Last week the Cougar football team hosted and fell to a tough and determined Christiansburg Blue Demon squad on Homecoming night. This week, things get even tougher as Pulaski County will travel up I-81 to Roanoke to take on the Patrick Henry Patriots.
“They’re good,” Cougar Head Coach Cam Akers said. “They’re well-coached and they’ve got a ton of talent. They can move the ball on the ground or through the air. Defensively, they get after you and move to the ball fast. It’s going to be another tough challenge for us.”
Those challenges are nothing new for the Cougars, who come into the game with a record of 1-3. They opened the season with a convincing 42-7 win over the Northside Vikings. Those same Vikings are now 2-2 with wins over Cave Spring (30-27) and Hidden Valley (34-27). Their losses came against the Cougars and Salem (62-14).
Pulaski County fell to Lord Botetourt in week two by a final score of 48-20. The Cavaliers are now 4-1 with their only loss coming at the hands of EC Glass 14-7 in their opener.
The Cougars lost to Princeton, West Virginia on the road after a bye week, falling 49-40 in the final seconds. The Tigers are now 5-0 after winning over Tazewell last week 42-0.
Last week, Pulaski County fell 44-20 to the Christiansburg Blue Demons. Despite falling behind 16-0 by the end of the first half, the Cougars kept coming. Trailing 23-0 in the early third quarter, the Cougars scored on a 20-yard pass from Chris Gallimore to Marcus Reed to get on the board. The Blue Demons scored again, but the Cougars connected on a 16-yard pass, again from Gallimore to Reed, early in the fourth quarter. Finally, Gallimore found Reed open a final time for a 74-yard scoring strike with just over nine minutes remaining. After two successful point after kicks by Bryant Nottingham, the Cougars went for two after the final score, but failed to convert.
The Cougars lead the overall series with Patrick Henry 28-21, but have lost the past three matchups. Last year the Patriots came to Kenneth J. Dobson Stadium/Joel Hicks Field and walked away with a convincing 56-27 victory over Pulaski County. Patrick Henry has an overall program record of 340-289 that goes back to 1961. For most of those years, they played their home games in historic Victory Stadium. In 2008, the school officially opened Merrill Gainer Field in honor of the coach of the same name, who passed away in 2000 after coaching the Patriots from1969 to 1977. Another familiar former head coach for the Patriots is Wilis White, of Salem fame. He coached there from 1978 to 1982 before taking over the Spartans.
The Patrick Henry Patriots are led by Head Coach Alan Fiddler, who is in his 13th year as the Patriots leader after taking over for former Head Coach Brad Bradley. His overall record at Patrick Henry is 87-48, but his teams have shown improvement each season. His first year in 2011 was a 7-3 record that wasn’t good enough to earn a playoff spot. They haven’t missed the playoffs since that year. They fell in the first round from 2012 to 2018, but made it to the second round in 2019 before falling to North Stafford 31-7. In the 2020 Covid season, the Patriots fell to Mountain Valley 14-7 in the first round. They lost to the same team in 2021 12-42 in the second round. Last year, the Patriots finished the season 9-3, but fell to Mountain View again in the second round, this time 12-42.
This season, the Patriots come into the game with a record of four wins and one loss, which came last week against the Salem Spartans. They played that game without the services of the first and second team running backs, who were out with injuries, and lost their starting quarterback on the opening drive with a leg injury before falling 24-7 to the Spartans. They have wins over Brookville (58-25), EC Glass (31-21), Albemarle (49-6), and William Fleming (27-19).
“We have a lot of history between our two schools and programs,” Coach Akers said. “Both teams have seen big wins and big losses in the series. Coach Fiddler has put together a tough and determined program that finds ways to win. We’re coming into the game with a lot of players off the field with injuries, just like they had last week. We don’t know who will or won’t play for them Friday, but our focus needs to be on doing our jobs the way we’ve been trained. We can’t miss tackles. We can’t turn the ball over. We must do a much better job on kickoff and punt coverage. Our linemen on both sides of the ball are going to be tested hard again this week. We need them to step up.”
For the Cougars, there are several question marks in the lineup. While it’s a near certainty that Trevor Gallimore and Tyler Underwood will carry a big share of the running back load, others could be called into action as well. The quarterback spot has seen two starters this season, with Chris Gallimore getting the start in three games and Bryant Nottingham starting in the Princeton game. Either could start and both could see time under center.
Marcus Reed and Tanner Mace will be the most likely air targets from whoever is playing quarterback. The offensive front will feature sophomore Blake Ratcliff at center with juniors Noah Hinkley and Aiden Moore at guards. The tackles will be a combination of senior Jack Allen, if he is healthy and available, junior Hunter Hill, and sophomore Chase King.
The defensive front will have senior Duncan Umberger at nose guard, with Allen and junior Gavin Lytton at the tackles on one side and Moore on the other. The outside linebackers/defensive ends will be a rotation of Reed, Gallimore, Thompson, and freshman Parker Price. The secondary will have junior Chase Lawrence at free safety, O’Dell at strong safety, and Mace and Nottingham at the corners.
Nottingham will continue to handle the kicking and punting duties. The holder will be O’Dell, with Gallimore or Lawrence handling the long snapping.
“Our guys have continued to work and practice hard,” Akers said. “I can’t question their effort. They leave it all on the field. Sometimes you come against a team that is just better than night. Sometimes it’s just enough to get the win. Our guys aren’t afraid to go out there and lay it on the line. We just need to have some good things happen for us.”
Game time Friday is set for 7 p.m. If you can’t get to the game in person, be sure to listen in on 107.1 WPSK for the play-by-play action from Randy Dunnigan and Tony Powell beginning at 6:30 p.m. with the pregame show.