Titans Run Down Cougars at Pulaski Homecoming by Pete Cougar Full
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KENNETH J. DOBSON STADIUM—It was bound to happen. We won five games in a row, getting our morale way up, probably higher than it has been for a couple of years… and, in this writer’s opinion, we got cocky. First let me say to all of you out there that are wondering why we couldn’t lose to a “worthy” team, let me clear that up for you: you never underestimate a worthy team. You never look at someone like Salem or William Fleming or GW Danville and bet your next two paychecks. Apparently, Hidden Valley was considered by many not to be a worthy team. A team worthy of consideration of the possibility that we might not beat them. Let me also tell you before I go any further that this will not be the case next year. It was a cold night. Unseasonably cold. Unreasonably cold. This writer still carries a chill from the brisk breeze in the air tonight. I also remember that this characteristic seems to run among the losses at Dobson Stadium. This writer was unable to catch the winner of the coin toss, but it is known that the Pulaski County Cougars began the game on offense, a rare occasion. The kickoff sailed down into the arms of Kevin Crouse, who only managed to claim the twenty yardline before sailing down himself. He gained two yards to begin the drive, and Chad gained ten more to score a first down. Crouse lost a yard, Chad lost two, and then he made it back up to the line of scrimmage. This made the down fourth and ten. The Cougars punted. Piscura’s typical rocket launch-style kick only made it to the Hidden Valley Titans’ thirty-five before rolling dead. Titan quarterback Tyler Coyer first threw an incomplete pass attempt, during which Pulaski’s Will White made a concussive hit on the would-be receiver. A five-yard run and eleven-yard pass later, they got their first first down of the night. Rashad Simmons made decent tackles on the next two plays, in which the Titans gained another first down, Pulaski was called offsides which got the offense five more yards, and a short pitch got the ball on the twenty-nine yardline. Ernie Hodge highlighted the defense on this drive with a quarterback sack that made the down third and twelve on the thirty-eight, a loss of nine yards. Five were gained back when the Cougars were flagged, and a pass attempt was dropped. The down was fourth and twelve now, so they went for a field goal and failed--barely. With Pulaski starting off where Hidden Valley left off, Chad Thompson ran up the middle for no gain. He ran again and got three, and dropped a pass on the play after that. With the down fourth and seven, Luis Piscura punted. The ball went into the arms of Titan running back Jimmy King, who was stopped by Cain Montgomery at the forty-seven. This was another short drive. A seven yard pass was completed, An official timeout was called, a huge pass was overthrown, Ernie Hodge took ten yards from the Titans with another sack, and with the down fourth and a long thirteen, Kicker Kyle Curbow punted. The ball went out-of-bounds at the Cougars’ nineteen. From there, Kevin Crouse dominated the whole next drive. First he ran up the middle for a perfect ten-yard first down, then was dragged down after gaining six more yards. He got three after that, a n official timeout and measurement was called, and he ran a no-gainer afterward. With the down fourth and a mere one, Luis still punted the ball. It rolled dead at the Titans’ thirty-two. Coyer began this drive with another incomplete pass, covered by Crouse. Another incomplete attempt followed and Hidden Valley was flagged twice in the same play, for ineligible receiver downfield and holding. The ineligible receiver call was waved. This made the down second and twenty on their own twenty-two. Coyer ran a quarterback draw for all of eighteen yards to reach the forty. (This marked the end of the first quarter) There was no gain on the following play, so they punted. Kevin Crouse caught it and ran to about the thirty-three before getting hit and fumbling for a Hidden Valley recovery, the first of the night. With an excellent starting position, the Titans had two yards taken from them by Ernie Hodge and Brent Osborne. Coyer was nearly sacked directly afterwards, but managed to complete a ten-yard pass. The down was now third and two. They gained a very short measure, and then with the down fourth and inches on the Cougar twenty-three, they marched right in for their first touchdown of the night. The following extra point was nearly blocked but went in anyway. The score was 0-7 with 9:45 left in the second quarter. The kickoff went to Ian Montgomery, who actually managed to scrape the forty-one yardline. Sadly, this was followed by a second fumble and Titan recovery. From Pulaski’s forty-one, they gained six yards in two plays and lost one in the third. A long pass was connected at the twenty, and then to tight end Brian Bush on the three yardline. A one-yarder followed, a would-be touchdown pass went incomplete, and on the next play was just ridiculous, if our boys will forgive me for saying so. If memory serves, Coyer handed off to a guy who managed to dodge two hungry Cougar defenders separately, and then slip away into the endzone for Hidden Valley’s second touchdown. After the extra point, the score was now 0-14 with 6:30 left in the half. The kickoff that followed went to Frank Baldwin who ran it up to the twenty-three. Chad took it and lost a yard, and Kevin Crouse took it fifteen yards to the thirty-seven. Chad followed in his footsteps to the forty-two where Crouse took it to the forty-five and then nowhere after that. With the down fourth and two, Piscura punted. The returner caught it on Hidden Valley’s twenty-three yardline where he was instantly autographed to the field by Steven Cobbs and Benji Poindexter. Hodge got the Cougar defense alive and kicking on this Titan possession by immediately sacking Tyler Coyer. This took exactly ten yards from them. They still managed to pass to some