Demons Tricked, Cougars Treated! by Pete Cougar Full
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CHRISTIANSBURG HIGH SCHOOL-- For possibly the very first time in Christiansburg Blue Demon history, their football team has been undefeated. They have been a force to be reckoned with on the field, both because of their improved game and the astounding shock that an opposing team suffers when the former is present on the field. The newspapers have been praising the Demons with headlines along the lines of “Christiansburg is on top” and “Blue Demons Unstoppable.” Until tonight, that is. Christiansburg’s undefeated musclemen came out of the locker room to meet up at midfield with the Pulaski County Cougars for the coin toss, which saw them deferring to the second half and making Pulaski receive first. Apparently unaccustomed to this practice, the Cougars’ first drive was short and relatively uneventful. After the kickoff (done twice due to an offsides call on the Demons) was returned by Frank Baldwin to the thirty yardline, an unknown carrier was knocked down with no yardage under his belt. Kevin Crouse ran for two, Ryan Dean launched a pass to Crouse which was dropped, and finally this short but agonizing display was ended with Luis Piscura punting the ball forty-seven yards down to the Blue Demons’ twenty yardline. Andrew Hoffer, Christiansburg’s quarterback, passed for ten yards and a first down straight off. A second pass got them seven more and claimed the thirty-seven yardline for them. Steven Cobbs covered the third attempt, which was consequently incomplete. A no-gainer ensured the Demons’ need to punt with the down fourth and three. The ball rolled dead at Pulaski’s twenty-two. This next drive by the Cougars saw them waking up a bunch. After an incomplete pass attempt, Kevin Crouse ran the ball twice to claim the thirty-four and a first down. Chad Thompson gave everyone on the away side (Yes, the game was away. I was wrong last week. My bad.) by nearly dropping the handoff. He went down at the thirty-eight. Crouse ran twice again for ten yards (seven and three in that order), and then Chad gained five more before Crouse got another first down on the forty-five. Ryan Dean kept the ball and picked up seven yards. Pulaski got called for holding on the next play and had to re-do it from the forty-seven. A long pass attempt to Steven Cobbs was overthrown, so Ernie Hodge carried it afterwards with a criss-cross and pickup of eight. The down was now fourth and four on the Demons’ forty yardline. Now, anyone who’s kept their ear to the ground on the Blue Demons’ progress this season knows that all of the Demons’ games were won by coming back in the second half. Also, it should be widely known that when a team is this confidant for any reason, it is important to get them as early in the game as possible. With this in mind, the Cougars refused to punt. Ryan Dean go the snap from Center Nathan Roseberry—and kept it for five yards and a much-needed first down. From their new spot on the thirty-five, Chad Thompson gained seven, and Crouse gained eleven for another first down. Chad got two, Ernie criss-crossed for three, and to end the first quarter Chad gained five more. The second quarter began with a bang, if you prefer the sugarcoated version. Here’s the nitty-gritty details: With only seven seconds passed in the second quarter, Kevin Crouse ran in seven yards for the first touchdown of the night. That may not sound like much, but it’s a lot more when he ran nearly the width of the field and had to rely on some simply outstanding blocking. Piscura’s extra point kicked the score up to 7-0, no pun intended. The kickoff was returned by Christiansburg to the thirty-three yardline. Senior and star running back Terrell Burkes gained five yards, and on the second play was stopped where he started for no gain by none other than Ryan Dean himself. From the thirty-eight, a very, very long pass attempt was tragically (for the Demons, that is) incomplete. Also, it was nearly intercepted by Steven Cobbs. Anyway, the following punt went into the hands of Ryan Dean who, despite getting his left leg all but knocked out from under him, still was able to scrape the thirty-six yardline. Pulaski was flagged for illegal substitution right off the bat in this series of carries. This set them back on the thirty-one, where Kevin Crouse gained eleven more yards. Pulaski was nailed again after an officials’ timeout and lost five more, putting our boys on the thirty-seven. From