Block Shatters Glass! by Pete Cougar Full
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LYNCHBURG CITY STADIUM—Last
night was without a doubt a first-class Not anymore. With five receivers, a diversified spread offense, two tight ends, and a ton of formations, the Hilltoppers were not going to go down in our record books without a fight. Also, mind you, this week the Cougars were going in without Steven Cobbs, Cab Cabaniss, or Austin Twine. After a two-hour road trip, an amazing culinary discovery (Hardee’s new Western Bacon Thickburger. Try it first chance you get), and a bit of socializing, it came time for the coin toss. This writer is not exactly sure who won, but Pulaski started out kicking off as they would have if they’d won. The returner for E.C. Glass ran to the twenty-two where Benji Poindexter dragged him down. The Hilltoppers’ first drive was nothing better than pathetic, considering the overall outcome of the came. An incomplete pass, a quarterback sack from Frank Baldwin that cost them fifteen yards, and another incomplete pass were the entire content of the three plays before the punt. From the seven yardline, it flew a short distance to Ryan Dean who caught it at about the thirty-five and was able to take it up to the twenty-three. From there, Kevin Crouse and Chad Thompson strutted their stuff like roosters in front of a rowdy henhouse. Kevin gained twenty yards in the first three plays, reaching the nineteen, twelve, and four yardlines in that order. (obviously) After that, Chad put the icing on the cake with the Cougars’ first touchdown of the evening. Luis Piscura landed the extra point and the score went up 7-0 with 9:21 left in the first quarter. The following kickoff saw the Hilltopper returner running up to the twenty-five and going down. From there, quarterback Holmes dropped the snap and they lost a yard. They lost seven more after that when Baldwin sacked Holmes again. Holmes threw an incomplete pass again, and then with the down fourth and eighteen on the seventeen yardline, they punted again. Ryan Dean missed the ball at first, and had to go back and pick it up before falling down at the Hilltoppers’ forty-seven yardline. Kevin Crouse managed to gain eight yards right away, and then two more for the first down and his personal thirty-yard mark for the night. He ran the ball again from the thirty-seven, and with Chad Thompson leading him, reached the thirty-two for five more. He only gained one after that. Him and Chad reversed roles next, and with Crouse leading, Chad got nine more yards for another first down. This put them on the twenty-two. Pulaski called a timeout, and then Ryan Dean kept the ball and ran right up to the eight for a gain of fourteen. With the down first and goal there, Crouse got the handoff three more times to score again, making the board read 14-0 with 3:12 left in the fist half of the first half. (I love doing that.) Number three for the Hilltoppers, who will remain nameless along with most of the team since I never got a roster, returned the kickoff to the thirty yardline, waking the home crowd up a bit. From there, they managed to scrape the forty-five yardline where Kasey McCambridge flattened the carrier. It should be noted now that at this point, the Hilltoppers still had negative fifteen yards against the Cougars. They lost two more on the next play, and then Holmes attempted a pass that would have seen them move up to the Cougars’ forty yardline but was incomplete. Not letting down, Holmes launched the ball again, connected it, and saw the receiver run—and run—and run all the way to the Cougars’ ten yardline. It was there that senior safety Will White got the tackle. After an obvious first down and some raised morale, the Hilltoppers went on to score their first touchdown against the Cougars followed by a successful extra point. This made the score 14-7 with 1:52 left in the first quarter. At this point I wished that that would be all they scored, as I was already getting very sick of the cannon they fired after both the touchdown and extra point. Junior Anole Hash returned the kickoff for the Cougars to reach the twenty-six yardline. Chad Thompson dropped a pass, Rashad Simmons gained ten for a first down, and Ernie Hodge ran his famous criss-cross play to scrape the forty-one yardline. Ryan Den fumbled the snap and lost a yard to end the first quarter. The second one began with Chad reaching the forty-six yardline. With the down fourth and one, Luis Piscura punted for the