receiver on the thirty-four from the thirteen for a first down. Two yards later, Hidden Valley was nailed for illegal procedure. Another key play saw running back Jimmy King romping all the way up to the Cougars’ forty-six for an obvious first down. Pulaski was flagged for some unknown reason, and then the Titans lost a yard. Finally, as the first half ended, Kevin Crouse, Frank Baldwin, and Ernie Hodge closed it off with a nice quarterback sack. During halftime, homecoming festivities were shortly under way. Previous king and queen Matt Tilley and Elyse Brandau presented their crowns. This writer and PCHS student regrets to say that he couldn’t get around to listing every candidate. The ones I can remember (besides the winners) were Morgan Chiti, Cain Montgomery, Ian Montgomery, Paige Wigginton, Megan Stuart, Erin Wadell, Emily Williamson, Andrew Hart, Will Frye, and Nathan Roseberry. Come to think of it, maybe that was all of them. I can also remember that I personally voted for Neil Farmer and Emily Harp. It turned out that the results were as follows: Duke and Duchess were Ernie Hodge and Gari Clark. Prince and Princess were Ryan Dean and Katie Waller, and the class of 2005 homecoming King and Queen were Victor Horton and Leslie Anderson. The Titans began the games final half in possession of the ball. The kickoff went to Jimmy King who ran it up to the forty. A pass was completed and the yardage was boosted by a flag against Pulaski for “roughing the passer.” Jimmy King then took it from the Cougar forty-four to the forty-three, and then to the forty. They ran a no-gainer next (courtesy of a hard hit by Rashad Simmons), and a flag was waved. The down was now fourth and six on the forty, so they punted. Again, the ball sailed out of bounds, this time at the twenty-nine. Kevin Crouse ran up the middle but gained nothing. Junior split tackle Adam Adkins was down for a brief moment but rose on his own power. Ryan Dean threw a pass on the next play that went to absolutely no one, so Chad took the ball next but lost a yard. A flag against Pulaski was mercifully declined, and with the down fourth and eleven the Cougars punted. From the Pulaski twenty-eight, Luis launched the ball a decent distance down to the Titans’ twenty-seven. Jimmy King got two yards in two plays. Two passes were connected for two consecutive first downs, and Coyer ran the ball himself for three more yards. With the down second and seven on the Cougars’ forty-seven, Coyer ran the ball again and scored a touchdown himself. The score was now 0-24 with 1:30 remaining in the third quarter. The kickoff went to Chad Thompson who returned it up to the twenty-seven yardline. Hodge ran his criss-cross play but for once that had been predicted. Instead of the usual ten or fifteen yarder, the Cougars lost a yard. To end the third quarter, Pulaski recovered their own fumble only to throw an interception at the start of the forth. Hidden Valley started out the final quarter of the night’s game on the Cougars’ twenty-four yardline. Pulaski called a timeout and the Titans gained nothing. They reached the twenty on the next carry and, directly after that, scored their next touchdown and extra point. The score was now 0-31. Chad Thompson returned the kickoff again, this time scraping the thirty yardline, which was a pleasant surprise. Crouse gained two, and then Rashad Simmons, for the first time in the game, took the ball. He lived up to his hard-to-bring-down reputation and reached the forty for a first down. One one-yarder later, Chad gained three and Simmons gained one more. Hodge criss-crossed to the forty-five to make the down fourth and five. Our boys punted. The returner made a fair catch on the twenty-seven yardline, but the Titans were flagged for some reason and had to go back to the nineteen. There, a reversal of roles occurred. They fumbled and the Cougars made the recovery! It should also be noted here that this was the first time in the entire game where Pulaski had finally crossed the fifty yardline. From the nine yardline, Rashad Simmons became the Cougars’ leading scorer of the night with their first (and last) touchdown. At this point, the fight had all but left the home crowd, and the Cougar loyals who hadn’t left yet were happy simply because we weren’t going to be shut out. The extra point was no good, but at least our boys were now on the board finally. The score was 6-31 with 6:34 left in the game. The following kickoff had to be redone, on account of an offsides call against Pulaski. The end result saw Jimmy King scraping the twenty-nine yardline. The Titans called a timeout and gained four, followed by a no-gainer. After losing one more, they punted from their own twenty-six. It bounced out of bounds (again) this time at the Cougars’ forty-yardline. With Austin Twine now playing quarterback, Kevin Crouse ran two yards followed by Chad Thompson running four. An unknown carrier got three more in there, and then Hodge crossed the fifty for the first down. This made the second time in the game the Cougars crossed the fifty. Someone gained two, Austin Twine gained five, and just when it looked as if our boys were getting their old spirit back, the clock ran out and the game was over. Final score was Titans 3, Cougars 6. Coach Jack Turner was surprisingly optimistic afterward in the locker room when asked how the team would prepare for next week after a night like this. “We’re just gonna come in on Monday and see what kind of character this team has. None of these kids lost on purpose. Kids win, coaches lose.” Word was that Frank Baldwin was injured sometime during the game. There is currently no word on his condition. Well, tonight was a disappointment. Let’s just hope and pray that next week’s showdown against the Blacksburg “Bruins” (they’ll always be the Indians to me) goes much, much better. I just hope the score makes up for having to put up with Blacksburg’s crappy away bleachers… But until then, this is Pete Cougar for cougarfootball.net signing off.
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