The Pulaski County Cougars are preparing for a tough and ready Lord Botetourt Cavaliers team this week, as Homecoming Week 2007 comes to the Cougar Den.

Hello again Cougar Fans, and welcome back to week seven of the season, and another week here at cougarfootball.net. Wait a minute…….WEEK SEVEN???? Where has the season gone?? Unfortunately, with the Cougars staring out their games in the “zero week”, one of the three weeks that the VHSL allowed teams to start their games out, and the fact that the Cougars have already had two bye weeks, we are indeed at week seven of the season. Time does seem to fly when you're having fun.…

The Cougars took last week's bye week to get some rest, put some time into the weight room and film room, and to continue to work on some areas. This week the team and coaches have been all business as they prepare for the visiting Lord Botetourt team that is coming to visit on Friday.

The Cavaliers are currently sitting at a very deceptive 2-4 on the season. They started out their season with a good 36-7 win over James River, only to come back the next week and get beaten badly by the Salem Spartans 44-9. They went on to lose their next two games as well, but these were close losses against good teams. They lost a tight one to Hidden Valley 19-7, and then went on to lose the next week in a real nail biter at Brookville 26-28. Brookville and Hidden Valley are both pretty good football teams. The Cavs went on the next week to beat Patrick County at home, 23-14. Last week, the team traveled to Blacksburg and walked into a hornet's nest. The Cavaliers had a long ride home after the Bruins beat them 41-10.

So the Cougars, who are 3-1, are going to play a 2-4 team at home on Homecoming night. Most folks would say that sounds like a pretty good deal for the Cougars. Make no mistakes here, this Cavalier football team is dangerous, and if they are overlooked they can and will beat you. This will be a team with a chip on their shoulders as they walk onto the field Friday night, and if the Cougars don’t go out and take care of business it could be a sad homecoming night. Hopefully, we will see our Cougars come out fired up and ready to go.

The Cougars have a lead in this series, having won three out of the four contest between the two. The only non-win was a 6-6 tie back in 1976. In 2001 and 2002 we played a home and away series with the Cavaliers, winning both games in convincing fashion.

A lot of things have changed since then however. Both teams now have different head coaches than they had then. Coach Turner and Coach Benson know each other well, as they played their college ball together at Ferrum. When he took over the reigns as head coach, one of the first things he did was have his folks contact the coaches and booster clubs at Pulaski County and Salem, and he took notes on how we ran things to get ideas on how he could get things better organized. Botetourt County is quickly becoming the “place to be” for folks who work in Roanoke, as it offers “out of town” living near enough to town for easy commutes to work each day. That’s going to quickly become a source of numbers for enrolment, which could very quickly become a source of talented players.

Either way, the Cougars and the Cavaliers will take it to the field this Friday night, as Pulaski County High School celebrates Homecoming Week 2007. At our last home game, things started out a bit slow due to the early rain showers as the rec teams were introduced, but to their credit the crowd made its way back to the stands in plenty of time for kickoff. I was glad to see the COUGAR CRAZIES making their presence known again, and I was really happy to have a DRY Cougar Crazy shirt to change into after I got soaked walking out with the Dublin Cowboys before the kickoff.

If you can't make it out to the games, be sure to listen in to Rick Watson on 101.3 FM during Big Dog Sports Talk from 3-6, then switch on over to 107.1 FM WPSK for the pre-game show at 7 pm. If you CAN make it to the game, then dog gone it let's get out there and make some NOISE!!! IT’S COUGAR FOOTBALL TIME BABY!!!

GO COUGARS!!!

BEAT THE CAVALIERS!!!