Hello again Cougar fans, and welcome back to a Cougarfootball.net on this wet and rainy weekend. From the looks of things, Mother Nature must be a Cougar fan, because she’s planning on dumping a ton of rain on us this week while our team takes the week off. Some of the other River Ridge District teams will see action this week though. Hidden Valley will finish up its out of district schedule with a game against Alleghany, Blacksburg takes on Northside, and Cave Spring is set to take on William Byrd. Christiansburg and Salem share the off week with the Cougars.

So the big question this week is this: where do the Cougars stand?

After the first two games of the season, there was talk that this might be the Cougars first losing season in 20+ years. The Patrick Henry game was close, and the Cougars COULD have won, but credit a PH team that never gave up and a young PC team for the Patriots coming away with a 33-27 win. That game hurt the Cougars, but not nearly as bad as the following week in the not so friendly confines of Victory Stadium against William Fleming. The Cougars, minus most of their running backs, were man handled by the Colonels in a 31-0 beat down. Pulaski was hurt and needed a spark to get things going. They got that spark, and so did the fans, when Pulaski played its best half of football (more specifically its best fourth quarter of football) of the season in a wild, come from behind 44-41 overtime win over Franklin County. The Cougars came together in that fourth quarter, and haven’t looked back since. Jefferson Forest came to Dobson Stadium, with what looked to be a plan to take the Cougars down. They went back home disappointed after the Cougars won big time, 35-14. The Cougar defense played well that night, but not nearly as well as they played against powerful E.C. Glass in game 5. The Hilltoppers came to Dublin looking to avenge an overtime loss from last year, only to see the Cougars get 4 interceptions and hold their powerful offense in check, Cougars win 21-11. So now, with a respectable 3-2 record, the Cougars can look ahead to what some consider the toughest district in AA football in the State of Virginia. As I posted last week, this is how our district opponents have fared so far this season:

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.

Looking at all that, you would have to pick Salem, Hidden Valley, or Cave Spring as the favorite to take the district crown this season. Fortunately, we still get to play the games to see how it turns out though. Out of those three teams, one would have to give Salem the nod. They have played a tougher out of district schedule than either Cave or Hidden Valley. Cave Spring is still breaking in its new head coach, but don’t seem to have missed a beat. Hidden Valley looks good, and seem to have their offense rolling. So can the Cougars surprise some folks? You bet they can!!

The Cougars are young, but they have grown up a whole bunch since the first two games of the season. The defense is finally starting to make some plays, and the offense is getting into gear very nicely. Throw a little luck into the mix, and we could see the Cougars make a run of it towards the district title. Either way, I plan on being there, and I’m sure there are plenty of other folks who will be too.

We got another email at Cougarfootball.net this week. This time it was from SSG Edward Short, who is stationed at Ft Knox, Kentucky. SSG Short is a 1989 PCHS graduate. He just wanted to let us know that there is another Cougar Fan out there, who even though he is away from home, loves to keep up with the home team and pull for them. He said to let the team know he’s out there pulling for them, and to yell a big “GO COUGARS!!!” for him since he can't be here to do so himself. It never ceases to amaze me how much this program means to people. I know there are more folks out there who live away from Dublin now, and I know a lot of them keep up with the Cougars through this site, as well as by calling home on Friday nights to see how things are going. I’ve even heard of folks calling in and having a family member put the phone next to the radio so they can listen in during the games!! That’s just how much our kids and our program means to this community. Once you’re a part of the family, you're ALWAYS a part of the family.

With that in mind, here’s what I’d like to ask of you: If you are a Cougar football fan who lives out of town now, but would still like to let the kids know your pulling for them, I have a way. Get a picture of yourself holding up any kind of “GO COUGARS!!” sign, and email it to me at cougardave23@adelphia.net. When you send it in, send in your name, when you graduated, where you are now, and if your military tell us what branch and where your stationed at or deployed to. We’ve already got one picture from Iraq hanging up in the field house, and it seems like the team has really reacted well to that one. Here’s your chance to help pump up the team from far away as they head into their district schedule.

I’d also like to take this time to wish a special Happy Birthday to a special Cougar Fan. Bobby Atkins has a birthday on October 10th, and from all of us at Cougarfootball.net and from the team we wish him the best. Mr. Atkins isn’t able to make it out to the games now, but he is a faithful follower of the Cougars and listens to them every week on the radio. After the games, he even calls his son in South Carolina to update him on how things went. Again, this just shows how close this community is to this program. That’s why they call them the “Cougar Faithful”!!

Be sure to check back next week for the pre-game write up as the Cougars prepare to face the Hidden Valley Titans. Until then, everybody try to stay dry, and GO COUGARS!!!!