From The Bleachers 2003: Week Four by Ardent Cougar
Series: PC
leads 23-4
Dan Callahan's Directions to the Game Region
III District Standings
There was a time, not very long ago, when a game against Franklin County almost seemed to mean that we could phone it in. Scores like 55-14, 49-14, 41-16, 44-0, 51-14 and 55-7 can be found, looking back to the 1990s. In the past few years, however, Billy Miles (a former Salem assistant) and company have been turning that program around. Last year, the Eagles went 9-1, won the Western Valley District, and made it to the playoffs for the first time. I bet they would love to get some revenge on us, at home. From 1990-2000, a total of 6 games, the average score in Rocky Mount was Cougars 49, Eagles 10. Remember - a good amount of those Eagle points, were not scored on our first stringers. I guess you could say we've not been "polite" guests in Franklin County. From what I saw on the news coverage of the Eagles' 44-29 loss to Amherst in the first week, I'd bet that Derrick Burks will have a very good night. The Lancers had a strong running back who was able to break some nice long runs, up the gut. That's right up Derrick's alley. Let's hope we don't all of a sudden turn into "polite" guests. This IS football, after all. With all due respect to FC and Mr. Miles for finally getting some real success there, we need this win. It's not a district game, of course. However, this is a Division 6 AAA team, which makes for a good power rating boost. After last week's occasional defensive lapses against the Patriots, I bet that Turner would like nothing better to head to Rocky Mount, and shut these guys down. See you there. Newspaper Articles on Franklin County's games: Franklin Co. 28, Martinsville 0 or Martinsville vs. Franklin Co. via Martinsville Bulletin Edwards
wears down the Warriors
.
It was a bit sloppy. PC actually lost the turnover part of the game. The Cougars, who were no doubt still somewhat affected by the defensive war in Victory Stadium a week previous, had more than enough firepower to overcome the sloppiness. Brandon Anderson ran all over PH, with 240 yards, averaging over 8 per carry. Derrick Burks was not to be left out. He chipped in a "mere" 173. Derrick scored three times, and Brandon crossed the goal line twice. Because of the turnovers, Jamie Steger only had to punt once. After a fumbled punt return inside the PC 10, the Patriots closed to within 14-11 with a TD and a 2 point conversion, with only 1:00 left in the first half. The Cougars answered, just 40 seconds later, as Anderson took it in from 14 yards out, squashing PH's comeback hopes. PC never lead by less than 10 the rest of the way. Full Story and Interviews (Patrick Henry Gets Death!)
Colonels' Priest lays heavy beat Anderson steals a win for Cavs (Scroll for Christiansburg-Northside) Knights
defense leaves Cavs inches short
NEITHER RAIN,
NOR SNOW, NOR DARK OF NIGHT........
Cougar fans, get your boats ready!!!! This weeks game at Franklin County may be a wet one if Hurricane Isabel has her way, but either way it should prove to be a great one. Our Cougars travel to Rocky Top hoping to improve there record to 3-1 and gain back some power points from the loss to William Fleming. Pulaski and Franklin County have played 27 times, and the Cougars have gotten the better end of the deal 23 of those games, including the past 13 games. But Franklin County has been working hard, and come into this game 2-1 and trying to prove themselves. All in all it should be a great game, even if it does turn out to be a muddy mess. (authors note: this is the point where everyone is supposed to say whatever little "anti-rain" chant you have in hopes of insuring that Isabel goes directly north and leaves us alone!!) Lets talk a little bit about this past week. First of all, I want to thank Becky Chinault for the birthday cake. It tasted really good. I hope ScottCougar's wife Jennifer was satisfied with the chicken and dumplings. I took the fact that I never looked up and saw her without a cupful of them in her hand as an indicator that they were ok. It was nice to finally meet their daughter, and even though I'm convinced babies are contagious and I usually shy away from them I didn't mind spoiling her a little during the game at all. She seemed to agree with me on the quality of the hotdogs at Dobson Stadium, and upon smelling that agreement I promptly returned her to Becky!!! Jeff was a bit scary with her. He tried his best to convince her to cheer along with the cheerleaders, and for a time she seemed to have the beat down pretty well, but being still under a year old she had some problems with some of the words. We'll have to keep working with her on it. Overall I think it was great home opener, the chill bumps still crept up my arms when the band played 2001, even though I wish they had played it again as the team started coming down the steps. The band looked good in there snazzy new uniforms, and they sounded pretty good too. The fans were loud, the hotdogs were great, and it felt really good to be home. I still wish our concession stands would put slaw on the hotdogs, but at least they weren't anything near a Victory Stadium disaster. All in all, I will have to give these hotdogs a score of 6.5. The slaw would put them over the top for a 7, but we'll wait till our next home game and see how they taste when I bring some in myself to check it out. Lets be honest here, its going to be hard to beat those Alleghany beauties with any normal hotdog. I just hope and pray we can eventually get them back on our schedule one day..... So here we are heading into week four of the season. Our boys are clicking pretty well, Coach Turner is doing a great job, and the River Ridge District is still up for grabs. With Salem and Blacksburg losing last week, and Cave Spring still undefeated, this could still be anybody's District Title to win. We also cant look over the fact that Christiansburg is much improved over last year. I know from one of there assistant coaches that they had a great off season, and are really looking to build that program up. Best of luck to everyone, of course with the exception of the week that they play the Cougars. Let's all make the trip to Franklin County this Friday night, no matter what the weather is, and let the team know how much we support them. I'm not sure what we will do about tailgating yet, with this being such a long way off and all most people might not be able to make it in time to eat outside the gate. I will be looking into what some of the finer BBQ Shacks between here and there may be, I'll post it on the forums and on Tailgate Central when I know for sure. Keep one thing in mind though........Franklin County is made up of some good ol' country folks, not too much unlike ourselves. To me this means one very important thing....they should have some great hotdogs!!!! GO
COUGARS!!!!! BEAT FRANKLIN COUNTY!!!!!
Previous 2003 Articles: FTB
Week One - Northside
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