Cougars fall just short to Staunton River

By TROY SARVER

Patriot Publishing

MONETA – Pulaski County’s offense had things rolling on Friday night, but unfortunately for the Cougars their defense couldn’t get a big stop when it needed it the most.

Staunton River running back Zacheriah Craghead had a monster night rushing for 300 yards and three touchdowns as the Golden Eagles held off a late Pulaski County comeback attempt taking a 35-28 victory at Staunton River High School.

Pulaski County (0-3) trailed 35-21 with 4:20 left in the fourth quarter when Cougars’ quarterback Preston Marshall connected on his first touchdown pass of the season hitting tight end Parker Price on an 8-yard scoring strike to cut the deficit in half to 35-28.

Once Staunton River got the ball back, however, the Golden Eagles leaned heavily on the running of Craghead who churned out two big first downs on the ground that eventually ran out the clock without the Cougars’ offense touching it again.

“We really needed stops and didn’t play well defensively for another week,” Pulaski County head coach Cam Akers said. “Got to do better on defense. You can’t win games like that.”

It was the Cougars that were running the ball down the field to start the game. On just the second play from scrimmage PC running back Maddox Thompson broke loose for a 67-yard touchdown run to make it 7-0.

The Cougars’ defense then forced a punt on Staunton River’s first offensive possession, but it was downhill from there as the Golden Eagles scored touchdowns on their next three drives to build a 21-7 lead late in the second quarter.

It looked like that would be the score at halftime, but on the last play of the first half PC running back Jackson Squires took a pitch play and ran 55 yards for a touchdown as the clock hit zero to make it 21-14 going into the break.

Squires was in the game for Thompson who left early in the second quarter after suffering an ankle sprain. He only appeared for two more plays in the second half.

“Guys are going to get hurt. We hope that Maddox gets better, but we had guys step up and run the ball well,” Akers said.

The momentum Pulaski County had going into halftime didn’t last long as Staunton River came out in the third quarter scoring on their opening drive. Craghead ran the ball on all four plays of the drive including a 45-yard touchdown run that made it 28-14 with 10:14 left in the period.

Squires answered the Golden Eagles’ score with his second long run of the night busting loose up the middle for a 50-yard touchdown scamper just three minutes later to cut the deficit back down to seven at 28-21.

Staunton River wasn’t deterred, though, as they came back with an 8-play, 63-yard drive capped by a 20-yard TD run from Keyan Floyd to make it 35-21 with 3:11 left in the third.

The only bad moment for Craghead on the night came midway through the fourth quarter when he fumbled at the PC 29. The fumble recovery by the Cougars eventually led to Marshall’s TD pass and PC’s last offensive score.

Squires led the way for Pulaski County finishing with 139 yards, and two touchdown runs on 12 carries.

Pulaski County returns to Kenneth J. Dobson Stadium next Friday when they begin River Ridge District play taking on Cave Spring at 7 p.m. The Cougars defeated the Knights, 26-13, last season in Roanoke.

Pulaski County                            7            7            7            7            28

Staunton River                            0            21          14          0            35

PC – Thompson 67 run (Flores kick)

SR – Craghead 11 run (Arufriyev kick)

SR – Craghead 67 run (Arufriyev kick)

SR – Ayers 1 run (Arufriyev kick)

PC – Squires 55 run (Flores kick)

SR – Craghead 45 run (Arufriyev kick)

PC – Squires 50 run (Flores kick)

SR – Floyd 20 run (Arufriyev kick)

PC – Price 8 pass from Marshall (Flores kick)

Pulaski County                            Staunton River

First Downs                                                  7                                                         17

Yards Rushing                                            262                                                    386

Passes C-A-I                                                3-7-0                                                 2-3-0

Yards Passing                                             25                                                       16

Penalties-Yards                                          6-55                                                  3-45

Fumbles-lost                                               0-0                                                     1-1

Punts-average                                            4-32                                                  1-27

RUSHING – Pulaski County, Thompson 7-69, Aviles 9-45, Squires 12-139, Jones 5-9, Staunton River, Sheets 2-28, Ayers 7-15, Craghead 31-300, Long 3-3, Floyd 3-40

PASSING – Pulaski County, Marshall 3-7-0-25, Staunton River, Long 2-2-0-16, Sheets 0-1-0-0

RECEIVING – Pulaski County, Aviles 2-17, Price 1-8, Sheets 2-16