The Pulaski County Cougars traveled to Salem, again.  And defeated defending state champion Salem in their own house, again.  The Cougars lead 28-0 at one point, but not by the scoring sequence you might first think.  Yes, Virginia, there’s been another Cougar touchdown.  Better get out that Kick Chart!

Game Pictures by Steven Marcus

View From The Stands by Ardent Cougar

It was the fourth win for the Cougars in Blue Ridge District Play.  But don’t ask off work in December just quite yet.  All top ranked BRD teams already know.  To win a State Championship, you have to play some other district team twice.   Salem lost to Northside last season, only to defeat Jim Hickam’s squad in the playoffs.

Oh, and don’t overlook the rest of the BRD.  Salem receivers dropped balls tonight, as they have all season.  Don’t expect to see that from Lord Botetourt.  The Spartans couldn’t put together a sustained running attack.  You won’t find William Byrd having that problem this season.   And what about that Veer Blacksburg ran so well?  Northside Head Coach Jim Hickam has been running the Veer off and on back to the days when he was Pulaski High School’s head coach. 

Sorry Alleghany.  No offense intended, but geographically and economically, this writer hopes greener pastures are in your future, and keeping the yearly game with Covington.  The Cougars will wish you the best of luck, after the next re-alignment.

Oh please, Mr. Ken ‘VHSL” Tilley, don’t kick Pulaski County out of the BRD!  We don’t mind playing Salem twice every year.  And just think, You get to keep the gate from the second game!

Salem won the coin toss and deferred to the second half.  The Cougars started their 17 play drive at their own 20 after a touchback by future Hokie Nic Schmitt.  The key play was a 4th and 2 conversion on a 3 yard run by Josh Calfee to the Salem 5.  Three plays later John Hedge kicked a 26-yard field goal with 3:47 remaining in the first quarter.

Hedge followed up with a touchback of his own.  Salem earned a first down, and then stopped themselves with errors.  A pass completion from David Christianson to David Lopez was nullified by an illegal motion penalty.  The Spartans on the field reacted to the penalty in an unsportsman-like manner.  The official picked up the flag and threw it into the air, signifying a second penalty.  That brought about 1st and 28 from their own 12.

Three plays later a Christianson bomb down the right sideline was intercepted by Calfee at the 50.

Six plays later with 3rd and 5,  Jeremy Porter took the dive play 31 yards to paydirt.  Hedge added the PAT for the 10-0 lead, and 10:33 remained in the half.

Hedge’s kickoff was more than a touchback, it was out of the endzone.

Christianson passed to Matt Collins on a 13-yard hook up.  Calfee appeared to knock the ball loose.  Collins’ knee did not appear down from the view in the away stands.  Calfee recovered the ball but the officials ruled that the receiver was down before the ball came loose.   Three plays later the Spartans would punt.

Wheeling had an 8-yard punt return to the PC 19.  Two plays later Calfee took the pitch left, evaded two tacklers with a spin move and ran down the left sideline for a 23-yard gain. 

Calfee carried for a yard and was hit hard at the Salem 44.  He could be seen behind the Cougar huddle, with his helmet off, asking the PC coaches to call a time out, or get him out of the game.  Interestingly, Salem offered up a timeout instead.

Four plays later Hedge punted to the Salem 26.  A one yard and two incomplete passes later the Spartans would punt and Wheeling fielded the ball with a one yard return to the PC 27.  3:18 remained in the half. 

An 11-play drive set up a 34-yard Hedge field goal with 8 seconds remaining in the half.  The key play on the drive was a 23-yard carry by Greg Cobbs on the criss-cross play going left.

“It was the first one we ran tonight”, said Cobbs.  “I don’t think they saw it coming.  I thought it would go all the way.  I tried to stiff arm the safety, but he grabbed my jersey.”

The Cougars took their 13-0 lead into the locker room for half time.

Spartan Sean Hefner returned the kickoff to the Salem 45.  The Spartans ran twice and threw incomplete before punting to the PC 27.

The Cougars could not earn a first down, but that just brought Hedge on for some more of his amazing leg.  He punted for 62 yards to the Spartan 7.

Two plays later Christianson passed to Lopez for a 22-gain.  Three plays later Lucas Nester blitzed and sacked Christianson for a 5-yard loss. 

Wheeling returned the punt for 5 yards to the PC 15.  Three defenders converged on him for the tackle.  A flag was thrown by the official at the site of the tackle.  It was reported to be a clipping penalty. 

