Cougars Neutralize Northside: Losing Streak Ended! by Pete Cougar Full
Story and Interviews
NORTHSIDE HIGH SCHOOL -- Well, ladies
and gentlemen, boys and girls, cougar (and Pete Cougar) fans of all ages, the
Pulaski County High School football season is here once again.
Although this first game did not take place at Dobson Stadium and
therefore did not possess the truly spine-tingling feeling as other first games,
it came very close. A special
thanks goes out to Cougardave for that awesome tailgate before the game.
Another highlight was the year's first performance by the Golden Cougar
Marching Band. The concessions
smelled wonderful, the air had that familiar breeze that this writer has come to
naturally associate with these games, and our boys looked imposing in practice.
Tonight was going to be good. The coin toss saw the Cougars win and,
as usual, defer to the second half. Kicker Jamie Steger launched the ball almost
dead-on into the arms of Northside's Kyle Lawson, who successfully got a rise
out of the home crowd with a run all the way to the forty-four yard line before
Cougar quarterback Britt Shumate got the first tackle, giving the Vikings
excellent field position to begin the game.
The rest of the first drive of the game was relatively short.
A short three-yard gain was ended quite abruptly by senior defensive
lineman Matt Hall. A penalty followed and pushed the Vikings back to the
forty-five where they gained three yards again before the unfortunate carrier
was clobbered by the biggest moving wall of gold, white, and burgundy this
writer has seen in a while. With
the down second and ten, Matt Hall made his presence known (and felt) a second
time by slamming the carrier for no gain, just seconds after the quarterback was
nearly sacked and barely got the handoff. Northside
followed up with a foolproof plan--the punt. Pulaski now had a shot to dish out some
well-desired payback for the losses of the last two years, and they wasted no
opportunities. Derrick Burks
stepped into the fray for the first time of the season and, from the Cougar
forty-four, snagged six yards and landed his team directly on the fifty-yard
line. From center stage, Derrick gained eight more for a first down
on the Northside forty-two, and then he proceeded to the thirty-five for seven
more. After a warning from the
officials (to which team this writer cannot recall), Coach Turner sent forth his
second offensive weapon, Brandon Anderson.
On his very first play, Brandon got the pitch and pulled what Ardent
Cougar refers to as the "one-two punch," which saw him screaming into
the end zone for the first touchdown of the game. A successful extra point followed, putting the Cougars on the
board 7-0. The clock at Viking
Stadium, however, was seriously screwed up and still read 12:00.
Interesting. The following kickoff again went into
the arms of Viking number twelve Kyle Lawson.
Much to the delight of the away crowd, he was stopped dead at the mere
fifteen-yard line. Northside tried
to be fancy and run wide right and around the hulking Cougar defense and got a
decent five yards for their trouble before Greg Sartin took the carrier down.
Another five-yarder followed and got a first down under the Viking's
belts. After a short two-yard run
stopped by Brandon Anderson, Northside got the first (but definitely not last)
foul of the game for illegal use of hands.
Going back six yards made the down second and fourteen.
S.G. Brown prevented any significant gain by drilling the carrier at the
nineteen. A two-yard loss followed,
and then another punt was called for. Brandon Anderson nabbed the soaring
ball for a fair catch to begin Pulaski's second drive on the forty-eight. Burks then carried it straight into a first down and then
snagged seven more yards. Another
first down by Burks followed and then a no-gainer ensued at the twenty-five.
Shumate pitched right to Anderson after that, causing a first down at the
thirteen. With an enviable field
position, the Cougars gave the ball to Brandon again but that move was
anticipated and he was stopped short at the eleven-yard line.
As this writer thinks back on this, he can almost visualize Jack Turner's
hidden smile on the sidelines. Putting
his plan into action, Shumate handed off to Ernie Hodge for a nearly untouched
carry. Hodge's sole obstacle was a Viking lineman whom he bowled
over and landed on top of in the end zone.
Steger sealed the drive with another successful extra point, changing the
score to 14-0 in Pulaski's favor with the disturbed clock still reading 12:00. Steger fired the ball into the clear
night air again, sailing clear over Kyle Lawson's head for a touchback.
An eleven-yarder followed and then an eight-yarder to the thirty-nine
that was stopped by Ryan Dean. With
the down second and a long, monotonous, excruciating two yards, (sure) the
Vikings ripped past part of the defensive line and reached the forty-six before
Ernie Hodge slammed the ball carrier down.
A wide run to the left occurred next but was unceremoniously terminated
by the hungry Cougar defense for no gain. This
was made up for, however, with a successful run to the opposite forty-seven yard
line before the carrier was mobbed by Steven Cobbs, Greg Sartin, Ernie Hodge,
and to or three unrecognized players as the time (monitored by the officials,
thank God) ran out. The beginning of the second quarter saw
the beginning of the end for Northside. With
the down third and three, a first down occurred first thing.