Cougars, but not before they were hit with a delay of game call. Because of this, the ball only made it to Glass’ thirty-yardline. Ernie Hodge sacked Holmes straight off, apparently now feeling very at home in Lynchburg stadium. A long pass attempt went incomplete and was almost intercepted by Will White. A pitch went into the hands of their number twenty guy and he made it up to the thirty-three. Unfortunately for E.C. Glass, it was now fourth and eight. They punted. Ryan Dean got the ball again and fumbled with it again before going down at the Pulaski forty-eight yardline. The Cougars were hit with delay of game again and were backed up to the forty-two. Chad Thompson, led by Kevin Crouse, made up for it by reaching the fifty. Two yards were lost when Ryan Dean fumbled the ball for a Pulaski recovery. Chad reached the forty-seven, but that was tragically four yards short of first down status so our boys had to punt again. The Hilltoppers’ returner was knocked out-of-bounds at the twenty-three yardline by Will White. Two yards were gained right away, and then one was lost on an option run that Cougar defenders saw right through. Holmes launched another bullet pass to a receiver all the way down on the Cougars’ thirty-five where Will White knocked him down. Nothing was gained on the next carry thanks to Brent Osborne, Kasey McCambridge, and Casey Turpin. A short pass was completed for a gain of three before Crouse stopped the ball carrier, and then three more were lost thanks to Ernie Hodge, Rashad Simmons, and Casey Turpin. This made the down fourth and ten on the thirty-four. It was as if they gained nothing in those four plays. They punted. The punter for the Hilltoppers fumbled with the ball but managed to send it twenty-four yards down to Pulaski’s ten yardline. Kevin Crouse reached the fifteen immediately, then lost three yards. A fumble and Hilltopper recovery saw their second touchdown, evening out the board 14-14 with 1:46 remaining in the half. Ernie Hodge returned the following kickoff to the ten yardline. Pulaski was flagged for delay of game—again—and was backed up to the five. Crouse made it to the thirteen for a gain of eight with seven yards to go. Gaining only one after that, Crouse totally made up for it by reaching the forty-nine yardline for a staggering gain of thirty-five. There was one more play before the clock ran out for halftime, but the only highlight from it was Trey Parris, a junior and secondary guard for Pulaski, losing his helmet. Halftime rolled around. By the way, remember last week when I said that this game would take place on my eighteenth birthday? Well, it did. Last night, as I was getting up from my seat to go get myself a Sprite before the start of the third quarter, I got a pleasant surprise from some very special friends of mine. The entire Cougar cheering squad marched into the bleachers, right up to me, and gave me a card bearing all of their signatures. Hope Reedy, who was speaking on their behalf, must have read last week’s article, as she apologized for not getting me a DVD player or anything like that. I told them that this was good enough, and that it will be a cold day in—um, Hawaii—before I forget this. Ladies, if you’re reading this, I want you to know that card you gave me was totally right: I do have some of the nicest friends anyone could hope for. I did not see this coming at all. That was one of the only moments lately where I actually remember being speechless. Thanks so much ladies and God bless ya. Anole Hash returned the kickoff to the Cougars’ thirty-three yardline to begin the second half, during which it should be noted that both teams visibly had “woken up” in those locker rooms, as you shall read. Ernie Hodge reached the forty, Chad juked to the forty-two-and-a-half, and Crouse reached the forty-five for a first down. After that, he took the ball to E.C. Glass’ forty-nine for five more yards, and then to the forty-six. An anonymous cougar ball carrier (probably Kevin) reached the forty-two and forty-one in the next two plays. The down was now second and nine. Chad Thompson ran twice after that for a gain of three before Luis Piscura had to punt for our boys again. He fumbled the ball, picked it up and had to run with it, reaching the thirty-nine before getting mobbed. He was down for a moment after that, but was able to walk off the field on his own once he could get up. With the Hilltoppers starting out where Luis left off, Holmes kept the ball and was run out-of-bounds where