Matt Roan had been blown past on the punt coverage and was clearly slowing down to avoid a clip ten yards up field from the ball.  He hit no one.  If it had been on him, why was the flag not thrown at Roan, or at the location of the presumed illegal block?  Instead, one could see a pile of four players, three Spartans and Wheeling, with a yellow hanky right by.  It is this writer’s conclusion that it was the official’s impression that Wheeling had clipped the defender by some magic block while he himself carried the return (?).

Hedge would punt 7 plays later.

Salem would start at the 50 but could not move the ball.  Four plays later Salem punted.

Calfee took the next play off tackle for a 73-yard touchdown run.

The Kick Chart shows that when leading by 19, an offense should decline the PAT attempt and try for a 2-point conversion.  The Spartans knew it would be the flip play, but Calfee wiggled free from a tackler in the backfield and into the endzone for his second 2-point conversion in two weeks.

The Cougars had manufactured seven points again this week, two field goals and a two-point conversion, making the score look like a clean three touchdown effort, PC 21-0 with 11:29 remaining in the game.

Salem passed out to the PC 24.  Then penalties pushed the Spartans back into their own territory for a 1st and 24 situation. 

Four plays later Salem curiously elected to punt.  They had just thrown a nine-yard pass.  It was 4th and 8 at the PC 43.  Salem was trailing by 21 with 9:28 remaining in the game.  The punt went into the endzone, resulting in a 23-yard net on the punt.  Calfee took the next play for an 80-yard touchdown.  One has to wonder why the Spartans did not go for the first down.

Hedge added the PAT for a commanding 28-0 lead.  9:33 remained.

Three plays later a Spartan running back had a 50-yard run to the PC 5 where Calfee swatted the ball loose from behind.  Salem recovered in the endzone after the fumble.  The PAT brought about the final score 28-7.

Salem would hold the Cougars and force a punt, but not enough time remained.  The Spartans would drive to the Cougar 33 with 1:06 remaining.  Another Nester sack ended the Spartan hopes of another score.

“You wonder why we were on you earlier today about being on time for meetings,” said Coach Joel Hicks to his team after the game.  “It’s about what it takes to beat a team like this.  You were up 28 points, then you had a lapse in concentration for a play, and they score.  If you take away Calfee’s two long runs, they were just one pass play from beating us,” he added.

“We stepped up tonight big time,” said Matt Roan.  “But we did drop down after the two long runs.”

Roan caught the only pass tonight for the Cougars.  Wheeling threw two passes, if you count the spiking of the ball he did to stop the clock and set up Hedge’s field goal before half. “It hit on of the linemen in the leg.  He’s OK, I guess,” said Wheeling.

“My job is to block first, then release down the line of scrimmage.  I caught the ball and tried to cut back inside, but they were all over me,” Roan said of his 5-yard gain.

“It was a good game,” said Porter, who had about 137 yards rushing and one touchdown.  “They were hitting hard.  I could have scored another, but I bumped into Wheeling on the exchange.”

“The offense started off well.  Then the defense played tough early,” said Nester.  “That’s what kept the momentum going.  We knew they were going to come out passing in the second half, and were blitzing to put pressure on them.”

This was a team effort by the Cougars.  But that having been said, Josh Calfee had the best game of his career.  He has probably had more than 215 yards in rushing in a game before.  But consider his play on the defensive side of the ball.  He had a pass interception that stopped an early Salem drive and lead to the 10-0 pull away score for the Cougars.  He defended a 6’4”, 190-pound receiver Matt Collins.  And he caught a Salem running back from behind to knock the ball loose at the 5-yard line and almost avert Salem’s only score.  (The ball was almost recovered by the Cougars in the endzone, and was on its way to rolling out of the endzone for a touchback when the Spartans recovered.)

Calfee had some leg cramps, and had to be carried off the field.  But considering his MVP effort, the Cougar Defense did not think that limping off was good enough for him.  Josh Slusser and Chris Hardin carried him off the field, high on their shoulders to a standing ovation.

“I was out on the field on defense,” said Slusser.  “Both Josh’s legs were cramping.  The whole team was huddled around and kind of teasing him when I said to Hardin that we should carry him off the field, and get the clock moving again.  Calfee was whining a little bit,” he added.

Post Script

Dan Newell, the Cougar Defensive Coordinator, was seen driving away in his white Chevy 1500 after the game.  His license plate reads “Cougar D”. 

“Some people think it means Cougar Dan, but I tell them they are wrong,” said Coach Newell. “I’m a graduate of Danville HS, but I was brought in here to run the Defense.  I wanted everyone to know where I stand.  It means Cougar defense.  I use it as my internet name, too,” he added.

Newell was the back-up quarterback for State Champion Danville in the early 1980’s

Game Pictures by Steven Marcus

View From The Stands by Ardent Cougar