here, Chad Thompson slipped with the ball and got nothing. Another pass to Steven Cobbs was incomplete (many Cougar fans belligerently stated that they saw a pass interference), and then Luis Piscura punted. He slipped on the field as well, and only sent the ball flying fifteen yards. It rolled dead on the thirty-seven. Sophomore running back Nick Thompson gained three yards and an unknown carrier got two more. Hoffer ran a keeper for two, and then with the down fourth and three on the forty-four they punted again. The ball rolled dead at the thirty-one, and Pulaski had one of their shortest drives in the game tonight. Kevin Crouse got the handoff from Dean and ran the ball sixty-nine yards for the second touchdown and extra point of the night, making the score 14-0 with 6:04 left in the half. The Demons’ kickoff returner went down at the thirty. Some unsuspecting blue Demon got four yards but was bulldozed into the dirt by Rashad Simmons, Matt Robertson, Casey Turpin, and Kasey McCambridge. Owie. Hoffer launched another incomplete pass and near-interception by Steven Cobbs. After a small gain of two failed to get them within four yards of the first down, they punted again, this time to the Cougars’ nineteen. From this meager field position, Kevin Crouse snatched twenty-five yards to reach the forty-four. Before he went down, essentially the entire lines from each team were surrounding him. The defensive line was trying to push him so he would go back when he fell, and the offensive line was pushing so he would fall forward. I started coughing as a result of laughing so hard. Chad gained two, and Simmons got the handoff after that only to see Pulaski called for holding—again—and backed up to the thirty-seven. Ernie Hodge criss-crossed for seventeen yards, nearly redeeming the foul completely by making the down third and one on the Christiansburg forty-seven. Crouse slipped at the forty-five for the imminent first down, and then Chad claimed six more. In the next two plays Crouse carried for a total of six. Then, from the thirty-four, Ryan Dean dropped back and launched a perfect spiral into the arms of senior Will White who, covered by three Demons, still entered the endzone and with a little help from Piscura notched the points up 21-0 with 1:05 remaining. When asked what happened there, White explained, “Coach called the play, and I just did what he told me to do…it was great, really great. That’s a dream right there.” The following kickoff landed out of bounds, so the Demons began from their own thirty-five yardline. Ernie Hodge sacked Andrew Hoffer for a loss of six. A long pass was overthrown, and Pulaski called a timeout just before the half ended. The kickoff that began the third quarter and second half saw the ball returned up to the thirty-seven yardline. Something almost inexplicable happened next, which resulted in the Demons claiming Pulaski’s thirty yardline. Cobbs covered another incomplete pass, and then the Demons’ Terrell Burkes got one yard and was manhandled by three Cougar defenders. Hoffer ran the ball himself and reached the twenty-six where Kevin Crouse stopped him. The down was now fourth and six. Admirably, Christiansburg went for it and completed a pass to the twelve yardline for a first down. One yard and a completed pass to the six later, Burkes took it in for the Blue Demons’ first touchdown of the night. After the extra point, the score was 21-7 with 8:38 left in the quarter. Steven Cobbs returned the kickoff to the twenty-one. From there, Kevin Crouse smacked the Demons in the faces by scoring a seventy-nine-yard marathon of a touchdown run, making the score 28-7 with 8:16 remaining. When cougarfootball.net asked Crouse which linemen and blockers keep saving his hide on these occasions, the list was extensive. “Kasey McCambridge, Nathan Roseberry, Neille Haga, Stuart Jeuck, Ernie Hodge, basically all of them, I owe it to all of them.” He listed a few other names which I regret not to have been fast enough to jot down. Terrell Burkes ran the kickoff to the twenty-three. Some Blue Demon fumbled (not sure whether it was a fumbled snap or handoff) for a Cougar recovery, so our boys were back in the saddle again at Christiansburg’s two yardline. After Rashad Simmons was stopped in the middle for no gain, Crouse ran the ball and juked his way in for yet another touchdown on his part. Luis got the extra point and the score became 35-7 with 7:13 left in the quarter. The kickoff return landed them on the twenty-nine, and it was noted here