The Locker Room
August 29, 2001
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Week One by Ardent Cougar Friday, August 31 - Tazewell Bulldogs (Away): Series:
First
meeting.
(A new feature for 2001: We will post directions to the road games when we have them available, and I will always link to them in my articles.) Dan Callahan's Route (from the First & Goal forum) A
Cougar Forum poster's shortcut (read the whole thread)
The Bulldogs play in Division 3, Region IV, in the Southwest District. Last season, they made the playoffs with a record of 6-4, despite having a district record of only 1-3. Looking for someone to fill the shoes left by the graduated Frank Cobbs, the Cougars hope that Junior FB Jeremy Porter will fulfill promise brought on by his occasional flashes of brilliancy last season. All-time leading rusher Senior Josh Calfee is back, and should put that record way out of reach. The versatile Senior Alan Wheeling, yet another rushing threat in this very full backfield, steadily guides the offense from under center. ZB (Wingback) Greg Cobbs should be back strong for his last season. Senior Matt Roan takes over the TE duties bequeathed to him by the highly recruited Jeff King, now a Va. Tech Hokie. Junior Kicker John Hedge will also punt this season, replacing the graduated Brandon Hamblin. Last year, the defense and special teams (especially punt coverage) improved immensely, and one got the feeling that the toughness Cougar fans are used to, had returned. From
what I have seen so far, the Cougars are looking extremely sharp early
on, more so than usual. I was concerned about players we lost off
of the offensive line (for instance, Mike Alderman), but this group looks
more than capable. We will miss Frank Cobbs, but Porter will do a
great job. The passing game might open up, as well. Look for
the scoreboard to light up early and often, in 2001.
Before I get to the main feature of this article, a few items: First, I wish to thank Dan 'The Man' Callahan for joining our efforts here at cougarfootball.net, and welcome him to the world of cyberspace. In addition to covering the Cougars in the Southwest Times, and doing the play-by-play for the radio broadcasts (this year, we're on 101.7 FM, WBXW, 'The Box'), he is contributing his time and knowledge to the First & Goal with Dan Callahan message board. Dan has forgotten more about football, than I will ever learn. Second, a word about the ratings I use in my articles. Matt Gilliam has put a lot of time and effort into them, and they give a perspective that the Friday Football Extra 'Super 7' rankings, Timesland rankings, and statewide polls, do not. In fact, I do not plan to refer to those polls at all this year, with the exception of the following... if you watched the FFE Preseason Special this past Friday night, after getting back from the Classic, perhaps you were a bit puzzled by the fact that we were only ranked 5th. Nothing against the teams ranked in spots 2-4, but give me a break. What a joke! Salem being No. 1 I can understand, but we should be at least breathing down their necks at No. 2! Of course, we don't live in either Roanoke or Salem, so why expect any breaks, right? Also, not ranking us highly, and putting the other teams above us, stirs up interest and ratings for the TV station. "Yay, capitalism." Well, it doesn't matter, since these polls do not have any bearing on who makes the playoffs, unlike the situation in college football. The Hokies might have to concern themselves with convincing pollsters; the Cougars do not. Gilliam's formula is not perfect, as he does not have the resources to adjust team ratings before the season according to circumstances (new coach, lots of returning starters, etc.) which give enhanced expectations for some. Thus, early in the season, you might see less accuracy. However, when you look back at the 2000 season as a whole, his computer formula picked successfully around 80% of the time, or better. By the way, even though I do provide shortcuts to important pages within Matt's site, please give his main page (Gilliam's Ratings) some clicks as well, to make those counters count. Lastly, a note about anything you see here at cougarfootball.net. We are fans, and do not 'officially' represent PCHS. What you read, and view, here, are opinions, and viewpoints, from my pregame articles, to Jeff Wolfe's game reports, and any photos the three of us (Steven {the Webmaster, without whom cougarfootball.net would simply not exist}, Jeff, or myself) take. I am rarely in 'trash talk' mode. Whenever I see something worthy of respect in the opposition, I comment on it. I've never been fond of the way of thinking that says you lift yourself up, by tearing others down. To the contrary, if you respect a team's accomplishments, like say our rival Salem's, and then you beat that team, then you have done something, as opposed to conquering a team that you claim 'sucks'. Some might take this as a lack of enthusiastic support for the team. Nothing could be further from the truth. When I see something about the opposition (or something else) that truly deserves harsh treatment, I say so. To give a fitting example, we were simply robbed by thieving officials in Victory Stadium against Fleming two years ago. (A long-time, very good friend of mine, was so enraged, he wanted to charge the field.) From what I understand, at least one of the officials was part of the crew that cost us the Bluefield game a few weeks before that, with a bogus delay-of-game call very late in the game. I hope we will get an even break when we go on the road to play the Colonels in Week 4. If it would be the last time we have to see Victory Stadium, it