The Locker Room September 6, 2006

Hello again Cougar fans, and welcome to week two of the regular season and another week here at Cougarfootball.net. It’s been a busy week of practice up next to the big corn field, and unfortunately the Cougars have found themselves in the same situation this year that they found themselves in last year: injured.

Several Cougar players will not be dressed this week, as bangs and bruises have them sidelined for at least one week, and in some cases more. Sophomore running back Nubian Peak is out for at least one and possibly two weeks with a light ankle sprain. That leaves a big hole in the offensive backfield for Pulaski County that will likely have to be filled by a couple of other sophomores and a junior. With Peak sidelined, you can expect to see Seth Parris, Chris Calfee, and Khireem Porter getting more playing time on offense, as well as Demetrious Brown. Also missing from the lineup will be Clay White, who is still nursing a deep hip bruise. Helping out in the secondary this week, I would expect to see Mandela Adams and Zane Quesenberry, along with possibly a few other young players that I’m sure the Cougar coaching staff would have loved to have had more time to work with before throwing them up against the likes of Fleming.

Either way, the Cougars WILL put their best available players on the field this coming Friday and give the Colonels their best shot. While I’m sure Coach Turner would love to have all of his players healthy and ready for action on Friday, he’ll do the same thing he and those before him have always done when this happens: they put another gold helmet in their spots and strap it on tight. This TEAM has worked hard getting to this point, and I expect they will play hard as well. The young players we have will continue to learn and get better, and the next few weeks are going to be a big test for them. If the Cougars can manage to pull out a few wins over the next few weeks as they face some of the toughest AAA and AA teams in this part of the state, then I would feel good about their chances for making a run at the River Ridge District Title during the second half of the season. The big thing is that the younger players have got to learn fast, and the Cougars have got to get healthy. No matter what happens, you know we’ll be there to bring you the stories and pictures from the games and to make some noise for the Cougars each and every week.

Pulaski County leads the overall series with William Fleming 19 games to 13. Much like the Cougars, the Colonels had a tough opening week loss, with Patrick Henry getting the better of them 6-0 in a real defensive struggle. Fleming is fast. Fleming is loaded with athletes. Fleming is well coached and are improving each week as they learn the new system being implemented by new Head Coach Robert Senseney. I would expect a battle this coming Friday night. Would we have it any other way?

It’s Pulaski County vs. William Fleming, kickoff is set for 7:30 pm at Kenneth J. Dobson Stadium. Lets get out there and make some noise for the Cougars!!!

GO COUGARS!!! BEAT THE COLONELS!!!

Cougars by the Numbers
by Ardent Cougar

Well, history repeats itself.

Once again, we open at home against PH, without Kevin Crouse, facing a Patriot squad who already had a game under their belt.

Once again, we score first, lead at halftime, and a 4th Quarter lead slips away.

Was it a bad call to go for it on 4th and Goal, spurning the field goal?  Hard to say.  If it works, it is a great call.  It did not, and a valuable opportunity passed.

I liked the call - just not the result.  Sometimes things just do not work out.  It felt as if we should have been up 21-0 at the half, but we were not able to store up enough points.

I do wonder if we should avoid situations where we go into the opener against a team with real-time game experience.

This kind of game is tough to watch, when you dominate early, then run out of gas.

Was it an actual turnover, which led to PH's first score?  I have not seen any film to say one way or another.  Either way, that started the slide.  I think we played almost all of the 3rd Quarter in our half of the field.  They were just given one chance too many.

This is the first time the Patriots have defeated us twice in a row, since 1979.

Fortunately, it was not a district game.

Maybe things will turn out better this week.