Screams of joy and excitement were definitely in abundance during last night’s thrilling Homecoming victory over the Group AAA EC Glass Hilltoppers at Dobson Stadium. The Cougars had accomplished what many in the media thought impossible, they defeated a team that Coach Jack Turner had called the “most talented to set foot in Dobson Stadium” soundly due to the Cougars’ outstanding offense, defense, and special teams play. The Cougars won their third straight game; two of the three were against Group AAA teams as well! We finally finished our blistering out-of-district schedule, and we couldn’t have made a better statement to end it out. During the last three weeks, the Cougars had shown glimpses of the past and our prominence that may indeed come in the near future. This team has played phenomenally to say the least; they have played wonderful football on every side of the ball since the victory against Franklin County.

This Cougar team has proved the doubters wrong; we beat three extremely talented football teams by playing with heart, tenacity, and strength. This Cougar team will be one to remember, the way our boys are playing, and nothing could be impossible. We may indeed come from losing the first two games to receive a playoff berth if we continue to play as well as we have; but there are only five things standing in our way. Those five things would be the five teams in our River Ridge District that we have to defeat in order to go to the playoffs because of our district essentially being the best in the state.

We open up our difficult district schedule two weeks from now on October 14^th against a very good Hidden Valley team who soundly defeated us at last years’ homecoming. The Cougars are ready to avenge last year’s loss and prove to the Titans who the Cougars are and prove that last year’s loss was truly a fluke.

Back to tonight’s game--- As soon as the whistle blew to start this much-anticipated game, you could feel a sense of pride and unity in the Cougar faithful. Our fans were hungry for another victory and wanted to see the Cougars break this self-inflicted two-year Homecoming losing streak. The task at hand was difficult, but the Cougars found a way to complete it during the game.

The first quarter was a defensive struggle. Both teams were pushing the ball, but neither could reach paydirt. The tie broke when junior tailback Kevin Crouse broke through the line for seven yards to put the Cougars up by a touchdown.

As the second quarter started, the stalemate remained; both teams couldn’t find a way to get into the end zone. It took almost the entire quarter for EC Glass to finally get possession of the pigskin and drive almost the full length of the field only to be stopped three consecutive times and settle for three. That was the only score in the second period and as the clock ran down to zero, it seemed as if the existing points that were on the scoreboard may be the final ones because of the outstanding play of both defenses.

The Homecoming festivities went off without a hitch, as the Homecoming Court had two things to look forward to, one being their respective Homecoming title and another Cougar victory. Each of the students that are on Homecoming Court deserve our gratitude, they truly represent our school wonderfully. Anticipation was extremely thick around the stadium as we waited for the winners. The winners are as follows: Duke and Duchess- Isaac Sarver and Tiffany Pretlow, Prince and Princess- Andrae Hash and Brooke Tilley, and the King and Queen- Graham Owens and Hope Reedy.

The third period was just like the first two; both teams couldn’t get an advantage over the other one. Both lines were playing mistake-free football, except for the fact that the EC Glass quarterback was throwing picks left and right! There is one name that will be remembered for a long time for that quarterback, John “On the Spot” McDaniel who caught three interceptions and could've had several more!

The fourth quarter was nothing more than extraordinary. Our Cougars scored two touchdowns during the twelve minutes, both we stopped a very talented offense with three minutes to play. They had us pinned, as they were driving down the field fresh after scoring eight to make the game 14 to 11 in favor of the Cougars. We stopped the offense and on the first play of the possession, Kevin Crouse darted down the entire field for a 77-yard touchdown. Crouse blistered seven defenders on his way to score what would be the game-winning touchdown as the Cougars won 21 to 11.

This victory was a very special one for our community; it solidifies the fact that Cougar football is back and hopefully better than ever! We have so much to look forward to as we start our district schedule on October 14^th on the road against Hidden Valley. This Cougar team has played close to 8 weeks against the best competition, we started with Richlands who is number one in the state, Liberty-Bedford, who is third, William Fleming, Patrick Henry, Franklin County, Jefferson Forest, and EC Glass. But, the real task is now at hand; we must defeat every team in our district in order to solidify our playoff hopes and dreams! Please come and support our Cougars as they travel down to Roanoke to play Hidden Valley on October 14^th!

GO COUGARS!

Cougars Win King of the Hill!!
by CougarDave

Dan Callahan said it best in the final seconds of the game when he told Rick Watson of the Big Dog Sports Talk show “Rick, you can call the rest of the River Ridge District and let them know…..the Pulaski County Cougars are on the way!!”

Hello Cougar Fans, and HAPPY HOMECOMING!!! What a game by our Cougars! Pulaski County came into this game with some questions that were still unanswered concerning their defense, and with a lot of folks saying that the boys from Dublin didn’t have much of a shot at beating the “much bigger and much faster” team from E.C. Glass. The Hilltoppers were considered the pre-game favorite by many, and when you look at the team you can see why they get that kind of respect. Make no mistake about it, this game was not won by the Cougars because of E.C. Glass playing poorly. It was won by the Cougars because the Cougars coaching staff did an OUTSTANDING job of having the secondary ready for the passing game of the Hilltoppers, and because the defense is finally beginning to step up and play to their potential.

Not only do you have the defense playing well together, but some of them are starting to really step it up. Tonight saw #21 John McDaniel tie a school record for interceptions in a game with 3 big, drive stopping interceptions. Lets be honest here though, if the Glass receiver caught that ball near the sideline in the fourth quarter, then “Johnny Mack” clearly had a catch for his fourth interception not too long after that. Austin Twine played a great game on both sides of the ball tonight, making a few key tackles and playing good pass coverage all night, as well as rotating in on quarterback duty. Cab “Can I please hit somebody” Cabaniss was in rare form again tonight, and if I’m not mistaken I saw Benji Poindexter and Casey Turpin make a few plays on defense as well. Believe it or not folks, I even saw holder/long snapper extraordinaire #19 Glendon Jones make a great tackle on a Glass punt return try (this is two weeks in a row Jones has made a big play on punt return defense). Kevin Crouse made a big hit on one of the Glass receivers, breaking up a pass attempt, and #11 Trey Angle also played a good solid game. All in all, it was just a good night for Cougar Football, and a great homecoming win.

So what can Pulaski look forward to for the next two weeks? The Cougars have a bye week next week, which will give them an extra week to heal up those bumps and bruises they’ve taken to this point in the season. It will also give them a chance to take a good long look at their upcoming River Ridge District games. Just to give you an idea as to how the rest of the district has done in out of district competition so far:

Hidden Valley is 4-0 and has outscored its opponents 154-13.

Blacksburg is 1-3, with a win over Lord Botetourt, but losses to Giles, Graham, and William Fleming.

Christiansburg is 3-1, with its one loss coming at the hands of Giles.

Cave Spring is 4-0, outscoring their opponents 140-39

Salem is 5-0, outscoring their opponents 163-33

It just don’t get any easier, does it?

Be sure to check back later next week for a look back at how the Cougars have gotten to this point in the season, and in more in depth look at what they can expect in the rest of the regular season. Until then, congratulations again to the Cougars on a fine Homecoming win, and congratulations to the 2005 Homecoming Court. Be sure to check for pictures.

GO COUGARS!!!!