was stopped for no gain. The 3rd quarter then ended. Antione Meadows took the FB dive for a nice 23-yard run. After being held to a yard on on off tackle right, Hale ran the pitch sweep down to the 12. Meadows ran for 3 yards to the 9. Greg Cobbs got into the scoring column with the criss-cross left. Astoundingly, the scoreboard now read Cougars 56, Patriots 6. Myers took the kickoff from the 1 to the 29. Robinson hit Dujuan Johnson for a 16-yard gain. After a short gain, Robinson tried to find Gardner, but Cobbs and Wheeling defended well. Josh Bowling knocked down a deep pass for Dujuan Johnson. It was 4th-and-8. Robinson found Josh Mitchen over the middle for 15 yards and a first down at the Cougar 37. Robinson kept on an option play for 23 yards. After an incompletion, Robinson kept for 5 yards. Myers gained 4 yards, making it 4th-and-1 at the 5. The Cougars jumped offside, giving PH a 1st-and-goal at the 3. Myers carried it in on 2nd-and-goal from the 1. Robinson kept on the option left for the 2-point PAT. 56-14 Cougars. Meadows took the squib kick at the 30, and gained 9 yards on the return. Andrew Hodges gained 3 yards. Hale swept left for 4 yards. David then went off tackle left for 11 yards and a first down. Hodges gained 8 yards on the FB dive. Hale swept left down to the 31, and was hit late out of bounds. The personal foul penalty moved the ball to the 17. After James Stone gained a yard on a pair of carries, John Harmon set up 1st-and-goal at the 5 with an 11-yard run. Stone gained 2 yards on 2 carries. The ball was resting at the 3 for 3rd-and-goal, as time was winding down. As he has done several times in the same kind of situation this season, Coach Hicks had mercy on the opponent, and instructed QB Joey Radcliffe to take a knee to end it. Final score: 56-14. The entire team was waiting at the top of the steps for Coach Hicks, instead of in the locker room. A big cheer went up as their hero arrived from his postgame tv interview. There were lots of high fives and pats on the back, but it was all just a setup. Jeff King was waiting at the end of the crowd and doused his coach with the victory bucket. Joel Hicks addressed his team in the locker room after the game. "I just wanted to tell you what I said in the tv interview after the game. In all the years I have been here, this senior class has improved the most from the previous year. Its been done with hard work in the weight room, on the field, and in your attitude to work as a team." Antione Meadows had his first career interception tonight. About the pick he commented, “The coaches have been on me about covering the flat. I saw the quarterback roll out so I dropped back to cover the hook-curl. I saw the receiver coming across the field. I saw him cock his arm back and my eyes got as big as golf balls. God blessed me with a great game tonight. I want to thank him for that." PH ‘s Head Coach Jeff Johnson shared some thoughts with this interviewer after the game. “I don't think they have a passing game, but they don't need one with a line like that. A team is going to have to stop their offensive line, and I don't think anyone in the state can do that.” The birthday boy had something to say about that. “We can pass, period. We have too many weapons. We haven't had to pass, nobody has stopped the run,” commented newly seventeen year-old quarterback and corner Alan Wheeling. He had two interceptions tonight, bringing his season total to 8, tying the single season school record set by Steve Alley and Andre Eaves. “This is the best birthday I have ever had. It was also the most tense one, waiting all day to play the game,” he added. Derrick Sartin stands in front of Frank Cobbs in the offensive huddle. After the personal foul penalty on Frank, Derrick reports that Cobbs said, “Give me a hole and I will take this one 95 yards.” Sartin did his part to fulfill this ‘called shot’ by getting a pancake block on his defender. Matt "Tater" Roan said, "We worked hard all week for this one. We got up on them early, and didn't look back." It was another record night for PC. The 500 total yards (all on the ground) enabled the team to blow past the 1993 team's season rushing and total yards records. Calfee became the all-time leading rusher, and Wheeling tied the season interception record. Cobbs' 95-yard run almost tied a record, as well. He had 200 yards in the first half alone. After the stunning triumph over the Patriots, the regular season's work is still not done. The victory sends the Cougars into the postseason for the first time since 1997. However, the RVD title is yet unsettled. PC travels to Cave Spring for its final RVD game not only of this season, but final RVD game - period. The Knights are 2-1 in the district, and 8-1 overall. A 49-7 thrashing of Halifax this week should give Cave confidence. A Cougar loss coupled with a PH victory over Fleming could leave 3 teams tied at 3-1, and it would all come down to power points. We have heard reports in the last several days that the Knights may have to forfeit some games because of an ineligible player. It is not clear at this point if this will be the case or not. Hopefully, final word will come on this soon. Possession-by-Possession Summary
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