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Bleachers 2000: Wednesday, November 29 - Final Thoughts It's hard to believe that it's over. It seems like just yesterday that we were at the pep rally the night before the opener against Christiansburg. The year 2000 will be remember for several great things - the many team and individual records tied and broken, the final Roanoke Valley District season (and Championship), breaking a pair of 25-or-better winning streaks of defending State Champions Salem and Culpeper (both on the road), the Northwestern Region Championship, and the last year in AAA. Looking back, the loss to Cave Spring may have been a blessing in disguise. Maybe without that gut check, going up to Culpeper and winning, then giving the Hurricanes their closest game this season, would not have been possible. I guess you can never say something like that for certain. If the year had to end in defeat, it was fitting that it was in Dobson Stadium. Outstanding Seniors like Frank Cobbs and Jeff King (headed to Va. Tech) wrapped up their Cougar careers at home. I just mentioned the two most 'visible' Seniors. I could stop there, or mention a few other standouts who are graduating. However, looking back to my interview with Coach Hicks before the season began, I recall one of the things he said he wants to be remembered for: "First, I always treat the kids on the 'scout team' the same as the starters. I make sure they know that they are part of the team. I give all the players my respect." Keeping with the spirit of this, here are the names and uniform numbers for all of the Seniors - 'stars', 'scouts' and in-between - on the 2000 Cougar Roster: No. 5 - Josh Bowling As we give a salute to these 21 players, thanking them and wishing them well, we also look to next year, with returning Juniors like Alan Wheeling, Josh Calfee, Greg Cobbs, and Matt Roan, just to name some key ball handlers. Sophomore John Hedge will be back, as will Jeremy Porter, who was brilliant on occasion in 2000, and will no doubt get a lot more playing time next Fall. Let's look at how the past 22 years under the direction of Coach Joel Hicks have been: 22 non-losing seasons How long will Hicks coach? It's hard to say. Perhaps he would have retired with a State Championship this year. Maybe he will be around another decade. Who knows? Well, after a quarter of a century in the Roanoke Valley District, and 27 years in AAA, next season will be PC's first in AA Division 4 as a member of the Blue Ridge District. If you want to get a week's respite from high school football withdrawal, you might want to go see the team that has ruled the BRD, our big rival Salem, play Park View (Sterling) this Saturday. The Spartans will try to win their 3rd straight State Championship, and 4th in the last 5 years. One has to also wonder how long Willis White will remain on the sidelines. Perhaps these two coaching giants, with currently 4-5 state titles between them, will leave at the same time? After the 1994 meeting between the Cougars and Spartans, won by PC 21-18, the coaches went to each others locker room to congratulate the opponents on a great game. In 1997, these two teams played another thriller, in which the Cougars prevailed, 20-16. I believe this was when Joel said to Willis at midfield during the postgame handshake, while gesturing towards the stands, "What are they going to do when we retire?" Stay tuned. Have a good off season. And, be patient. It's only 9 more months, you know. Week Fourteen Review - Heritage{Newport News} Hurricanes (State Semifinal, Home): It is said that all good things must come to an end. This was certainly true for the Cougars this past Saturday, when they were defeated 22-17 by Heritage of Newport News on a cold and rainy afternoon, thus finishing Pulaski County's nearly-three-decade stay in AAA . The game started out well, with the Cougars taking the opening kickoff and marching 66 yards in 18 plays, converting a pair of 4th downs along the way. Frank Cobbs took it in for the score from 10 yards out. Things looked even brighter when Josh Bowling intercepted his first of his two pickoffs on Heritage's first play after a good kickoff return. Unfortunately, several penalties on the ensuing possession left the Cougars in a hole, and PC paid the price. Brandon Hamblin's punt was blocked and ran in for a score at the beginning of the 2nd quarter. The Cougars got a break later, when the Hurricanes' punter was tackled after he bobbled a high snap from center. John Hedge kicked a 25-yard FG, and PC led 10-7 at the break. It looked as if a big upset was in the making. However, thanks to the explosiveness of one player, it did not take Heritage long to take the lead. After a key completion on 3rd-and-15 on the opening drive of the second half, QB Jayson Cooke handed off on the draw play to Michael Johnson, who broke it open all the way for a 63-yard TD. Late in the 3rd quarter, it was Johnson again from 52 yards out. A bad snap on a botched PAT attempt ended up well for the Hurricanes, as the holder ran it in, making it 22-10. Johnson, whose namesake has been called by some the fastest man in the world, certainly seemed well named. He got 241 yards on only 11 carries, which averaged out to 21.91 yards per carry! No running back this season had done anything close to this against the Cougars. After a second Bowling interception in the endzone ended a scoring threat, the Cougars marched 80 yards in 11 plays, with Calfee getting the score on a sweep. The team showed a lot of pride on this scoring march, but it was too little too late, as there were only 36 seconds left, and PC did not have enough timeouts left. The onside kick bounced out of bounds, and that was it. Heritage has numerous Division 1 college prospects on their team. Team speed made the difference in the end, although they got only 15 points out of their offense against a determined Cougar D. If you read certain message boards before the game, you probably saw predictions like 45-0. Well, we did lose to a better team. But, we put up a great fight. As are all PC fans, I was sorry that we did not win - but the Cougars gave it all they had, leaving everything out on the field. This is a team to be very proud of. The Hurricanes (13-0) go on to play Dinwiddie in the title game this coming Saturday. According to Gilliam's Ratings, they should be about a three touchdown favorite, and we would be close to a two touchdown favorite over Dinwiddie (12-1, currently ranked 7th by Gilliam in Division 5). I know that many felt that whichever team won our game would go on to take it all. Of course, games are played neither on paper nor on computer, and certainly not on message boards, but rather on the field. In a sense, it seems unfair that we had to play Heritage before the finals. However, keep in mind that things more unfair happened to other teams that did not even make the playoffs, like Cave Spring (currently ranked 5th by Gilliam in Division 5; kept out because of forfeits - you can't blame the players, but they are the ones that paid the price) and Warwick (currently ranked 6th by Gilliam in Division 5; their 8-2 record included losing to Heritage 41-20 and Hampton 26-14). Some teams play in strong districts and regions, others in ones that are, well, less strong. This is not always consistent, either. The RVD was as strong this year as it has been in a long time. Region winners get paired for the semifinals on a predetermined basis, not on the strength of the teams. Those are the breaks. Both in this game, and in leaving the ranks of AAA (most likely for good), one thing can certainly be said: Pulaski County went out with pride. |
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