Cougars lose to Graham, 35-3
By TROY SARVER
Patriot Publishing
BLUEFIELD – While Pulaski County dominated the time of possession on offense, Graham made the most of the little time they had the football on Thursday night.
The G-Men had four touchdowns of over 28 yards as they remained undefeated on the season taking a 35-3 win over Pulaski Co. on Senior Night at Mitchell Stadium in Bluefield.
Pulaski County (1-7) had success moving the football while taking time off the clock throughout the game as they had possession for over 29 minutes, but scoring points at the end of those drives was a problem.
“That’s how our offense operates. We just didn’t capitalize on offense with good field position and finish drives,” Pulaski County head coach Cam Akers said.
Graham (8-0) set the tone for the night after stopping Pulaski County on the opening possession of the contest. On the ensuing punt G-Men punt returner Cambell Fix returned the ball 87 yards down the Graham sideline for a score to make it 7-0 at the 8:12 mark of the first quarter.
The G-Men’s offense actually didn’t touch the ball until five minutes were left in the opening quarter. Once they gained possession, however, Graham moved 53 yards in eight plays scoring on an 8-yard TD run to double the lead to 14-0.
The Cougars’ lone score of the night came on their next drive as Pulaski moved the ball 51 yards on nine plays to the Graham 15. From there placekicker Bryant Nottingham was good on a 32-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 14-3 with 10:59 left in the second quarter.
Graham, though, wasted little time scoring again as they went 80 yards in six plays capped off by a 29-yard touchdown pass by quarterback Dalton Roberts to receiver Blake Graham making it 21-3.
Pulaski then took over seven minutes off the clock on their next possession, moving to the Graham 9. The drive ended, though, without points when a Nottingham pass over the middle was intercepted by Fix keeping the score at 21-3 going into the break.
The Cougars started the second half with a big defensive play when linebacker Hunter Hill recovered a Graham fumble at the G-Men 28 on the second play of the half.
The Cougars took another five minutes off the clock driving to the G-Men 7, but Pulaski didn’t add to the scoreboard as Nottingham was wide left on a 24-yard field goal with 5:51 left in the quarter.
After the missed field goal, Graham took full control, scoring touchdowns on their next two drives. Pulaski did stop the G-Men from scoring a third touchdown with a goal line stand to end the game.
“Our guys have responded well to losses like this before and I expect them to do the same time this time,” Akers said.
Trevor Gallimore finished as the Cougars leading rusher with 76 yards on 18 carries. Sam Carrasco and Chase Lawrence ran for an additional 36 and 35 yards, respectively.
Nottingham threw for 40 yards on four completions. Three of the passes went to Lawrence for 37 yards while Carrasco had the fourth catch for three yards.
Pulaski returns to action next Friday when they host Hidden Valley in their regular season home finale. The Titans, who were winless after their first seven games, lost to Pulaski County, 41-19, last season.
Game time in Dublin is set for 7 p.m.
