The
Locker Room
October
24, 2001
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Week Nine by Ardent Cougar Friday, October 26 - Alleghany Mountaineers (Home): Series:
PC leads 2-0.
Region
III District Standings
In 1993, the Cougars were nationally ranked, defending Division 6 State Champions. During that regular season, PC scored 451 points. The 2001 team needs 59 points in the final two games combined, to break that mark. It appears that yet another record will fall this year. With the Cougars scoring an average of 49 points a game, it's not out of reason to think that it's possible the record could fall Friday night. Last year's record of 4,032 rushing yards looks safe, unless PC piles up 1,090 yards total on the ground in these final two games. Because of all the blowouts, the starters have played less this year than last year, which is probably the only explanation as to why this record is not in real jeopardy. A very
good friend of mine recently wondered how a comparison of our scoring before
and after Hicks put in the Wing-T Offense in 1991, would look like.
I also wondered about how our defense had done, as well. I did some
research, measuring the Pre-Hicks years (1974-1978), the Pre-Wing-T Hicks
years (1979-1990), and the Wing-T Hicks years (1991-2000):
The defense was a little more generous, as our AAA enrollment numbers dropped throughout the 1990s. Dan Callahan notes that the first thing to decline when your numbers drop, is your defense. However, the productivity of the Wing-T more than made up for that. Looking at the important games this week in the race for the final 3 playoff spots in Division 4 Region III, Salem goes to Northside, Lord Botetourt hosts William Byrd, and Amherst travels to Brookville. William Fleming should easily handle Patrick Henry in their annual grudge match. Blacksburg should beat Christiansburg (a team that has somewhat improved this year, but without the wins to show for it) by about 40 points. Here's
a note about strength of schedule vs. wins and losses: Northside
(3-4) and Fleming (3-4) are the two highest rated teams in the state, that
have losing records, according to Gilliam's Ratings. If you look
at the overall
ratings, they are 33rd and 47th, respectively. The next highest
rated team with a losing record, is a Division 6 team ranked 81st.
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Just when you think the Cougars can't break any more records, they do. The 69-20 rout of the Terriers, in what was supposed to be a big BRD 'Showdown', set a record for most points scored by PC in a single game. The halftime score was a frightening 55-7, almost an exact mirror image of the previous game against Lord Botetourt. Jeremy Porter and Josh Calfee scored 3 times apiece, both breaking the 1,000 yard mark for the season. Alan Wheeling returned an interception for a TD, and passed to Matt Roan for another. Alan and Matt played 'catch' perfectly on 3 attempts, for 48 yards, part of a 516 yard overall offensive onslaught. Greg Cobbs took the criss-cross in for 6, and Derrick Burks had the honor of scoring the touchdown that broke the single game scoring mark. After Byrd's Marcus English broke a run for 65 yards to tie the game at 7-7, the Cougar Defense put the clamps down on the Terrier running game. The
overwhelming victory clinched top seed and home field advantage throughout
the postseason, up until the State Championship game (held at Liberty University),
if PC keeps winning in the playoffs.
Previous 2001 Articles: FTB
Week One
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