Cougar offense gets rolling, but Salem rallies to win, 56-40

By TROY SARVER

Patriot Publishing

SALEM – Despite a 33-point first half outburst by Pulaski County, the Cougars still found themselves on the wrong end of the scoreboard at the end of the night as Salem came from behind in the second half to take a 56-40 victory over Pulaski on Friday night at Salem Stadium.

Pulaski County (0-6, 0-3) compiled just under 500 yards of offense on the evening as they scored touchdowns on their first five possessions jumping out to a 33-28 halftime lead.

“They (Salem) do what they do on defense. We just executed on offense well tonight. I’m really proud of my kids, but we just need to find a way to win some games,” Pulaski County head coach Cam Akers said.

The Cougars set the tone for the night on their opening drive moving the ball 58 yards on eight plays in just over three minutes. Trevor Gallimore capped the possession off with a 1-yard TD run to give Pulaski Co. a 6-0 lead after a botched extra point attempt.

Salem (5-2, 2-0) needed just one play to answer the Cougar score as running back Josiah Persinger broke loose for a 60-yard touchdown run on the Spartans’ first offensive play from scrimmage to make the score 7-6.

Pulaski County was not deterred again methodically driving 88 yards down the field on their next drive in 13 plays. The Cougars retook the lead when quarterback Bryant Nottingham connected with Taner Mace over the middle with a 15-yard TD pass to give the Cougars a 13-7 advantage at the 2:55 mark of the first period.

Salem, however, again just needed one play to answer the Cougar score as Spartans’ quarterback Eli Taylor hit Coen Logan on a deep 60-yard touchdown pass to give Salem the lead back at 14-13.

Pulaski County retook the lead on the first play of the second quarter when Gallimore scored his second touchdown of the night on a 1-yard run to put the Cougars on top 20-14.

The Cougars were then able to stop Salem on their next drive on downs at the Pulaski County 43. Pulaski County wasted little time keeping the momentum as Gallimore capped off a six-play scoring drive with a 39-yard TD run to give the Cougars their biggest lead of the night at 27-14 with 5:40 left in the second quarter.

The two teams spent the rest of the half trading touchdowns. After a Salem touchdown with 2:19 left in the half, Nottingham and Mace got together for their second touchdown pass on the night on a 69-yard TD strike giving the Cougars a 33-21 left with 1:33 left on the clock.

Pulaski Co., though, left too much time on the clock as the Spartans needed just three plays to move down the field and score on a 22-yard TD pass from Taylor to Josiah Boardley to make it 33-28 with 1:07 left before the break.

The Cougars still had enough time to answer as Pulaski drove to the Salem 11, but with 5 seconds left Nottingham missed a 28-yard field goal leaving the Cougars’ lead at five points going into the locker room.

After the halftime Homecoming activities Salem took control of the game in the third quarter outscoring the Cougars 14-0 while holding Pulaski County to just one first down on offense in the period.

Trailing 42-33, Pulaski County had one more surge in them as they drove 75 yards in eight plays early in the fourth quarter. Gallimore finished off the possession with his fourth touchdown of the night on a 1-yard touchdown run with 9:48 left in the game to make it 42-40.

The last 10 minutes of the game, however, were controlled by the Spartans as they drove down the field for two touchdown drives to seal a hard-fought victory. For the night, Salem scored touchdowns on all their possessions except one.

“We had a couple of misfits on defense here and there. Actually, we had a lot,” said Akers. “We just needed a couple more stops on defense and we weren’t able to do it.”

Gallimore finished the night with 215 rushing yards on 24 carries along with his four scores. Sam Carrasco had 79 yards on the ground and Chase Lawrence provided an additional 78 yards rushing.

Nottingham was 5-for-9 passing for 125 yards and two touchdown passes.

Mace had four receptions for 104 yards while Carrasco had one catch for 21 yards.

Pulaski County returns to action this Friday when they host Blacksburg (3-3). The Bruins come into the matchup coming off a 20-7 loss to Christiansburg last Friday, but the Bruins have already surpassed their win total of two games from last season. That two-win season included a 69-13 loss to Pulaski where the Cougars set a school record for points in a game.

Game time in Dublin is set for 7 p.m.