Hidden Valley Taken to the Ranch! by Pete Cougar Full
Story and Interviews
CAVE
SPRING MIDDLE SCHOOL-- Remember the Titans. It was a great movie about the
football team at T.C. Williams high school in northern Virginia who overcame
enormous adversity to win the state championship their very first year as a
school. When Hidden Valley High School was formed, the Titan mascot was chosen
for that very reason. What their school board most likely doesn't know is that
in present day, T.C. Williams has the worst football record in the state. By
the way, this writer still thinks that Hidden Valley should change their colors
to green and white and change their name to the Ranchers. After
making it through the almost rubber-gloved stadium security (who scrutinized my
clipboard more than my spiked bracelet), this writer took his seat. The coin
toss landed in the Cougars' favor and as usual, Coach Turner and his boys
deferred to the second half. The opening kickoff went straight into the arms of
the receiver--who was standing directly in the endzone for a touchback. This
first drive of the game was relatively short. Two one-yarders landed the Titans
on the twenty-two when the down was third and eight. A long pass was overthrown
on this play, which made the down fourth and eight. The Titans punted. Brandon
Anderson caught the ball and went down on the forty-four yardline. From there,
Derrick Burks wriggled to the Hidden Valley forty-six for a first down and then
to the forty-one. Anderson then took it to the forty, but then made up or his
short gain by literally jumping past the defense to land on the thirty-five for
his first first down of the game. With a fresh drive, Derrick Burks ran the ball
to the thirty-three, and then to the twenty-seven. With the down third and two,
Brandon Anderson hopped, skipped, and jumped to the twenty-one for another first
down. The Titan defense was prepared for Anderson next, and he was mauled before
gaining any yardage whatsoever. Next, the defense was again prepared and the
Cougars lost two yards. The down was third and twelve on the twenty-three
yardline. Pulaski took a time out, and then was boosted five yards when Hidden
Valley was nailed offsides. This made the down third and seven on the nineteen.
Derrick Burks carried the ball six yards to the twelve. With the down fourth and
one, it was pretty obvious what to do. Burks wriggled through the Titan's
outstretched hands to reach the four. Anderson finished off the job after this,
sprinting straight in for the first touchdown of the night and Steger's first
extra point of the night. The scoreboard lit up, reading 7-0 in Pulaski's favor
with 4:19 left in the first quarter. Hidden
Valley did not sell any programs, or if they did then this writer didn't see
them. In any event, this writer had no way of getting names for any of the
Titans. With that in mind, the kickoff went into the arms of the anonymous
receiver who ran all the way up to the forty, juking through Cougars like crazy
until Ryan Dean took him out. A one-yarder followed, and then a pass that
bounced right out of the receiver's hands. After another pass was attempted and
failed to connect, the down was fourth and nine on the Titan's own forty-one
yardline. Rather than punting again, they desperately tried to gain a first down
with another long pass. Chad Thompson swatted it out of the air. The
ball was now fresh in Cougar paws, with the first down on the forty-one
yardline. Derrick Burks ran to claim the thirty-two yardline, a gain of nine
yards. Directly afterward, Burks took it to the twenty-six for a first down.
Brandon Anderson carried the ball next, making it to the twenty-four yardline
before being surrounded and going down. Shumate pitched to Anderson next, but
this plan failed miserably and landed Anderson on the twenty-nine after he ran
into some Hidden Valley defenders. Did this hinder our boys' progress any? Nope.
