Game Pictures by Steven Marcus

View From The Stands by Ardent Cougar

William Byrd opened scoring with a 30-yard field goal.  Key on the drive was the use of an odd formation.  The Terriers lined up with two receivers off the line right of center, the center on the end of the line of scrimmage and an eligible receiver.  The rest of the offense was lined up very wide right, with Marcus English behind a line of blockers.  Byrd employed this formation from third and 6 at their own 39.  Highfill passed to one of the flankers right of center for a 28-yard gain.  The second time the ‘two right of center’ formation was used on this drive, Jeff Highfill, threw behind the line of blockers wide left to English for a 15-yard gain. 

Highfill is the head coach’s son, and is a 6’2”, 165-pound sophomore.

The Cougars stopped themselves with a holding penalty on second down, and would punt after gaining only a yard on the possession.  John Hedge had a nice corner kick punt, with Matt Roan downing the ball on the 6.

Using conventional offensive formations, the Terriers put together a 10-play drive to the Cougar 35, mostly on runs by English.  Then English had a long carry, and looked like he would take the rock in for the score, but Josh Calfee tackled him and knocked the ball loose at the 9, where Alan Wheeling recovered.

Three plays later Greg Cobbs carried on the criss-cross play, and fumbled unfortunately, but the Cougars recovered.  A Hedge punt was fielded by Mann at the Byrd 42.

It took the Terriers 7 plays to drive to the Cougar 42.  From there Calfee knocked a deep right pass from Highfill away at the last moment in the end zone.

Three plays later on 4th and 5 at the 25, the ‘two left of center’ formation was employed.  Highfill ran toward the defender covering Jerome Mann, and then when the defender came up to make the tackle, Highfill threw to Mann who ran in for an apparent touchdown.  However, on the wide right side of the formation, a lineman had wandered past the line of scrimmage, and the play was called back on the penalty.  This is the down side of trick plays.  On 4th and 10 Brandon Anderson intercepted a Highfill pass in the end zone.

The Cougar offense ran three plays and punted.

Five plays later Nester sacked Highfill to bring about 4th and 15 at the PC 41.  Highfill lined up to pass from the shotgun formation, but then cleverly punted the ball with a quick kick for a touchback.

The Cougars started at their own 20 with 2:34 remaining in the half.  Porter started off with a 25-yard carry, but it was called back due to holding.  It took 6 plays to drive out to the PC 41.   On 3rd and 5 Wheeling kept around the right side for an 18-yard gain.  Then he spiked the ball to stop the play.   Wheeling rolled right and threw a rainbow swing pass left to Calfee that fell incomplete, but Byrd was called with pass interference. Wheeling was intercepted for a loss that took the Cougars out of Hedge’s field goal range.  The half ended with William Byrd leading only 3-0.

The second half kick off return was not encouraging for the Cougars.  The ball bounced away from Porter to Wheeling, who had trouble picking it up.  Then at the 5 he had to run laterally toward the middle of the field where he was tackled.  A clipping penalty took the Cougars half the distance to their own goal, where they would start at the 4.

The Cougar adjustments at half paid off with a 7-play 96-yard drive.  The key play was a 49-yard carry by Porter.  Calfee scored from the 4, and Hedge added the PAT, 7-3 Cougars.

Despite running the ball so well in the first half, the Terriers took to the air.  Highfill passed to English for no gain.  A run left by English was stopped for no gain as Calfee came up quick from his corner position.  The ‘two left of center’ formation was stopped as all the receivers were covered.  Highfill had to run, for no gain.  The Cougars had shifted from a man-coverage to a zone-coverage on this formation during the halftime adjustments.  The snap was low on the punt attempt, but Byrd got the ball off.  Wheeling returned the punt five yards to the Byrd 49. 

PC drove to the 20 where Calfee fumbled, and it was recovered by Byrd.