he actually bowled over one of the umpires who was also able to get up after a moment. Rashad Simmons and Will White stopped the ball carrier at the forty-seven after that, and Holmes faked a pass to keep the ball for a first down. One three-yard gain later, Holmes threw two consecutive incomplete pass attempts before E.C. Glass had to punt. The ball sailed out-of-bounds at the Cougar twenty-eight. For the first three plays of the drive, Kevin Crouse ran the ball and made it to the forty-six in the end. There, with the down second and four, the Hilltoppers were caught offsides for a Cougar first down. This put them dead even on the fifty yardline. Crouse ran three times more, gaining ten yards and then nothing. With the down now second and ten on the thirty-five, Pulaski was flagged and lost five. Ernie Hodge gained one yard to reach the forty-one. He gained seven more after that, but the Cougars still had to punt. Luis dropped one knee trying to handle the ball, which put E.C. glass right on the Pulaski forty-nine. Someone gained two yards for the Hilltoppers before Casey Turpin walloped him. One more yard was gained after that, with Ernie Hodge and Rashad Simmons getting the stop, a fumble, and a near Pulaski recovery. The Hilltoppers punted next, and the ball rolled dead at the two yardline. Kevin Crouse took the ball and literally rolled to the eight yardline, being helped off the field after developing a nasty limp in his leg. Simmons put it on the ten, and then carried up to the twenty-four for a first down. I myself didn’t see the number (or the hair) of the carrier, but how obvious is it that it was Rashad when it takes three defenders literally on his back to bring him down? Simmons went right ahead and gained six more after that, and then Ernie Hodge ran the criss-cross for three more. Hodge gained the same number directly afterward for the first down, after which Simmons gained three yards of his own. Chad Thompson gained four to reach the forty-three, and Rashad Simmons got three more. Tragically, the forty-five yardline was one yard short of another first down, so Pulaski punted again after a timeout. The ball landed on the Hilltoppers’ fifteen. Holmes fumbled the snap for a loss of nine. After that, he took a knee twice to run out the clock, and with the clock out and the score 14-14, we went into overtime. The coin toss was won by Glass, and they chose to take the ball second. Simmons ran the ball twice for an overall gain of three, and then Kevin Crouse scored, making the score (with Piscura’s help of course) 21-14 in favor of the Cougars. E.C. Glass got possession next in order to try and get their share of overtime points. After a short gain of two, Holmes completed a touchdown pass. The home crowd was erupting, while the silence on the away stands was as thick as pudding. It came time for their extra point, and to end a great game, Chad Thompson dashed forward and blocked it. The game ended—finally—with the scoreboard reading Pulaski 21, E.C. Glass 20. When asked his thoughts on the game as a whole, Jack Turner kept it short and sweet: “It was a heck of a ball game. Our boys never quit for one second.” When questioned about his game-winning block (the block that shattered Glass, as mentioned in the title), Chad had this to say: “Man, I played so bad, I had to do something for the team. I had to score a touchdown, block a punt, do something. I just stepped it up and went in there!” Let me also say that, as Turner acknowledged to his team, this makes the third triple A team we’ve beaten in eleven days. That is flat-out unheard of. I think it’s safe to say the Cougars are getting their real spirit back… With all that went on in mind, it gives me tremendous pleasure to announce that next week is Pulaski’s week off. There will be, however, the annual junior-senior powder puff flag football game (Yeah, I know. I wish it was tackle, too). Yours truly will be there, of course, and for once I will not be seen with a clipboard and a cougarfootball.net shirt on. I’ll still be easy to find though. Most people acknowledge that I always am. Feel free as always to come on down to Dobson Stadium and see the action. Also, since there will be no article next week, I’ll remind everyone right now that in two weeks, on October fifteenth I think, our boys will go head-to-head against the Hidden Valley Titans in our annual homecoming game. For cougarfootball.net, this is Pete Cougar signing off!
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