Anderson redeemed himself immediately by scrambling through the Ranchers'--er,
Titans'--linemen to reach the three yardline. With an obvious first down under
the Cougars' belt, Burks took possession of the ball again but failed to gain
before getting popped. This marked the end of the first quarter, with the score
7-0, Pulaski. Then, on the very first play of the second quarter, Burks took the
ball into the endzone followed by another Jamie Steger extra point which made
the score 14-0 with a mere 11:54 left in the last half of the first half. That
same anonymous fast guy that returned the kickoff previously did it again, this
time only making it to the twenty-six yardline. From there, the Titans claimed
the thirty. The second and third down both yielded incomplete passes, so the
Titans punted again. Brandon Anderson caught the punt and this time ran it all
the way to Hidden Valley's thirty-six. Tragically, a flag had been thrown
against the Cougars for a "push in the back," which forced them back
to their own nineteen. Derrick
Burks made a minor one-yard gain to begin this next drive. Brandon Anderson ran
it next, getting the first down onto the thirty. Burks ran again, breaking free
of the Titans' grip to reach the forty-six before the Titans' grip came back and
struck him down. He ran right through the middle next, startling the Titans a
little and reaching the forty-nine. The down was now second and seven. Pulaski
was penalized for holding and was pushed back ten yards, making the down second
and seventeen on about the forty yardline. Guess what? Derrick Burks took the
ball all the way in directly afterward for a touchdown. It was after this that
the quality of Cave Spring Middle School's goalposts was to be tested. Jamie
Steger came out onto the field to launch the extra point, but it hit the
goalpost and ricocheted off, leaving the score 20-0 with 7:53 remaining in the
half. That big goalpost wobbled back and forth for at least the next two
minutes. Ardent Cougar and yours truly wondered if the thing would actually
collapse then and there. Whoever
this kickoff returner for the Titans was, his luck was running out more and more
with every return. This time, he was limited to the seventeen yardline courtesy
of junior linebacker Ian Montgomery. The Titans reached the nineteen, and then
got four more yards to claim the twenty-four before Ernie Hodge came in on the
carrier and brought him down extra-hard. The fans in the stands could hear the
hit. A pass was attempted next and failed. With the down fourth and four, Hidden
Valley punted. The weak punt was returned on the Pulaski forty-eight. Derrick
Burks carried the ball from the Cougar forty-eight to the Titan forty-four. From
there, Brandon Anderson reached the thirty-six for a first down. On the next
play, Pulaski was called for illegal blocking and lost about twelve yards as a
result. The next play's handoff was faked, and Britt Shumate launched a long
bomb to Greg Sartin in the endzone, who tragically failed to catch it. The down
was now second and twenty-two on Hidden Valley's forty-six yardline. Derrick
Burks surprised everyone by ripping through the Titan defense and screaming all
the way down the remainder of the field for another touchdown. This time, Steger
sent the ball flying through the goalpost for a successful extra point attempt,
updating the score to 27-0. The
following kickoff went into the hands of the Titans' number four. Whether or not
this is the same returner as before, this writer cannot say. What is known is
that he was able to carry the ball up to the thirty before going down. An
incomplete pass followed this, and then a minor three-yard gain. This put the
Titans on their own thirty-three with the down third and seven. The quarterback,
whom yours truly just found out was named Brad Oliver, threw a pass to the
forty-five for the Titan's first first down of the game. After that, Oliver
threw another one that got Hidden Valley to the Cougars' forty-six, after the
carrier was run out of bounds. One play later, they got themselves their second
first down, after which Shaun Branscome personally congratulated the carrier.
After a one-yarder, Oliver threw another pass, this time sending it out over the
thirty where it was dropped dead on the ground. Afterward on the third down with
nine yards to go, Brad threw another incomplete pass, and again on the fourth
down. The
ball was automatically turned over to the Cougars on their own forty-one.
Derrick Burks took the ball to Hidden Valley's forty-one for an immediate first
down. Brandon Anderson got three more yards, and number forty-four for Hidden
Valley was left lying on the field for a moment. Luckily, he recovered and
walked away. Burks came through the middle to reach the thirty-seven, and then
Shumate tried another long pass to Greg Sartin. Unfortunately, Sartin dropped it
again. This made the down fourth and six on the thirty-seven. Anderson tried to
save the drive with a first down, but only made two yards before going down. The
Titans got in a grand total of two unsuccessful and pointless plays before the
clock dwindled down to signal halftime. Ardent
Cougar informed yours truly during halftime that at the concessions stand, they
were selling Jolly Ranchers. Interesting. By the way, I'd like to
personally welcome back Jamie Reedy. She was recently sidelined from the
sidelines when she sprained her ankle, but was back tonight cheering as usual
with nothing but a brace about the size of a sock on it. A
few minutes after everyone had gathered into their seats and the band and
cheerleaders for Hidden Valley got off the field, the festivities resumed. The
kickoff at first went into the hands of Brandon Anderson, but there was an
illegal substitution called against Hidden Valley. The second time around,
junior Will White caught the ball, which was an onside kick, and went down on
the forty-five yardline. An anonymous two-yarder followed, and then Anderson
reached the eighteen for the first down. Derrick Burks tried to follow up with
some more yardage, but was bulldozed back two yards. Next, he made up for it by
reaching the sixteen. The down was now third and nine on the sixteen. Anderson
ran outside to the left for an impressive touchdown followed by a just as
impressive extra point, changing the score to 33-0 with 9:14 remaining in the
third quarter. The
following kickoff sailed into the endzone for a touchback. From the twenty, the
center for the Titans released a bad snap, making Brad Oliver rush back and get
it before being pummeled at the nine yardline. Oliver ran a quarterback keeper
and was run out of bounds at the fifteen, almost bowling over about three Cougar
cheerleaders. A pass was completed next to about the thirty-five yardline before
Shaun Branscome got the tackle. However, Pulaski was flagged for a facemask and
the Titans practically walked to the thirty-one for a first down. A long pass
was attempted next but was incomplete, and then on the second and third downs,
five yards and one more were gained, in that order. This made the down fourth
and four on the thirty-seven. Oliver attempted another pass that would have
surely connected for a first down, had Ryan Dean not been there to swat it down.
