The Locker Room November 9, 2011

The Pulaski County High School football team will play in its first playoff game since the 2008 season this Friday night, as the sixth seed Cougars travel back to Salem Stadium to face the Spartans in the first round of the Region IV playoffs.  

The Cougars have earned the sixth seed over Carroll County and Blacksburg, despite the fact that Carroll County had three wins. Pulaski finished the regular season with a 16.8 power rating, while Carroll County finished with a 16.1 rating. After taking a look at the numbers, it's not hard to understand. Pulaski finished with a 1-9 record, but the teams they played went a combined 74-26 over the course of the season. Of those ten teams that the Cougars faced, only two will not be in the playoffs.....Blacksburg and Patrick Henry. Northside, Richlands, and Magna Vista all finished with perfect 10-0 records, and Christiansburg finished with a 9-1 record. Radford, Patrick Henry, and Cave Spring all finished 7-3, with Hidden Valley finishing at 6-4. Carroll County finished 3-7, with wins over Abingdon (4-6), Tazewell (0-10), and Patrick County (0-10). In all, the Cavaliers opponents only won 50 of their games.  

"People have talked all year about how tough our schedule was, and now I guess all that talk is proven true" said Cougar Head Coach Todd Jones. "At 1-9 we aren't going to get respect, and that's just the way it is. I'm fine with that, but I know this team is capable of playing much better than our record indicates. There are people out there saying that we don't deserve to be in the playoffs, but the system says we do. We're going to take the team back to Salem, and we're going to work hard and try to find a way to win. We haven't backed down from anybody all season, and we're not going to start now."  

Coach Jones, after looking at the film, was able to point out several key areas that his team will need to improve in if they want to advance another week. "We're going to have to challenge ourselves in several ways. First of all, we can't make mental mistakes and give the Spartans anything. Last week we jumped offsides twice and gave up easy first downs when we had them held. Our secondary is going to have to play lights out as well. Last week we allowed Salem to get receivers behind us, and each time they took advantage with a score or long gain. We also need our secondary to support the run defense better. Overall, we also need to tackle better and be more physical. I know we have some young kids playing, but now it's time to find out who is going to step up and get the job done for us."  

Offensively, the Cougars showed improvements last week against the Spartans. "We were able to pass the ball some, and that's something we have to be able to do this week as well. We need our receivers to do their part as well, and make those tough catches. The quarterback is getting it there, now we have to do something with it. Our linemen did well at times last week, but we had some botched blocking assignments at times. We also need our backs and receivers to hit their blocks. We're going to have a good plan, but the plan doesn't get it done. We need those guys to dig out those blocks and do their jobs. We need to execute, perform, step up, and finish."  

On the Salem side of the field, you can expect much of the same as you saw last week. Salem, as always, will do what it does best. They will run 8-10 running plays, mixed with 3-4 pass plays. The Spartan playbook has never been a thick one, but they do execute what they have well. "(Marty) Bishop is going to run the ball, (Matt) Hill is going to throw it once in a while to try to keep the defense honest" said Jones. "They will play solid football, and if we want to win we will have to play just as solid."  

With the final regular season game over, the Cougars have also had a chance to look at some statistics. The overall win/loss record for the Cougars didn't turn out the way the coaching staff wanted, but there were some bright spots. Pulaski County rushed for 1,978 yards this season on 409 attempts. The opposing team was held to 1,900 yards. Two areas that will need work before next season gets underway are the passing game and the pass defense. The Cougars were 21 of 88 passing for 352 yards and 10 interceptions, while the opposition passed 63 of 114 for 1,035 yards and nine interceptions. The Cougars earned 114 first downs, while the opposing teams earned 172.  

Cody Long currently leads the Cougars in scoring with five touchdowns and 3 two point conversions for 36 points. Peirce Rigney and Marcus McClanahan have five touchdowns for 30 points each, while Zack Akers had two touchdowns, 13 PAT's, and a field goal for 28 points. Marcus Johnston had three touchdowns for 18 points, while Elijah Wesley and Zack Ramsey had one touchdown each. Several Cougars were able to create turnovers this season through fumble recoveries and interceptions. Rigney finished at the top of the list for fumble recoveries with three. Corky Hall led Pulaski in interceptions with four. All together, the Cougars recovered 11 fumbles, while the opposition recovered 12. Pulaski intercepted nine passes, with the opposing teams intercepting 10 passes.  

All those stats and numbers go out the window this week, however, as the playoffs get underway. Starting this week it's either win and continue, or lose and put up the gear. Kickoff time is set for 7:30 pm at Salem Stadium.