The Locker Room August 30, 2002

Game Pictures by Steven Marcus

View From The Stands by Ardent Cougar

The familiar hum of conversations was in the air, as well as the scent of barbeque, pizza, and chili dogs as people from all reaches of Pulaski County. School friends got back together, the sales booth opened for the first time this year, and everything began as it always has at the Cougar football games. The beginning may have been the same, but the game sure wasn't. Sure, there were the players coming out down the lit steps as usual, the Golden Cougar Marching Band was magnificent, and those chili dogs were awesome.

But during the first quarter, things very quickly took an unexpected turn. After an amazing kickoff that led to a touchback, the Tazewell Bulldogs behaved like any other Cougar opponent, fumbling, recovering, and losing a yard. This set the line of scrimmage on the nineteen yard line. The Cougar defense was clearly ready as the Dogs' first drive consisted of little more than bullrushes courtesy of linebacker Ernie Hodge and Defensive lineman Matt Tilley, and one or two barely recovered fumbles. However the offense was not as up to par, as we all found out after a punt from the Dogs to Wide Receiver Brandon Anderson. He made a pretty good run up to the fifty yard line, but soon got detracted and went back to the forty-two, where he fumbled and Tazewell recovered. This led to a slightly longer second drive by the Bulldogs, who certainly would have scored without the impressive Matt Tilley and the very imposing Justin "Juice" Lewis, who made more than a couple saves, keeping the score at an even 0-0 until Tazewell was again forced to punt, which escaped the Cougar receivers and landed in the end zone for a touchback.

The Cougars first handed off to running back Derrick Burks, who ran right and got two yards. Next, PC called on the very talented fullback Jeremy Porter, who ran straight from the twenty-two yard line to the thirty-three, giving the cougars a well-anticipated first down. This proved not to help much, though, as a few more runs by these two individuals failed to penetrate the Tazewell defense, making it to the Bulldogs' forty-three before punting and mowing the receiver like a weed.

The Bulldogs then proceeded from their own seventeen yard line but got a foul for false start on the center shortly afterward, pushing them back to the nineteen. From there, an unbelievably long run gave them the first touchdown followed by a successful extra point attempt, putting them on the board first 0-7. The first quarter was finished off by a short run from Derrick Burks, a first down by Porter, and two other runs by the all-star fullback, one of which was brilliantly "stalk blocked" by Brandon Anderson. The start of the second quarter finished off the Cougar's drive, which was pretty uneventful, other than another hard slam to the Tazewell punt returner. Tazewell's quarterback Carr Blankenship re-fueled the drive with two consecutive first downs, after which the Cougar defense, who had clearly been wavering, gave a few more excellent blocks and kept the Dogs at the PC forty-nine until, on third and one, Blankenship practically fell over the forty-nine and got another first down.

Next, Brandon Anderson continued to earn his stripes on the starting lineup by breaking up what was sure to have been a touchdown pass by Tazewell. Ernie Hodge also proved his worth, taking down a very long thirty-six yard run and yet again preventing a bulldog touchdown. It was now first and goal on the Cougar three yard line, where the PC defense once again boosted themselves and practically stepped on the carrier, who somehow managed to get one yard. PC was, however, not ready for the next run, which happened to be a quarterback keeper straight into the endzone. Another extra point left the score 0-14 with 4:58 left in the first half.

The kickoff to PC was snagged by Jeremy Porter who made his way to the thirty-five before going down. A false start then pushed the Cougars back five yards to their own thirty yard line and making it first and fifteen. Runs by Ernie Hodge and Jeremy Porter moved PC up to the Bulldog forty-two, where everyone was surprised by Derrick Burks, who stomped his way deep right and killed the shut-out with a Cougar touchdown and a decent extra point by kicker John Hedge with a mere 3:18 left in the half. The somewhat on-and-off Cougar defense, along with a few incomplete passes, kept the Bulldogs right at their own twenty, not getting a single yard before a tipped punt to Derrick Burks who came down at the PC forty-seven. An incomplete pass and a one-yard gain by Porter kept the Cougars at bay, forcing them to punt an impressive fifty-one yards. Carr Blankenship then took a knee and ran out the clock to end the half.

