Salem dominates Pulaski County, 41-0

By TROY SARVER

Patriot Publishing

Salem continued an impressive winning streak against Pulaski County on Friday, while also spoiling the Cougars’ Senior Night.

Salem’s Jordan McCadden rushed for 270 yards and four touchdowns while the Spartans’ defense pitched a shutout in a dominant 41-0 victory over Pulaski County at Kenneth J. Dobson Stadium.

The Spartans scored touchdowns on their first six drives to help move their winning streak over Pulaski County to 18 straight.

“They’re a good football team. They are good up front and just do what they do,” Pulaski County head coach Cam Akers said of Salem.

After forcing a Cougars’ punt on the game’s opening drive, the Spartans took  possession on their own 9-yard line and proceeded to move the ball 91 yards in 14 plays. McCadden capped the 7:26 drive with his first score of the night on a 4-yard touchdown run to make it 7-0 with 1:45 left in the opening quarter.

While Pulaski County (0-8, 0-4) kept the score close over the first 12 minutes, Salem (7-1, 3-1) broke things wide open in the second quarter with 28 unanswered points. McCadden was the star of the period scoring on runs of 61, 43 and 64 yards. The 64-yard touchdown run came with 23 seconds left in the first half making the score 35-0 going into halftime.

The Salem defense, however, was not left out of the scoring. With 7:16 left in the first half, Salem safety Jayden Wood intercepted a pass from PC quarterback Dorrion Long and returned it 24 yards for a touchdown to make it 21-0.

The interception was part of a Salem performance that saw the Spartans’ defense hold the Cougars to 110 total yards and five first downs for the night.

  Despite the defeat, Akers stated he was proud of his squad for continuing to fight despite the huge deficit including his group of seniors who were playing their last home game and were honored in pre-game festivities.

“We asked them to play hard, and they stayed in the game all the way up to the end,” Akers said. “They’re a good bunch of boys.”

The Cougars season will conclude over the next two weeks with district road games at Patrick Henry (Oct. 30) and Hidden Valley (Nov. 6). Even with a winless record Akers says his coaches and players will continue to give the same effort as they try to end a run that has seen the team lose 13 of their last 14 games.

“We are not going to coach any differently. We are going to go to work as a staff and get them ready for the next game,” Akers said.

Friday’s game at Patrick Henry will kickoff at 7 p.m.

Salem                               7            28          6            0            41

Pulaski County             0            0            0            0            0

S – McCadden 4 run (Munoz kick)

S – McCadden 61 run (Munoz kick)

S – Wood 24 interception return (Munoz kick)

S – McCadden 43 run (Munoz kick)

S – McCadden 64 run (Munoz kick)

S – Baxley 29 run (kick failed)

Salem                               Pulaski County

First Downs                                   14                                        5

Yards Rushing                              387                                     62

Passes C-A-I                                 4-6-0                                 3-4-1

Yards Passing                              17                                        48

Penalties – Yards                        5-34                                   5-48

Fumbles – lost                             3-0                                      0-0

Punts – average                          0-0                                      4-35.8

RUSHING – Salem, McCadden 13-270, Johnson 3-15, Oliver 1(-1), Baxley 4-48, Baxter 6-25, Price 7-29, Bond 2-1, Pulaski County, Aviles 6-21, Squires 12-23, Long 7-6, Thompson 4-12

PASSING – Salem, Oliver 4-6-0-17, Pulaski County, Long 2-3-1-41, Marshall 1-1-0-7

RECEIVING – Salem, Johnson 3-10, MacBrien 1-7, Pulaski County, Price 1-37, Thompson 1-4, Salaam 1-7