From the forty-nine yard line, however, the Vikings made a bad fake-out
attempt and set themselves up for two things: a tackle from Burks and a holding
penalty. Backed up to their own
forty-nine, the Vikings tried their hand at a quarterback keeper.
Brandon Fleming, the quarterback, got a full two yards before going down
at the hands of Matt Hall. With the
down second and a very short, brief twenty, Northside attempted an option and
got a sack from Burks for their trouble. An
illegal motion penalty was also called but Pulaski was kind enough to decline. This made the down third and twenty-seven on their own
thirty-five, an enviable field position for some teams in the district.
The Cougar defense was hungry for some Viking hats here as well and
prevented the slightest shred of a gain. With
the down fourth and twenty-seven on the thirty-five, Northside wisely decided to
let their defense have a go and punt. Anderson was once again the one lined
up to nab the ball from the air, but it stayed just out of his grasp and rolled
dead to the forty. From there, this
writer regrets to say that the Cougars lost five yards and that he was not
watching the play as it went down. After
that, however, Derrick Burks literally hopped the defense and gained eleven more
to make up for it. With the down
third and four on the Viking's forty-six, Brandon Anderson was basically
escorted to the forty-two by Kasey McCambridge, who blocked the whole way for
him. Burks followed up with a
fifteen-yard run straight to the twenty-seven, narrowly evading the Northside
defense's grasp. He added two more
yards to reach the twenty-five a moment later, and then Shumate handed off to
Anderson for the "one-two punch" that Ernie Hodge pulled in the first
quarter and scored the third touchdown of the night all the way from the
twenty-five, followed by the third extra point of the night which made the score
21-0 with 5:53 remaining in the half, as he clock was finally working at this
point. Another kickoff preceded another
touchback. From the twenty, the
Northside quarterback ran a keeper decently to the twenty-eight.
With two yards to go, the carrier reached the thirty-three for the first
down. At this point, this writer
noticed the Northside marching band practicing at the end of the field for
halftime and saw just how close they were standing to Northside's end zone.
I guess they felt pretty safe and out of the way back there.
From the thirty-three, Northside's number twenty-two got the pitch and
ran to the right all the way up to the fifty.
They kept the first down as a result of an unsportsmanlike conduct
penalty against Pulaski and made an option pitch.
They got the first down just in time for Steven Cobbs to clobber the
carrier. Next, the carrier made it to the Cougars' thirty-five before
Brandon Anderson romped right past the offensive line for the tackle.
A keeper followed and got the Vikings to the thirty-two.
Kyle Lawson ran the ball to the twenty-six before tumbling and going down
all by himself. The unidentified
number twenty-two carried it next, going to the far right of the line before
Brandon Anderson met him at the twenty and brought him down.
After a time-out, the Vikings ran another first down that required a
measurement but checked out. From
the sixteen, Kyle Lawson made a show of reaching the nine-yard line. After that, the carrier made it all the way to the three yard
line before going down. Apparently,
higher powers saw that the officials neglected to blow the whistle and, as a
strangely coincidental result, the ball popped right out of the carrier's hands
as he went down and there--at Pulaski's own three yard line--the Cougars
recovered the ball. After a two-yard gain, the clock ran
out and the halftime festivities began. As
this writer got up and looked around, he noticed that nearly every seat in the
away bleachers at Viking Stadium was occupied.
This was the largest turnout I've ever seen for an away game.
As myself and Ardent Cougar were talking about the previous half,
Cougardave came down and told me some interesting things.
First, that when he started eating hot dogs, the Cougar's defense got
better. Secondly, he did his infamous "chickenfoot" motion
just before Northside fumbled at the end of the half. Another interesting little fact I did not realize beforehand
was revealed by the announcer in the press box.
He stated that Pulaski's Shaun Branscome had a birthday that night.
A few moments and countless Northside jokes later, the clock finally
signaled the start of the second half. The time came for the Cougars to catch
the kickoff for a change. Anderson
was once again lined up for it, but couldn't quite get to the ball before it
reached the end zone. From the
twenty yard line, Derrick Burks emerged fresh from the locker room and made a
short two-yard gain. Brandon
Anderson repeated the gain with two of his own.
With the down third and six, someone either gave or received a bad
handoff and the Cougars fumbled the ball but soon recovered it.
After losing four yards as a result of the fumble, the down was fourth
and ten, and a punt was called for. Lawson
got the fair catch with Steven Cobbs about a foot away from one of his famous
whoppers of a hit. From the fifty,
they tried running a very wide path to the left but were flagged and had to move
back to their forty-five. The
carrier was very unfortunate on the next play, when he failed to gain anything
before going down at the hands of Frank Baldwin, S.G. Brown, and about three
other Cougars. With the down second
and fifteen, Northside fumbled again for another Cougar recovery, much to the
delight of those who came to see Pulaski clean house. This next Cougar drive was extremely
short, but productive. Britt
Shumate surprised the heck out of everybody by dropping back for a pass (or as
Scott Cougar called it, a "legal forward offensive lateral"). Shumate launched it through the night air right into the arms
of Steven Cobbs at about the five yard line with Cobbs wide open.