After a fantastic halftime performance by the Golden Cougar Marching Band, Burks returned the kickoff up to the thirty-nine yard line, where he next made it to the forty and then the forty-four. After that, a staggering fifty-six yard punt by the exalted John Hedge gave the Dogs yet another touchback, barely keeping hope alive for the fans that this writer was seated amongst. Another long Tazewell drive marked the highlights of the night for the wavering PC defense. First off, the Dogs' Will Abrahams got a short five-yard gain before being slammed by PC's 6'3" 270 pound lineman Kelly Stoots.

A first down and a false start later which made it second and fourteen, Tazewell's carrier was practically autographed by the hulking Justin Lewis, who managed to single-handedly take back three yards, making it third and seventeen. After a completed sixteen-yard pass during which Hodge nailed the receiver, fourth and nine forced the Dogs to punt. However, they were stormed by the defensive line and the punt was blocked, after which Safety Steven Cobbs charged and literally tripped over the kicker. The Cougars, as a result of the blocked punt, began from Tazewell's thirty-nine. Again, this didn't prove to assist much in the drive. Porter was second-guessed and bullrushed. Then, Burks got a 13-yard run which gave PC a first down followed by short gains and a fumble, which was snapped up by the Dogs.

Matt Tilley, Brandon Anderson, and Linebacker Shaun Branscome kept the defense alive and Tazewell from getting so far as the thirty yard line. Fourth and eight on their own 28, the Dogs once again punted to the PC 39 yard line. A long PC drive consisted of short runs by Burks and Porter, a late hit foul by Tazewell which gave the Cougars an automatic first down, a complete pass to Brandon Anderson, and a 10-yard field goal that went wide left. Tazewell counteracted with a first down, after which they were slammed and got only 4 yards. They even lost a down and 5 yards for a penalty after trying to pass with Carr Blankenship over the line of scrimmage. They then failed to re-fuel with a first down and had to turn the ball over to PC again.

To begin a short drive, Quarterback Britt Shumate was sacked for an eight yard loss which Jeremy Porter, who ran for a total of 3 yards in two plays, was unable to regain. Another punt gave the Dogs the ball. Then, a quarterback keeper got 2 yards. After that, a long run got Tazewell from their own 30 yard line to PC's 27 before Lineman Cory Bentley got the tackle. After a first down, the Bulldogs reached the 5 yard line where they slinked through the defense for another touchdown and extra point with only minutes left in the game. A kickoff to Derrick Burks began another short drive which consisted a screen pass and a failed criss-cross to Ernie Hodge which ran out the clock and ended a very shocking battle.

"It’s a great place to be intimidated. But we came in un-intimidated," said Bulldog Senior quarterback Carr Blankenship about playing at Kenneth J. Dobson stadium. "At first we thought they would whup us like last year, but we pulled together in the first quarter," said Tazewell’s 6’4", 285 Travis Sanders.

Bulldog head coach Harris Hart was humble, almost apologetic for the win. "[The Bulldog players] worked hard in the off-season, and they played hard tonight. Just coming into this stadium, it’s intimidating," he said. A very respectable number of Tazewell's fans made the trip to Pulaski County. "Our fans are wonderful, they will follow us up and down, anywhere," said Coach Hart. "We executed well tonight, and things went our way all night long, " said 6’2" 307 pound Bulldog Jacob Evans. "The Cougars have a good team. We played our best and showed them what we could do," he added.

As for the Cougar locker room, their was no sound at all except for the clicking of cleats on the concrete floor, and a pin drop would've been deafening as Coach Joel Hicks entered and gave his routine after-game pep talk. "I admit I was out-coached at this game, and I'll bet you what Hart did was continue to watch the tape of our game against them last year over and over until he knew most of, if not all of our weak areas," said Hicks, who in this writers opinion, took the outcome very well.

Justin "Juice" Lewis had this to say when asked if the size of the Dogs' offensive linemen was a factor: "No. We're starting to fade some, acting scared every play almost. There's a lack of trust in there."

With that, this writer would on behalf of all the staff here, like to wish the Pulaski County High School Cougars better luck next week at home against Petersburg.

Game Pictures by Steven Marcus

View From The Stands by Ardent Cougar