Game Pictures by Steven Marcus

View From The Stands by Ardent Cougar

Pulaski County Citizens were out in force today to support our future, Our Youth.

The young men and women of the Band, the Cheerleaders, and the Football Team will lead us in these suddenly new and different times.

It was more than just a Football season, this was an Autumn that will “live in infamy.”

This writer has become aquatinted with many of the young men of this Cougar football team. They have the Courage and Character to answer the call of their generation as Citizens. They make us proud to be from Pulaski County. 

Although the Cougars finished as State Runner-Up, we are thankful of their influence in our lives through this frightening change in American Life, with suicide plane crashes in Washington, D.C. and New York City.

The plane that met its demise at the hands of American Heroes in Pennsylvania was bound for Washington, D.C.

Pulaski County faced Lafayette today in Lynchburg on Liberty University’s Williams Field for the Virginia High School League, Division 4 State Championship.

This match-up had interesting undertones, both in the names of the schools, the name of the university where the game was played, and in the identity of the Head Coaches.

In the History of the Old World, the oldest son often stood in line to inherit all of the land of his father. This was to prevent the family parcel from becoming smaller as each generation passed. Second sons were left to pursue other opportunities, often in the military.

Two of these men were Lafayette, of France and Casimir (Count) Pulaski, of Poland.

Both of these men came to the aid of George Washington in the American Revolution. As Generals, they trained American volunteers to be soldiers. Both of them are honored in the names of schools, parks, and localities across these United States. 

France bought us our Statue of Liberty, in New York City.

The newspapers have reported that generations of the December 7^th, 1941, and September 11^th, 2001, will be linked together in history.

On D-Day of WWII, when American troops landed in Normandy, France, it was said “Lafayette, we are here!" The return of help to Europe was justified in this proclamation, and thanks given to men like Pulaski and Lafayette for their help in securing American Liberty.

When Coach Wheeler retired from coaching at Woodrow Wilson High School, in Beckley, West Virginia, Joel Hicks became the Head Coach there. His fullback and linebacker that year was Wheeler’s son, Paul, the current Head Coach of Lafayette. Wheeler even had a short stint as an assistant coach at Pulaski County in the mid-1990’s. 

The common knowledge between these two coaches did not benefit the Cougars today. Hicks had put in a sweep pitch-pass this week, but Wheeler ran the same play in the game before Hicks, and with better success. Cougar TE Matt Roan was double covered down field when HB Josh Calfee took the pitch and set up to return fire with the trick play, but Calfee wisely tucked the ball away and ran for a short loss. 

In addition, the Lafayette Rams use the Wing-T offense, and knew just what to do about it on defense.

Almost all of those teams we have scrimmaged in recent years at Dublin’s Soldier Field, from Woodrow Wilson, to Galax, to Virginia High, have had a Hicks-Wheeler connection. Paul Wheeler was the Head Coach at the latter two when they presented for pre-season learning with the Cougars. 

There was even a reunion with pre-season opponent Graham, who played for the Division 3 State Championship at Williams Field just after this conflict.

The Cougars turned the ball over three times today. Coach Hicks remarked after the second half vs. Marion, “We are a ball control team, it’s hard for us when we turn it over.” 

Whenever Lafayette needed a first down, they called a quarterback rollout keeper, and had two lead blockers on the defensive ends. This dominance on the offensive perimeter was the key to this Ram victory. 

The Ram defense was a tall, lean and quick bunch. Not as brawny as the 1992 Robinson defense, but more like the well-coached quickness of the 1993 Annandale Atoms.

In the first half, the Rams stood up the Cougar offensive linemen and then pushed them aside for the tackle to devastate the basic Porter dive play and off tackle Calfee play with frequent two-yard losses. In the second half, the stronger Cougar offensive line began to wear down the defense, but the point difference was too much to overcome. 

The Cougars barely moved the ball until the last drive of the first half, when John Hedge missed a long field goal. The Rams took a 17-0 lead into the locker room. 

Then in the second half, the Cougar offense came alive, bring hope to the Cougar Nation. In the first three Cougar offensive plays of the third quarter, Senior Josh Calfee scored on an 87-yard carry, and Junior Jeremy Porter scored on an 86-yard romp. This brought the score to Lafayette 20, Pulaski County 13. 

The Rams answered with a seven-play 73-yard drive, keyed by several of the aforementioned quarterback roll-out designed keeper.

Porter returned the kick-off to the Ram 37.He caught the ball at the 5 near the corner of the endzone. Then he proceeded up field, cutting left to the sideline, tiptoed down the sideline, and cut back to the center of the field before being hauled down. 

The Cougars put together a seven-play drive of their own, scoring on 3^rd down with the flip play right to Calfee for a 5-yard score. Lafayette still lead 27-20.

Lafayette scored next with a 59-yard TD run, but the PAT was blocked, Rams 33-20.

Alan Wheeling returned the kickoff from the one to the 20.Porter was hit in the backfield by two defenders during the quarterback-fullback exchange, and a fumble occurred. 

The Rams would score again and get a two-point conversion, 41-20.

The Cougars would score as Porter followed a 60-yard run with a 1-yard TD carry. On the long run, three Referees threw penalty flags for Illegal Participation on the Rams, 12 men on the field. The penalty was declined. 

Wheeling threw a two-point conversion jump-catch-pass to Roan in the linebacker area for the final score, Lafayette 41- PC 28.

The Rams were called for a penalty, and then unsportsman-like behavior, bringing about a 1^st and about 40 situation.

Wheeler asserted his team’s dominance by converting for the first down anyway, then driving to the Cougar one-yard line with seconds remaining. It was at this time that he showed mercy for his former coach, by having his quarterback take a knee.

“It was a great game, but we came up short on the Big One,” said Senior Travis Williams. "We all worked hard, the scout team, everybody. It started this time last year, lifting weights. This has been the best four years of my life. I'll miss playing with these Seniors,” he added.

“It was special,” said Senior Matt Roan. "We've been friends since we were little. We're a close knit team, and we wanted this bad. They played hard, but we played them even in the second half,” he added. 

“We had a great year. It just doesn’t seem complete,” said Senior Ben Davidson. 

“If somebody had said at the beginning of the year that we would be 12-2, I would have taken that,” said Senior Alan Wheeling. "Everybody this year thought that they would just hand us the State Championship, but It just doesn’t work like that. We've come a long way,” he added. 

Senior Gordon Cross played today with a broken wrist. "I was padded up real good. I didn’t think about it at all,” said Cross. "It will be real hard moving on. These guys are all my friends,” he added. 

“This was a good season for the team,” said Junior Jeremy Porter. "We took the Seniors all the way they could go.” 

Coach Hicks expressed the sentiment of the entire County in his post-game statements to the team. "I'm Proud of You,” he said.

Game Pictures by Steven Marcus

View From The Stands by Ardent Cougar