From The Bleachers 2003: Week Nine by Ardent Cougar
Series:
PC
leads 4-0
Region
III District Standings
Spooky. That's what last Friday night was. I'm certain that many of you know the significance of that evening. It was six years ago to the day, Friday, October 17, 1997, when Lee Cook's young life was cruelly taken on the field. If you were in Victory Stadium that evening - seeing it in person - it will be forever etched upon your mind. (Has it really been that long, since that tragic event?) The recently placed yellow 77 on the hill facing the home side, is a tribute to him. As the fog grew and enveloped everything around it, 77 also slowly disappeared, in eerie symbolism. During the game itself, it sometimes appeared as if we were spooked. It was very odd, and upsetting, to see our special teams play in anything but a special fashion. (I bet we'll be going for two after a TD, more often for the rest of the season.) This team is hard to figure out. One week, we can put together a second half rally against a strong Franklin County team. The next, we stumble at home, in a game we should have won. The playoffs for this year are most likely unreachable, unless we sweep the final 3 games, Salem beats Blacksburg, and Blacksburg somehow loses to Hidden Valley or Christiansburg. I don't want to know the depressing odds against this scenario happening. This week, let's not take the improved Blue Demons for granted. I won't kid you and say that I think Christiansburg should beat us, but you never know what can happen. The same can be said for us making the playoffs, by winning the district. One by one, let's see if we can play Cougar Football, win out, and let the chips fall where they may. Get out to Dobson Stadium, tailgate, meet with friends, root the team on, and hope for the best. Got
a better alternative?
Newspaper Articles on Christiansburg's games: GW-Danville rallies past Pats (Scroll for Christiansburg-Cave Spring) Salem's Shawver makes connections Terriers' Highfill directs own starring role Casey leads Spartans' surge (Scroll for Christiansburg-Lord Botetourt) Anderson steals a win for Cavs (Scroll for Christiansburg-Northside) Spartans plow way to win on final drive Demons'
defense rises to challenge
.
Giving a good team free scores, is a certain road to defeat. In a deep fog, the likes of which I've never personally witnessed a game played under, a pair of botched punt plays, one being a snap over the punter's head which he was unable to recover, and another where he got brutally pummeled before he could get the kick off, gave the Bruins a pair of gift TDs. Add in a fumble deep in our own territory which was run in for another score, and you can pretty much account for the difference in the game. Of course, being unable to tackle Blacksburg's QB did not help, either. David Houff ran all over PC, with 17 rushes for 229 yards! His performance brought to mind the match up from 2001, when the Indians put up a pair of early scores, thanks to QB Brett Smith. This time, however, the Cougars were not able to pull out the win. The normally potent PC running game failed to gain 200 yards, and the whole offense garnered only 238 for the game. The Bruins played Cougar Football better than the Cougars. Turnovers - PC 3, Blacksburg 0. Full Story and Interviews (Bruins Cream Cougars)
Spartans turn battle into rout GW-Danville
rallies past Pats (Scroll for Christiansburg-Cave Spring)
COUGAR
FANS, THE BLUE DEMONS, AND OTHER THOUGHTS......
Well, what can a person say? The ribs were cooked on the grill, we ate the hotdogs, we put the "anti-chicken foot" in place to protect us against mistakes, and yet things still didn't go our way. This past Friday was a great win for Blacksburg High School. They played a great game and took away an impressive win against the Cougars at the Den. Did Pulaski make some big mistakes that may have cost them the game? Sure they did. Would Blacksburg have won the game even without the Cougar mistakes? Maybe, we'll never know. Personally I think Coach Turner came out with a great game plan in the first half, mixing up the pass and the run. It was working pretty well until the fog rolled in and that was pretty much the end of any passing game, and at that point the Bruins were able to key on the Cougar running game pretty much like they did against Graham. Do not get me wrong, these are not excuses. Pulaski was defeated by the better team on Friday night. Blacksburg came in with a great game plan, fine athletes, and they executed well. The bottom line is that it doesn't matter now. Pulaski lost, and it has to put this game behind them and focus on the future. So lets look ahead to this week. The Christiansburg Blue Demons come into Dobson Stadium with a 4-3 record, and they are 1-1 in the district. They have defeated Radford, Northside, Lord Botetourt, and Cave Spring. Their three losses came at the hands of William Byrd, Salem and Giles. This is not your ordinary Christiansburg team. There is a familiar face on the Blue Demon sideline also. Former Cougar great Kirk Hendricks is an assistant coach, working with the running backs and the linebackers. I have a friend who I used to work with who is also an assistant coach there, and I have been following some of the progress they are making with there program since last year. What are they doing, you ask? Well, they had the best off season in the history of Christiansburg football for one thing. They had more kids in the weight room on a consistent basis all summer than they ever have. They've worked on strength, speed, agility, and they have a good coaching staff. This is a group who is working on building a program it can be proud of. Their booster clubs have been more active and involved, and the community is getting behind them. I like to see stuff like this. It's good for those kids, and it's good for their community. So what can we expect this Friday night? Christiansburg remembers the past few years. They remember scores like 51-0, 54-0, 56-0, and 35-12. There would be a huge celebration in Christiansburg if they could come down to Dublin and knock off the Cougars. It would make their season complete, even if they didn't manage to win another game, if they could get their fifth win against Pulaski County. Can they do it? Sure they can. As we've seen before in high school sports, any team can beat any other team at any given time if the breaks go there way. Ask Tazewell about it, they got their moment last year. The Cougars MUST focus and put the last game behind them if they want to win the rest of the games this year. None of these teams are pushovers. It will take some major outside help now for Pulaski to make the playoffs, and I do mean major, but sometimes you've just got to play for PRIDE!! To all the Cougar fans who read this I just want to say one thing: Don't give up on these kids. This is a fine group of young men who have worked hard from day one of practice, and they do deserve our support. The coaching staff is doing everything it can to correct the mistakes that have been made, and they also deserve our support. Lets get out there this Friday night and show them how much we appreciate all the hard work they've put in. Its time for Pulaski County players AND fans to have a little PRIDE check!! As always I'll be there before the game with the grill, and anyone who wants to can stop by for some grub. Bring a friend and bring a dish!! Lets make some noise for the PRIDE OF PULASKI COUNTY!!!! GO
COUGARS!!!! BEAT THE BLUE DEMONS!!!!
Previous 2003 Articles: FTB
Week One - Northside
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