Cougars win first of season, beating Tazewell, 26-6
By TROY SARVER
Patriot Publishing
TAZEWELL – Three Tazewell miscues directly led to 19 Pulaski County points as the Cougars earned their first win of the season with a 26-6 victory over the Bulldogs on Friday night in Tazewell.
The win evened Pulaski County’s record at 1-1 after a tough 49-20 opening night loss to Northside.
Cougars’ head coach Cam Akers was pleased with the improvement from his squad, especially on defense, but he still believes the Cougars can be much better.
“We did a better job limiting our mistakes and our defense played well enough to keep us in the game. The offense still has work to do,” Akers said. “We are still a work in progress, but the kids stuck together tonight.”
The game’s first big play came midway through the first quarter with the Bulldogs punting from their own 21-yard line. The snap to Tazewell punter Robbie Galloway sailed high and Galloway had to fall on the ball at the Bulldogs’ 5 setting up the Pulaski County offense.
Three plays after the Tazewell special teams blunder, the Cougars’ Maddox Thompson scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to make it 7-0 at the 2:49 mark of the first quarter.
In the second quarter Tazewell (0-1) had their longest drive of the night, moving the ball 77 yards in 13 plays over six minutes. On the 14th play of the possession, however, Bulldogs’ running back Cole Price lost two yards on a rush up the middle on 4th-and-2 from the PC 3 ending the possession.
“There were times where things went wrong for us, but our defense held strong,” Akers said.
Eventually Tazewell would score before the half when running back Chase McDonald scored on an 11-yard TD run with 2:02 left before the break. The ensuing extra point, though, was no good giving the Cougars a 7-6 lead.
Pulaski County drove down the field in the final two minutes of the half to the Tazewell 19, setting up a 36-yard field goal for Bryant Nottingham. The attempt, however, would be blocked and the Cougars’ lead would stay at one point.
Most of the third quarter was a defensive struggle, but Pulaski County broke through with 39 seconds left in the period when Thompson
scored his second touchdown of the night on an 18-yard rush to make it 14-6. The score was set up by a 33-yard pass completion from Nottingham to Sammy Carrasco on the play before.
In the fourth it was the Pulaski County defense that got on the scoreboard. With 9:40 left in the period Tazewell quarterback Walker Patterson went back to pass from his own 17. Before he could throw Patterson lost control of the ball and it was eventually knocked back into the end zone where PC defensive lineman Aden Drummonds recovered it for a score to increase the lead to 20-7.
Another Tazewell fumble on the Bulldogs’ next possession by Price gave the Cougars the ball at the Tazewell 33. Six plays later, Nottingham capped the scoring with a 5-yard TD run at the 5:20 mark of the fourth quarter.
Nottingham was Pulaski County’s leading rusher with 64 yards while throwing for an additional 75. Thompson finished with 60 yards rushing along with his two touchdowns.
Price led the Tazewell offense with 119 rushing yards, but the entire Bulldogs offense combined to accumulate just 124 yards of offense for the contest. Pulaski County also forced three turnovers including their first interception of the season from defensive back Robbie White.
Pulaski County will be off this week before they return to action on Friday, September 19 for their home opener against Staunton River. Game time is 7 p.m.
Pulaski County 7 0 7 12 26
Tazewell 0 6 0 0 6
PC – Thompson 1 run (Nottingham kick)
T – McDonald 11 run (kick failed)
PC – Thompson 18 run (Nottingham kick)
PC – Drummonds fumble recovery in end zone (kick failed)
PC – Nottingham 5 run (kick failed)
PC Tazewell
First Downs 10 9
Yards Rushing 156 111
Passes C-A-I 5-7-0 4-12-1
Yards Passing 75 13
Penalties-Yards 6-65 11-85
Fumbles – lost 0-0 2-2
Punts – average 3-45.3 5-29.6
RUSHING – Pulaski County, Thompson 14-60, Carrasco 8-28, Nottingham 15-64, Wilson 6-4, Tazewell, Patterson 9-8, Price 21-119, McDonald 8-13, Viney 1-0, Galloway 2-(-29)
PASSING – Pulaski County, Nottingham 5-7-0-75, Tazewell, Patterson 4-12-1-13
RECEIVING – Pulaski County, Carrasco 2-35, Aviles 1-12, White 1-14, Lewis 1-14, Tazewell, McDonald 2-16, Viney 2-(-3)