The Terriers orchestrated a 9-play 77-yard drive to score.  Key plays were passes to the tight ends.  Highfill threw to a wide-open Michael Ralph for a 25-yard catch to the 50.  Byrd scored when Highfill hit Kyle Allen in the end zone for a 29-yard TD.  The PAT attempt hit the right upright and bounced out.  Terriers 9, Cougars 7, with 1:50 remaining in the 3rd quarter.

It took PC 11 plays to drive 73 yards and recapture the lead.  Key was a third down conversion by Calfee.  He needed 5 yards and was hit hard after 4, but broke the tackle for 3 more, earning the first down. 

Porter carried for an 8-yard gain on the next play, and then limped off the field.  Derrick Burks took over as his replacement, running for 25 yards on his first carry of the night.  He followed that up with an 8-yard run.  Calfee ran in for the TD from the 6.  Hedge added his PAT for the 14-9 lead.

English fumbled on the first play from scrimmage after the kickoff, and PC recovered.  Burks scored two plays later on a 23-yard carry.  Hedge contributed his PAT.  PC led 21-9 with 7:15 remaining in the contest.

Byrd earned a first down, and then the Cougar defense tightened.  Porter ran for 39 yards, using an impressive stiff-arm move downfield.  He would score from 2 yards out two plays later.  Hedge added the PAT for the final score, Cougars 28- William Byrd 9.

“I’m proud of the kids.  To go from 55-7 at half the last time these teams played, to leading 3-0 at half, that says a lot,” said Coach Highfill.  “They wore us down in the second half.  They outweigh us by about 20 pounds a man on both offense and defense.  The kids executed the plan well,” he added.

“There aren’t many games like this.  We had to get in there on the board at half and get to work,” said Coach Hicks about his coaching staff.

Nester blind sided Highfill with a back bending smash sack reminiscent of now Cougar assistant coach Randy Dunnigan’s smash of a Patrick Henry quarterback Shannon Taylor in 1993.  “I was waiting for the ISO, so I had to hesitate, but I was still wide open for the hit.  He didn’t see it coming,” said Nester.

Chris Hardin had an interception on the ‘two right of center’ play in the fourth quarter.  This was a Highfill pass to the center, who has a special teams center, receiver’s build.  “I saw him on the crossing route on those plays, and I knew they would pass to him eventually.  I tried to make the play and I got the pick,” said Hardin.

Porter carried tacklers for many extra yards tonight.  “I’m hurting,” he said.  He was pleased to see Burks do so well relieving him.  “It’s a good thing.  We used to live on the same street when I was a little kid, before I moved out West.”

“Salem is back 100%.  It’s going to be a dog fight,” said Calfee looking forward to the Region Final against the Spartans next week at Kenneth J. Dobson Stadium.

What did Wheeling think about the strange offensive formation Highfill ran at times tonight?  Would he like to run something similar on occasion?  “I don’t mess around with that stuff.  That’s not man-to-man football.  Pulaski County is about lining up and testing your manhood,” said Wheeling.

“This was a total team effort.  We struggled before the half, but we came together in the second half,” said Roan.

Post Script

Everything in the season has been leading up to the second game against the Salem Spartans.  This is what we expected when Pulaski County dropped to AA and joined the Blue Ridge District.  Salem will have a different quarterback this time.  Last year Salem lost games in the regular season, only to qualify for the playoffs and go on a 4 game sweep.  Expect that the Spartans believe they can do it again against the Cougars.  Salem has lost their last two games to the Cougars, and they will be fighting mad.

For the next game, the Cougars need to forget about the Blue Ridge District Championship, the Region Championship on the line, and the VHSL Playoffs.  This is a grudge match that was the biggest game in the state earlier this season.  If the Cougars can’t set aside the internal discord that has followed the defeat at Northside, the Spartans will repeat as 4 time State Champions.  Who wants it more?

Game Pictures by Steven Marcus

View From The Stands by Ardent Cougar