Hello again Cougar Fans, and welcome to SALEM WEEK!!! Who would have thought, way back on August 9th when the Cougars took the field for the first time in a controlled scrimmage against Tazewell, that Pulaski would be 9-0 going into the final game of the season? Who would have thought that Pulaski would see the success they did when they walked through the competition at the 2008 Touchdown Classic?

Not a lot of folks, that’s for sure, but there sure are a lot of folks who are glad to see the Cougars back in the thick of things.

Prior to the Christiansburg game Pulaski County had rushed the ball 379 times for 2219 yards, while their opponents had rushed 210 times for a mere 500 yards. Quarterback Luke Watson was passing for almost 55% and had thrown the pigskin for 658 yards. Pulaski had thrown 3 interceptions, while taking away 9 pass attempts. Finally, the Cougars had, up until the Christiansburg game, scored 277 points on the season, while only allowing 84.

None of those stats will be worth a red penny this coming Friday night when Pulaski County walks down those steps to face the Salem Spartans for the River Ridge District Title and the #1 seed in the Region IV playoffs. The only stat that will matter that night is the scoreboard at the end of the game. If Pulaski wins, it will be only the fourth time in the history of the program that a team has completed a perfect regular season.

It happened in 1982, when players like Pat Boysaw, Terry Finley, Billy Myers, and Ron Kimbrough led things on the offensive side of the ball. The defense that season put up five shutouts, and only allowed 8 points or less in five more. It was the end of the "Miracle on Slaughterhouse Road" era of Cougar football, but the start of a reign of terror on the Roanoke Valley District that lasted for four years.

It happened in 1989, when a group of young men fought through a season that didn’t have a bevy of superstar players, but they fought and played as a team. Young men like Kirk Hendricks, John Stigger, Tommy Sheppard, and Tony Powell gave it their all, and in the end finished a perfect regular season with 3 shutouts, and 5 other games with 8 points or less. It would only be a matter of time before that group would go on to be the nucleus of the "Dream Team" that was to come in 1993.

And the did it again in 1993. After winning the AAA Division 6 State Title in 1992, the Cougars put together a season with the most wins ever by a Cougar team in a single season, with 13. With six running backs over 400 yards and five players scoring over 50 points each, the 1993 team was locked dead in the middle of a seven year run in which Pulaski County won the district title each and every year from 1991-1997. That ‘93 team had a huge amount of talent, including players like Carl Lewis, Shane Graham, Eric Webb, Andre Eaves, Timmy Davis, and Brian Redd to name only a very few of the talented and skilled players who made up that perfect team.

It’s been a long time since the Cougars were perfect, and it’s been a long time since the Cougars won a District Title. Their last District Title was in 2001, when former Head Coach Joel Hicks took his team to a District and Region Championship before falling in the State Title game. Only one thing stands between the Cougars and realizing the dream of a title and a perfect season...

Salem.

Pulaski County and Salem have been one of, if not THE best rivalries in the State of Virginia since Salem opened their doors for business. The series between the two teams is tied at 16 games each. Pulaski County has not beaten Salem since 2002. Two of those games that the Cougars have lost since 2002 were playoff games. In Pulaski County's 16 wins, the Cougars have scored 584 points. In Salem's 16 wins, they have scored 553 points. There have been times when one team or the other would go on a winning streak. Salem is on one of those right now against the Cougars, winning the last seven meetings between the two teams. Before that, the Cougars had won 4 in a row. The longest streak for either team is an 8 game streak held by the Cougars, running from 1978-1985.

The Spartans have another streak going for them also. Salem has not lost a River Ridge District game since they fell to the Christiansburg Blue Demons on October 15th, 2004. That’s a 23 game regular season district winning streak. Unless I’m mistaken, they have also managed to win 4 District titles in a row.

Ladies and gentlemen…..it is time for the Cougar Nation to rise up and support this team and this program the way that it deserves to be supported.

When those guys in gold helmets walk down the steps while the band is playing "2001" this Friday night, we want to have the biggest human chain this team has walked through in years. We want balloons, we want banners, we want noise makers, we want flags, we want painted faces, we want the whole package.

This team has worked so hard to get into this position, and it’s time for us to put our COUGAR PRIDE out there for the whole world to see. At some point this week, there is going to be a bonfire/pep rally for the team. Of course at the school there is going to be the Homecoming pep rally as well. K-92 and WSLS TV-10 are going to be out and about with all the tailgaters before the game starting around 5 pm. The press will be all over the place, as newspapers, radio, TV, sports websites and sports magazines will all be coming out in force to see this….what is without a doubt THE game in the State of Virginia this week.

Let’s get out to Kenneth J. Dobson Stadium this Friday night and really make some noise as THE PRIDE OF PULASKI COUNTY goes head to head with the Salem Spartans for the River Ridge District Title. It’s Friday night, we’ll be under the lights, and I just can’t think of one single place that I would rather be!!!

GO COUGARS!!! BEAT THE SPARTANS!!!