Pregame
1st Quarter
Brandon
Anderson picks off a pass on 3rd-and-2.
Jeremy
Porter (center) gets a first down.
It
was a sloppy game for both teams...
The
G-Men recovered this fumble, and were in business.
Graham's
Ahmad Bradshaw was well defended
by
Anderson and John Harmon (No. 2) on this play.
QB
H. T. Matthews hits Bradshaw on this sideline pattern.
Matthews
pitched to Bradshaw, who found an open receiver in the endzone.
7-0
G-Men, with 4:55 left in the quarter.
John
Hedge's strong leg is back for another season.
Here,
he gets off the punt, before Bradshaw gets any closer.
Justin
Lewis gets a sack on Matthews.
The
Cougar rush almost got this one.
Porter
(No. 3, this year) gets some good yards on a nice run, but...
Once
again, 'fumbleitis' struck...
And,
another turnover.
Lewis
and Ernie Hodge punish Matthews for his broken-down protection.
2nd Quarter
Anderson
and Steven Cobbs (No. 10) kept
the
dangerous Bradshaw from getting this one.
The
punt got away from Anderson, but...
He
was able to fall on it.
More
evidence of Hedge's punting ability:
The
returner had to beat a hasty retreat.
John's
punt went 57 yards, before rolling dead.
When
you have such poor field position, and attempt a pass,
you'd
better make sure your QB doesn't have this happen to him!
Once
again it was Lewis with a CRUSHING hit.
It
was almost a safety, but Matthews was
just
outside the endzone when he was hit.
This
punt had to be rushed, and PC got great field position, at the Graham 25.
Derrick
Burks takes it left, and in for the score, from 6 yards out.
7-7,
with 5:11 left until the break.
Matthews
hits Rolan (No. 16) on a crossing pattern.
Matthews
on the QB keeper, making his way through the crowd,
for
a tie-breaking score.
14-7
G-Men, with only 2:16 left until halftime.
Anderson
makes this catch, and makes his way upfield, before being forced out of
bounds.
QB
Britt Shumate slipped while setting up to pass,
and
unwisely threw the ball anyway.
With
this pickoff, it looked as if Graham would
head
to the lockerroom with a 7-point lead.
G-Men
Head Coach Glynn Carlock decided to go for it on 4th-and-3.
Harmon
broke up this sideline pass, and PC would have one more shot.
On
the next play, Porter finally breaks out!
His
47-yard scamper to paydirt tied the game,
with
just 28.7 seconds left!
14-all,
as the teams took a break.
3rd Quarter
Graham
reclaimed the lead with Bradshaw's 31-yard run late in the 3rd.
Matt
Tilley put the pressure on the extra point, and might have have blocked
it.
It
was low, and wide left.
Less
than two minutes later, Burks put the Cougars on top
for
the only time in the game, going 33 yards.
Cougars
21, G-Men 20.
The
3rd Quarter fireworks were not over.
Bradshaw
scores again, this time from 43 yards out,
with
18.3 seconds left, before the teams switched ends.
The
attempted 2-point conversion pass was overthrown.
Graham
26, Pulaski County 21.
4th Quarter
After
Bradshaw was stripped of the ball inside the PC 5 after a nice run,
Burks
(right) got some good yards on this final-drive play.
The
Cougars would get down inside the G-Men 10 with under 3 minutes left to
play,
but
a 4th-and-Goal from the 11 failed.
The
G-Men got a first down or two, and ran out the clock.
Postgame
It
was an exciting scrimmage. The G-Men should definitely threaten to
take
the Division 3 title this year, as they did last year.
As
for the Cougars, it is clear that some work needs to be done.
Remember
though, this is a very young team, perhaps the youngest that
Joel
Hicks has had at Pulaski County, in all of his (now) 24 seasons.
The
G-Men return next week, to play us another half of football in the TD Classic.
It
will be interesting to see a rematch this soon.