Pulaski
picked up the ball now, and from the Titans' thirty-seven, Derrick Burks was
again called into action. He only reached the thirty-six, but Brandon Anderson
ran the ball next, practically bouncing off of defenders left and right to reach
the twenty-nine. Derrick took it to the seventeen for a first down afterwards.
Next, Pulaski was flagged for delay of game. After being pushed back to the
twenty-two, junior running back Chad Thompson got the handoff and ran it all the
way up to the nine. With the down now second and two, Thompson carried the ball
again for his first varsity touchdown ever. As if to commemorate the occasion,
Steger's extra point sailed in to make the score 40-0 with a mere 2:59 remaining
in the thirds quarter. This writer regrets to say he couldn't get Chad's words
on this. The
kickoff went into some Titan guy's arms and he went into Will White's
arms--hard--and went down on the ground at the eighteen. Only one yard was
gained on the next play. This writer doesn't know what the crap happened next,
but whatever it was, the Titans found themselves from their own nineteen to
their own eleven yardline. Someone did a good job on defense! Thus, the down was
third and seventeen on the eleven. Brad Oliver threw another one of his now
infamous passes--straight towards Derrick Burks. Derrick snatched the ball out
of the air and immediately made a break for the endzone, scoring yet another
touchdown for the Cougars. Jamie Steger's extra point flew straight into the
goalpost again, and again the fans watched it wobble. So, the score remained
46-0 with 1:05 remaining in the quarter. The
opening kickoff was another touchback. Will White stopped the carrier after
allowing five yards to be gained. Oliver threw an incomplete pass that was
almost intercepted by some anonymous Cougar, and Hidden Valley got themselves
another first down as the clock bottomed out to signal the start of the fourth
and final quarter of the game. Right off the bat, five yards were gained. Three
more landed them on the thirty-nine. Finally, the carrier for the Titans took it
to the fifty for a first down. From there, the ball carrier scrambled to the
thirty-five where Chad Thompson ran him out of bounds. Brad Oliver dropped the
snap next, having to go back and get it as before for a loss of six yards. This
made the down second and sixteen on the forty-one yardline. Oliver ran a keeper
to the twenty-four next, and then someone else got the handoff and reached the
twenty before Thompson brought him down. Oliver threw another pass next, but
this one was different--it connected. Even more, it connected in the endzone for
the Titans' first (and final) touchdown of the game. Their extra point attempt
was no good. This
next drive by Pulaski was completely junior-dominated to the knowledge of yours
truly. Chad Thompson got the kickoff return and made it to the seventeen before
landing. This drive's first official play was just plain funny. Running back
Rashad Simmons got the handoff from Ryan Dean and made it from the seventeen to
the twenty-seven. This dude was a locomotive! It literally took the entire Titan
defensive line to bring this fellow down. Picture a dogpile with every player in
it standing up and trying to knock down one guy engulfed in the center. There's
what it looked like. "I
was surrounded on all sides," said Rashad after the game, " so I just
ran for the light." After
Thompson got an anonymous gain, Simmons was at it again, reaching the thirty-six
yardline. From there, he reached the thirty-nine for a first down. Chad Thompson
got one more yard in after that, and with the down second and nine, Simmons got
another first down under his belt. Ryan Dean pitched to Thompson next but the
Titan defense had come to expect this and bullrushed him, making him lose yard.
Thompson made it to the forty-five next. The down was third and four on the
forty-five. Pulaski was flagged for a reason I couldn't catch, and Simmons
reached the forty-one on the next play. After he made another first down by
reaching the Hidden Valley thirty-five, Ryan Dean ended the Titan's pain by
taking a knee and running out the few seconds left on the clock to end the game,
46 Pulaski and Hidden Valley 6. "The
kids played hard," Coach Turner said, "and that's all you can ask for.
But Blacksburg's going to be much harder. They'll be a lot bigger than these
Hidden Valley guys, and it's going to be a war." So
it shall be. Tonight was a very gratifying night for any cougar or cougar fan,
very reminiscent of the old days when fans witnessed so many cougar touchdowns
it made them sick. Great, huh? Hopefully all of you will accept this little
invitation that I like to send out at the end of each of these articles. I
invite you to come see our boys, the Cougars, take on the players formerly known
as the Indians next week. Until then this is Pete Cougar for Cougarfootball.net
signing off.
Full
Story and Interviews
|
