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by Jeff Wolfe Click on a link
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Hey
Blue Ridge District, you want to win football games? Try keeping
the football on the opponent’s side of the fifty yard-line. That seems
to work pretty well for the Pulaski County Cougars. Coach
Hicks likes to kickoff first. When the Cougars win the coin flip,
he likes to defer his choice to kick or receive until the second half.
The Cougar defense has yet to allow a sustained drive this season.
After they hold for a Three-And-Punt, the Cougar offense has less than
50 yards to score. Give
Calfee the ball three times, Porter twice, Wheeling once, and Cobbs once,
and there’s your seven-play fifty-yard scoring drive. Add a Roan to Harmon
to Hedge PAT. ‘The snap, the hold, the kick is up and it’s good’.
It’s 7 more Cougars. Hedge will follow his Point with a Pen, at the
20-yard line after the touchback. Repeat
that eight times BRD, and you too can be the ‘New Beast of the Blue Ridge’. That
is what opponent’s can expect IF their offense doesn’t fumble, throw an
interception, allow a blocked punt, or over-pursue on punt coverage while
Wheeling takes the rock to the house. Here where football is played
by the big cornfield, that Cougar Fans, is the big capital “ I ”, capital
“ F ”. The
best opponents can hope for is to win the coin toss, defer to the second
half themselves, then kickoff to the Cougars to drive the long field.
But if some team does, don’t be surprised if Coach Hicks decides to kickoff
the first and the second half. Did somebody say Defense? The
Cougars rolled over the Demons of Christiansburg tonight 56-0. The
clock didn’t stop much in the second half. But no one asked the officials
to apologize for that. Josh
Calfee intercepted a Matt Crumpton pass on the third play from scrimmage,
returning it to the 12 yard-line. Three plays later he took the flip
left for a 4 yard touchdown. ‘The Three Amigos’ added their PAT for
the 7-0 lead. Four
plays later Lucas Nester blocked the Demon punt. “The two outside
guys went to block out and the inside guy was coming to me, but ran into
Travis Williams,” Nester said. “I just came free and got a piece
of the ball.” Calfee
scored from 22 yards out on his fourth carry of the night. Less than
four minutes into the game his stats were 4 carries for 34 yards, two touchdowns
and an interception. Hedge’s PAT made for the 14-0 lead. Christiansburg
did get the ball across the fifty, four plays later, when punting.
Wheeling caught the ball on the Cougar 42, then tip-toed his way down the
right sideline 58 yards to pay dirt. It was less than half way through
the first quarter and Hedge must have been gasping for air. PAT number
three, Cougars 21 zip. Christiansburg
was charged with a personal foul on the kickoff return. Four plays
later the Demons punted out to their own 46. Two plays later Jeremy
Porter carried strait up the middle for a 40 yard score.Add PAT here.
The Cougars rolled along 28-0, still in the first quarter. After
four more plays Wheeling returned a punt to the Demon 5, but a clipping
penalty was charged to the Cougars. PC started at the Christiansburg
41, but pushed themselves back into their own territory with two more penalties,
to bring about first and 30 at the PC 39.On third down Wheeling called
his own number on a 12-yard scamper. The
quarter ended, and the teams switched goals.Fourth and 4 at the Demon 35
yard line was too close to have Hedge punt, and too far for him to attempt
a field goal. Calfee took the quick pitch left for the conversion,
and then some, 33 yards to the 2.Wheeling kept for a 3 yard touchdown two
plays later. Now Hedge had a reason to appear, for the PAT to extend
the lead to 35-0.- Three
plays later Matt “Dee One Tater” Roan picked off a pass, and bullied his
way to a 5-yard return. “It was a roll out pass and nobody was between
me and the sideline,” Roan recalled. “I read his eyes and it was
right there. I don’t think he saw me. I lowered my shoulders
to get some yardage.” “Fleming
is going to be tough to play, like they always are up there,” he added,
looking toward next week’s Saturday night game at Victory Stadium.
Salem defeated William Fleming tonight 10-7 after trailing 0-7 through
three quarters. Calfee
has really developed into a team leader in the locker room his senior year.
He was seen after last week’s game to stop by every locker and congratulate
each of his teammates with a high five. “Were
going to have to work harder, because it’s going to get harder,” Calfee
suggested after tonight’s game. His first four minutes on the field
ended Christiansburg’s hopes, starting with his interception. “Coach
Hicks said they were going to come out passing on us. It looked at
first like it was going over my head, but it was under-thrown,” he said. Greg
Cobbs scored from 14 yards on the criss-cross play, after the Roan interception.
It was soon 42-0, going away in the second quarter. Porter
had a 26 yard score in the second half. The second team scored the
final points of the game for the 56-0 victory. Post-Script The
opening ceremonies tonight were in solemn remembrance of the national disaster
that occurred this week. Coach Hicks sent his team home Tuesday without
practice. Flags were given out at the game. Many fans came
with American Flag-like clothing and decorations. The stadium was
almost full, on both sides of the field. Football
teaches young people discipline and resolve in the face of adversity.
This writer’s experience as a Cougar football player was the closest he
will come to the kind of teamwork and discipline that being an American
soldier requires. Athletic
contests are played as games, but the values learned preparing for competition
live on in us long after the final score is forgotten. This is why
in 1905 President Teddy Roosevelt wanted football to clean up its act through
a few rule changes. At the time, it was legal to throw a player forward
to gain yards, which caused lots of serious injuries. That
was when Walter Camp played a major part in rule changes that helped make
Football the sport it is today. “We have lost the Homeric thrill
of human action, the zest of out-of-doors, the contest of speed, of strength,
of human intelligence, of courage. Unless steps are taken to reform
the sport, we shall discover that our precious football is being relegated
to the ash heap of history. Brutality has no place in this sport.
This is a game that must train its followers, its players and its spectators
in the qualities of successful character,” Camp wrote. As
Americans, we are now faced with a test of character. Our soldiers
will be called to stand along side those of other nations in a ground conflict
against a few evil men who are cowards. Only a coward would commit
suicide to kill others. America
has never asked even one soldier to kill himself. American Veterans
have faced death in the past, but knowing they had a chance to survive
to enjoy the merits of the cause. In
suicide, a coward confesses his own knowledge of the reality of his cause:
there is no need to live on, as his cause does not have the merit required
for victory. His goal does not have the metal that can survive the
fire of justice. American
and World forces will respond with justice, not brutality. The United
States is the policeman of the world. Justice may kill, but it does
not leave the body hanging in public to shame the family of the victim.
These attacks on America this week were intended to shame us. Instead,
we have responded with character. We will not place Americans in
prison camps, because of their race, religion, or national origin.
Japanese Americans were placed in prison camps during WWII, but we have
since learned to have more character in conflict. Justice is specific and appropriate. Terrorism is not. Game
Pictures by Steven Marcus
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