The Pulaski County Cougars open River Ridge District play this week, as they travel up I-81 to take on the Hidden Valley Titans on the new FieldTurf at Dwight Bogle Stadium.

Hello again Cougar fans, and welcome back to another week here at cougarfootball.net. I don’t know, off the top of my head, just how long it’s been since I’ve felt as good with 8 minutes left in a game as I did this past Friday night. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Pulaski County Cougars finally put together four good quarters of football this past Friday night, and the went home to get ready for Saturday nights Homecoming Dance with a fine 42-7 win over a good Lord Botetourt Cavalier football team.

The line blocked, the backs ran, the quarterback threw the ball and the receivers caught it. The defense played well, and kept the Cavalier receivers and backs in front of them most of the time, and were able to hold the Cavs to seven points on the night. The coaching staff made good adjustments and kept the players focused and ready to go at all times. There are still some things that the Cougars need to work on, but make no mistake about it, Friday night was a fine night for the Cougar Football program. Fine job, now we move on to this week.

The Hidden Valley Titans are the newest school in the River Ridge District. In their first year of existence, the Cougars traveled to play the Titans, and promptly welcomed them to the District with a nice 46-6 thrashing on their home turf. The next season, the Cougars welcomed the Titans to Dobson Stadium expecting to see a repeat of the previous seasons game, only to have the Titans shock the District and the Cougar fans in attendance by handing the Cougars their first loss of the season in the form of a 31-6 beat down. Many folks complained that the loss to Salem that season, which left the Cougars with a very respectable 8-2 regular season, forced the Cougars out of the playoffs. In all actuality however, had the Spartan loss been the only one that season, the Cougars would have had more than enough power points to make it in. The loss to the Titans, who ended their regular season with a 6-4 record, was the reason Pulaski County sat home with an 8-2 record while other schools with lesser records went on to the playoffs.

The Cougars and Titans have split the remaining two games that have taken place, with the Cougars winning game three 28-6, and the Titans winning last years match up 27-7. The Titans are currently 3-2, with wins over Northside, Lord Botetourt, and Rustburg. They lost their opening week game 42-13 to a powerful William Byrd team, then lost in a thrilling overtime game 20-14 to Bassett, who most feel to be one of the strongest teams in the state. The Titans have been tested, and they will be prepared. They are well coached, and they have talented players. This team gets support from it’s school and community, and even though they are a very young school, they have already gotten to the point where they EXPECT to win.

So now we ask the question: Can Pulaski County win? The answer is yes, but they will need to do several things to make it happen. First, the Cougars will need to show the same determination and enthusiasm on the field and on the sidelines that they showed this past Friday night. Simply put, the Cougars need to BELIEVE that they can do it. Second, the Cougars will have to cut out the penalties that have plagued them this season. You might be able to get by with some penalties when your playing some teams, but for the rest of this season, those penalties can and will cost you big time. Coach Turner has stood on the sidelines, in the locker room, and on the practice field and told the team a thousand times that the penalties we are getting are nothing more than a temporary loss of focus. We cannot afford to lose focus in these big games.

Finally, the Pulaski County Cougars will have to have support. The Hidden Valley Titans, in their very few years of existence, have managed to build a fine fan base. Their band is big and sounds good. Their student section is big and loud. They don’t always have the biggest crowd, but the ones that do show up tend to make plenty of noise. We need the same from our fans and students.

The Cougar Crazies have continued to grow at the home games. The cow bells have been plentiful and sound great. The crowd this season has been more active and enthusiastic than they have been in some time. We need to take that on the road folks. Let's head down to Dwight Bogle Stadium at Cave Spring Middle School and fill up that visitor side with some people ready to get loud. Hey…..it’s a nice ride, the hotdogs are pretty good, and you can take this chance to see what their new FieldTurf looks like up close and personal.

It’s time for District play, and no matter what happens from here on out, you can be guaranteed one thing and one thing only…..if you want to make sure you make the playoffs, the only way you can be sure of it is to win the District Title. In what is without question one of…if not THE….toughest districts in the State of Virginia from top to bottom, you will have to bring your “A” game each and every week. There are no “easy wins”, there are no soft opponents. If you want to be sure you make it, you will have to win. End of story.

Let’s get out there and make some noise this Friday night as the Cougars face the Titans. IT’S COUGAR FOOTBALL TIME BABY!!!

GO COUGARS!!

BEAT THE TITANS!!