would be none too soon, as far as I am concerned. You know, in several ways, it feels good to not be officially affiliated with the school. I can speak the truth as I see it, without being concerned about a reprimand. Like 99% of fans, I cannot get out there on the field, and do what these young men do. Scant few of us ever did. Any criticisms I have are usually of what I see as mental mistakes (unwise penalties, or questionable coaching decisions, for example). Whether or not I am right in my observations, is open for debate. The point is, even though the average fan is not physically able (or, conditioned) to play, he can at least try to know what smart, thinking football is all about. Like almost all members of the supporting cast called Cougar Fans, this is my vantage point. As do all 'critics', I will sometimes be wrong about something, miss something positive, or overemphasize something negative, forgetting all about proportion. Any mistakes I make like that are honest ones, never meaning to insult, degrade, or ignore, anyone. If you have any constructive suggestions for me, or perhaps some always-welcome 'kudos', please email me at: ardentcougar@cougarfootball.net If you use Netscape or Internet Explorer for your email, the easiest and quickest way to do this, is to click on my 'Ardent Cougar' byline, which is underneath the title of every article/feature I write. Know
this - I do my best to be respectful and fair, but with an admitted Cougar
bias. I thank the Webmaster for allowing me this (cyber)space to
share my thoughts. This is not a 'detached' forum. This is
a site for the players, coaches, and fans, of Pulaski County.
2001: A Blue Ridge Odyssey Well, here we are. After 27 seasons, declining enrollment has forced Pulaski County to "drop down" to AA. Instead of the Southwest District as originally thought, it's the Blue Ridge. We bring along our rival William Fleming from the RVD. So much for thoughts of being done with Victory Stadium. The familiar faces of long-time district foes Patrick Henry, Cave Spring, and Franklin County, are gone from this year's schedule. We played them each season of our first 'one score and seven' years of existence. In their place comes two teams we last faced in district play in the RVD back in the mid-1980s - Salem, and Northside. We last played the Vikings in 1993, and of course the annual game with Salem is, year in and year out, the best show around. (An interesting fact about Northside, is that the Vikings' coach, Jim Hickam (who has been there since 1974, after coaching the last year of the Pulaski High School Orioles), is the brother of Homer Hickam, of 'October Sky' fame. Another of the main characters in the movie became a high school principal, and hired..... Joel Hicks as head football coach for his school, instead of [as Joel had expected] as the head basketball coach. Imagine how things might have been different, if 'The Man With The Plan' had stuck solely with the round ball, instead of the pigskin!) Our other Division 4 district opponents are William Byrd, Lord Botetourt, and Blacksburg. The Terriers we have never faced, and the Cavaliers were last on the schedule almost a quarter of a century ago. The Indians haven't played the Cougars, but did face Pulaski and Dublin in the old New River District, nearly 3 decades ago. We have played another old NRD team, the Christiansburg Blue Demons, the past couple of years. They, along with Alleghany, round out the BRD as members of Division 3. We last played the Mountaineers in 1985. In non-district play, we take on Tazewell of Division 3, and Petersburg of Division 5. All in all, half of the teams on our schedule this season, made the post-season in 2000. Instead of 4 district games, we must play 8. BRD play starts in Week 3, instead of Week 7, as we have grown accustomed to. Each district win counts for less than before, as does each district loss. It's a long season. I think this is a good change, overall. District play has taken less than half of the season since 1988. It's something like a marriage of the old New River District (Blacksburg, Christiansburg) and the RVD (Salem, Northside, Fleming). Geographically closer teams, traveling reasonable distances, making it easier for students to attend road games... teams fighting it out in the 'backyard', and only when the playoffs come around, does the surviving conqueror of the region really 'hit the road' in quest of a state title. I mentioned the annual showdown with Salem. You only thought it was big before. To illustrate how they have dominated the BRD (also, to illustrate the lack of recent statewide success for the rest of the district), the last Blue Ridge team other than the Spartans to win a playoff game against a non-Blue Ridge team, was Alleghany, and this was just before Salem joined the district. (Thanks to the Webmaster for this research.) The Spartans have won the last three Division 4 State Championships, and 4 of the last 5. It goes without saying that those are incredible, Hamptonian-like results, at least at this level. Some think that, since they left the RVD and dropped down to AA, the game has meant more to the Spartans than to us. Well, if there was any truth there, you can forget that now. In Week 6 this season, we go to Salem Stadium for a second straight year. Last season, we broke the 29-game winning streak of the two-time defending Division 4 State Champions, on their own home field. They recovered, and went on to win another title, despite not winning the BRD. Will Joel topple Willis again? Stay tuned. Some things change, some things stay the same. It's
still Cougar Football.
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