that Christiansburg fans were already beginning to leave. Kasey McCambridge stopped the first carry at the thirty-three, and then something well-deserved happened: the Blue Demons attempted a criss-cross. That’s right, I said it. What they got for their plagiarizing ways was a holding call that stuffed them back behind the twenty-nine, which had been where they started out. They got all of this back, however, directly afterward when Hoffer lobbed a pass that was connected at the forty for a first down. A second pass was completed at the Pulaski forty-five, and a third was completed after that. The latter was boosted by a facemask call against Pulaski and then the Blue Demons were in touchdown range at the seven. One no-gainer later, Hoffer ran to the two where Frank Baldwin slammed him so hard he hurt himself doing it and had to sit out for one play. The Demons called a timeout, and a touchdown pass was called back for illegal procedure. After being pushed back to the seven, A second touchdown pass landed them seven points more on the board (OK six, but if the extra point is missed I’ll say so, all right?) to make the score 35-14 with 3:59 left in the quarter. The kickoff landed out of bounds, so Pulaski picked it up at their thirty-five. Chad Thompson gained eight, Crouse gained ten, and then those ten yards were called back on the next play because of holding. From the Cougar forty, Chad was bullrushed but still gained five. Ryan Dean got the first down on the thirty-four for a gain of twenty-one. Crouse picked up three, Chad ran forty-six yards to the Blue Demons’ twenty-three, and the third quarter ended. The final quarter of the game began with Crouse scraping the ten yardline for a gain of thirteen and the first down. Someone gained four yards after that, and then Crouse ran again for no gain. Ryan Dean took it in the last six yards for another touchdown and extra point, notching the points up to 42-14 with 9:54 left in the game. The kickoff was returned to the forty-two. Demon Nick Thompson took the ball to the forty-five yardline. Terrell Burkes reached the forty-eight and was gutted by Ernie Hodge, with Frank Baldwin assisting. A carry to the thirty-three got them a first down. Three yards later, two yards were lost. With the down third and nine, Hoffer launched another pass—and Frank Baldwin intercepted and reached the twenty-eight. When asked about this, Frank had this to say: “Man, we were working drills like crazy. Coach needed a fullback or linebacker or someone back there, so I stepped up to it. If it wasn’t for Brent Osborne, I wouldn’t have got it. He tipped the ball right into my hand!” Ryan Dean, fired up by this turn of events, immediately ran it himself for nineteen yards to reach the forty-seven. Chad gained nine, Crouse gained five, and Simmons gained five. Chad Thompson ran the ball again and was almost literally thrown around by linemen but still gained one. Finally, he redeemed all of his past “slip-ups” with a thirty-four-yard touchdown. This saw the score go up to 49-14 with 3:58 remaining. The following kickoff went out-of-bounds. From the thirty-five, Andrew Hoffer was introduced to a six-foot-four, three-hundred-fifty-five-pound freight train named sophomore Jamar Lewis, who sacked him for a loss of four yards. A pass was completed to the thirty-nine next, so they got the first down anyway. A second pass was completed to the twenty-six, and a first down was claimed on the fifteen. The five was reached next, and as the clock his triple zero they scored one final touchdown, making the final score 49-20. The Cougars ended up scoring some big yardage with tonight’s festivities. Ernie Hodge, who ran mainly defense and blocking, got twenty-eight. Ryan Dean himself got fifty-eight. That’s impressive for a quarterback. Chad Thompson ran for one hundred-twenty-nine yards, and finally Kevin Crouse had a staggering two hundred sixty-six. Coach Turner, although obviously in a great mood in the locker room afterwards, could not be reached for comment. I guess he stepped out while I was interviewing Baldwin, Crouse, and White. Next week we head on over to face Cave Spring, and it’s at their stadium. This time I’m sure of it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have orientation at the Fairlawn Wal-Mart from eight to five tomorrow, so I need my rest. This is Pete Cougar signing off for now. See ya next week, and sorry I didn’t get to jazz the ending up more. I’m just tired.
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