Cougars fall to 0-2, host Princeton Friday

By MIKE WILLIAMS

Patriot Publishing

Pulaski County’s Cougars fell hard last week to annual power Lord Botetourt, 54-21 to move to 0-2 on the 2024 football season. This week, things might only get tougher for the Cougars as they welcome the Princeton Tigers to Dublin.

“Same story as Northside,” Cougars Head Coach Cam Akers said this week.

“The game should not have looked like that. Lot of self-inflicted wounds – missed tackles, blown assignments. We’ve got to play more disciplined. We didn’t play disciplined enough against Botetourt. Botetourt is a disciplined team. We’ve got to play more disciplined to compete with a team like Botetourt.”

“Thought we matched them physically at times,” Akers continued.  “We had opportunities, but we had penalties and turnovers … stuff that you cannot do at any level of football.”

The Cougars lost one fumble in last Saturday morning’s loss and quarterback Bryant Nottingham was intercepted twice – one of which resulted in a 50-yard interception return for a Botetourt touchdown.

The Cavaliers rolled up 511 yards of total offense on the day and never punted. The Cougars amassed 330 total yards – all but 44 on the ground.

Trevor Gallimore rumbled 28 times for 155 yards on the day to lead Pulaski County. Nottingham rushed four times for 33 yards. Sammy Carrasco added eight carries for 37 yards. Other ball carriers for Pulaski County included Isaiah O’Dell, 4-19; Caleb Cregger, 1-20; Carter Wilson, 1-1; Aiden Whitlock, 1-3 and Maddox Thompson, 3-16.

For the game, Nottingham went 3 of 9 for 44 yards – all three receptions going to Cregger.

Two of Pulaski County’s TDs in last week’s game – played on Saturday morning due to schools being cancelled Friday along with all sporting events – came on the ground courtesy of Gallimore. He scored on a one-yard run in the first quarter with Nottingham’s PAT tying the game at 7. He scored again mid-way through the third quarter from 13 yards out. Nottingham’s kick made it 33-14 at the time.

The Cougars’ last score came with 8:24 to go when Nottingham hit Cregger on a five-yard pass. Nottingham’s PAT made the score 47-21.

Botetourt capped off the scoring moments later, scoring on an 80-yard run to make the final, 54-21.

This Friday evening the Cougars will host the Princeton Tigers in Kenneth J. Dobson Stadium at 7 p.m.

The Tigers of head coach Keith Taylor are presently ranked fourth in Class AAA in West Virginia and are 3-0.

They’re coming off a big 44-28 win over eighth ranked Oak Hill in a rematch of a Class AAA playoff game last season.

So far this season besides the Oak Hill win the Tigers have beaten Capital High out of Charleston, 41-13 and demolished Bluefield, 63-7.

“They’re a good football team,” Akers said of the Tigers. “They’re dynamic and athletic on the perimeter.  They’ve got a good quarterback. Their wideouts are talented.  They’ll be heavy up front. They do a good job with what they do. It will be a great opportunity for our kids and hopefully we’ll come out and put a better product on the field this week.”

The Tigers are led by junior quarterback Chance Barker. The 6-3, 175-pounder has eight passing touchdowns so far on the season. His top target is junior wideout Brad Mossor who is averaging 113 receiving yards per game.

Princeton’s top rusher so far has been junior Marquel Lowe who’s averaging 112 yards per game.

Akers noted Pulaski County is banged up right now.

“We’re still beat up,” Akers said. “We’ve got a lot of new faces in there. We haven’t had the same offensive line yet week to week and that hasn’t been easy. But we’re just going to coach the kids we’ve got and do the best we can.”

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