Something happened, however, and somehow the ball slipped right out of
his hands. After another run for
three yards, Brandon Anderson saved the day by weaving clear through the Viking
defense and scoring another touchdown, making the defenders look for their
knees. After one of Steger's extra
points, the score reached 28-0 with 7:11 remaining in the third quarter. The kickoff to Northside again led to a
touchback. A four-yard loss
followed, and the run after that was nothing short of funny.
Whoever the carrier for the Vikings was, he got two yards in before he
was totally bulldozed into the ground by half the Cougar defensive line and a
couple of Vikings trying to hold them back.
With the down third and twelve, a pass was completed and Ernie Hodge was
nearly injured, but managed to stand up on his own power.
Even when the down was fourth and one, the Vikings couldn't make it past
Pulaski's line. The ball was automatically handed over
to the Cougars next. From the
Viking's forty-nine, Burks made it to the forty-seven before going down. He made up for the short gain by reaching the twenty-nine
directly afterward for a gain of eighteen and a first down.
From there, Brandon Anderson took it to the twenty.
The down was now second and one on the twenty.
Derrick Burks ran it next and basically dragged a couple of defenders to
the nine yard line. Brandon
Anderson followed up by losing a yard and then being run out of bounds from the
ten to the two. Burks tried another
run but was swamped and lost two yards. It
was at this time that the clock for the third quarter ran out. The fourth and final quarter of game
began with Jack Turner delivering a huge slap across the face to Northside head
coach Jim Hickam by calling in the second stringers, including quarterback Ryan
Dean, running back Chad Thompson and tight end Andrew Gore.
The others this writer failed to recognize. With the down fourth and four, they attempted a field goal
but it failed to connect. With the ball fresh in Viking hands,
they ran wide right and gained two yards as a result.
A pass attempt followed and failed to complete, even when Ernie Hodge
missed the interception. A second
pass attempt was batted in the nick of time by Greg Sartin, and the down
consequently became fourth and eight, forcing Northside to punt. Brandon Anderson caught the ball this
time and made it to the forty-two before getting pounded into it.
Derrick Burks got the Cougars to the forty-six, but a foul pushed them
back to the forty-one directly afterwards. Anderson took back those five yards
right away, and then on the next play was run out of bounds and Pulaski was
called for holding. From the
thirty-nine, Ernie Hodge ran it through the exhausted Northside defense and made
it up to the forty-seven yard line for a gain of eight.
However, it fell short of what the Cougars needed and with the down
fourth and four, they decided to punt. Kicker Jamie Steger landed the ball all
the way on the eight yard line. From
there, the carrier ran into a huge wall of red, white, and gold.
He went down fairly hard. Frank
Baldwin prevented any gain on the next play, and there was only a gain of one
yard on the play after that. The
down was now fourth and five, and the Vikings decided to punt as well. Anderson caught the ball and juked to
the twenty-three yard line before going down.
Derrick Burks took it from there, again seemingly jumping over the
defensive line for a fourteen-yarder to the nine yard line.
An offsides call against the Vikings followed and allowed the Cougars to
walk an extra four yards. There,
from the five yard line on the first down, Burks once again took it home for a
touchdown and extra point. With
4:45 remaining in the game, the score was now 35-0. The kickoff was caught this time and
Kyle Lawson was brought down hard and the Cougars were penalized for a facemask.
Five yards later, the carrier was dogpiled after gaining only three
yards. A short two-yarder followed,
and then the Vikings fumbled again for a Pulaski recovery.
"YOU GOTTA BE KIDDIN' ME!"
This writer shouted to no one in light of the sheer number of fumbles in
this game. The final drive in the game saw the
second stringers on field again. Chad
Thompson actually ran the ball in from the twenty-eight for another touchdown,
but a penalty called it back. Ryan
Dean gained four yards more and Chad got in another first down just as the clock
ran out and all those of the Pulaski County persuasion began cheering and
whooping and doing whatever they felt like doing after a win. Shaun Branscome, when asked if the
night's game was a good present, simply laughed out loud and said "Oh yeah.
It was a heck of a gift. Wonderful." Britt Shumate blatantly appreciated the
new and improved offensive line. "We
played great, stepped it up a lot. I
don't think I was even touched at all tonight.
I love it! We're doing,
like, ten times better than before." This writer also received word of a
little baby named Will, six months old who had, just like Turner in a sense,
attended his first Cougar game that night.
He was hysterical, clapping his hands and waving his arms around, loving
every minute of it. Rock on, Will! Well, that's about it for now. All you local fans don't forget next week, when the Cougars
go head-to-head on the road against the William Fleming Colonels.
Until then, this is Pete Cougar for Cougarfootball.net signing off.
See ya in the stands!
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