Young Cougars shutout in season opener
By TROY SARVER
Patriot Publishing
A young Pulaski County team went through some growing pains in their season opener on Friday night.
Northside held the Cougars to just 35 total yards and four first downs as the Vikings shut out Pulaski County 23-0 at Kenneth J. Dobson Stadium.
Despite the loss, Pulaski County head coach Cam Akers was pleased with his team’s effort considering the Cougars came into the contest facing a big disadvantage in experience.
“They have 16 seniors and we just have six. We’re a young football team,” Akers said. “The defense played well except for a couple of plays and the offense will get going, but I told them I’ve been in games like this where we didn’t match up well athletically and I didn’t think our guys stopped playing.”
Things started off rough for the Cougars. After being stopped on their opening possession in three plays, a snap back to Pulaski County punter Aviston Akers rolled between his legs, and he was tackled on the PC 28-yard line.
On the next play following the special team’s miscue, Northside scored on a 28-yard run from Darrian King to make it 7-0 just two and half minutes into the game.
Northside added to their lead in the second quarter after a 10-play drive with the Vikings moving to the PC 8 before being stopped by the Cougars. Northside placekicker Marcos Chavarria Lainez, however, booted a 25-yard field goal to extend the lead to 10-0 at the 6:10 mark of the period.
The Vikings’ defense then stepped up as safety Casey Hall picked off a deep pass attempt by the Cougars’ Preston Marshall moments later.
Northside turned the interception into points by driving 68 yards in five plays, capping off the possession with King’s second TD run of the night from 23 yards out to make it 17-0 with 1:49 left in the first half.
The Vikings carried the momentum into the second half, scoring again on their first possession out of the locker room. Hall, now at quarterback, connected with tight end Hayden Hutchinson on a 3-yard touchdown pass to make it 23-0 with 5:53 left in the third.
Ten different Northside players carried the football as the Vikings amassed 307 rushing yards on the evening. Hall led the ground game with a team-high 98 yards on nine carries.
For a moment late in the third quarter it looked like Pulaski would avoid the shutout when running back Jackson Squires broke free for a 40-yard touchdown run with one second left on the clock, but the play would be nullified by a Cougars’ holding penalty.
The opener was part of a three-game stretch of non-district play to start the season for the Cougars. Pulaski County opens River Ridge District play Sept. 25 at home against Cave Spring and Akers says his team needs to be going well by then.
“I saw growth tonight, but we’ve got to see a different team every week,” Akers said. “By the time we get to Week 5 (Cave Spring) we need to get this thing right.”
Pulaski County will be at home again this Friday when they host Tazewell. The Cougars traveled to Tazewell last season and picked up a 19-6 victory over the Bulldogs.
Game time will be at 7 p.m.
Northside 7 10 6 0 23
Pulaski County 0 0 0 0 0
N – King 28 run (Chavarria Lainez kick)
N – Chavarria Lainez 25 FG
N – King 23 run (Chavarria Lainez kick)
N – Hutchinson 4 pass from Hall (kick failed)
Northside Pulaski County
First Downs 13 4
Yards Rushing 307 8
Passes C-A-I 5-9-0 5-13-1
Yards Passing 31 27
Penalties-Yards 8-48 6-55
Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-1
Punts-average 3-24 5-33.2
RUSHING – Northisde, King 5-94, Daniels 9-36, Dempsey 3-16, Mcentyre 1-1, Hall 9-98, Bell 3-30, Crump 1-3, Gallimore 2-7, Benard 3-29, Lemon 2-(-7), Pulaski County, Squires 9-19, Akers 1-(-19), Salaam 6-6, Aviles 3-10, Marshall 1-(-8)
PASSING – Northside, Hall 5-9-0-31, Pulaski County, Marshall 2-7-1-15, Long 3-6-0-12
RECEIVING – Harrelson 2-14, King 2-13, Hutchinson 1-4, Pulaski County, Price 2-15, Aviles 1-9, Altizer 1-7, Akers 1-(-4)