Finally! Cougars win … rout Blacksburg on Homecoming

By TROY SARVER

Patriot Publishing

DUBLIN – Finally!

After an 0-6 start to begin the season, Pulaski County can breathe a sigh of relief as the Cougars got into the win column for the first time taking a 63-19 victory over Blacksburg on Friday night.

After a back and forth first half that saw Pulaski County (1-6, 1-3) take a 28-19 lead into halftime, the Cougars were dominant in the second half outscoring Blacksburg (3-4, 1-2) 35-0 over the final two quarters.

For the second straight week the Pulaski Co. offense was rolling. After scoring 40 points in a loss to Salem a week earlier, the Cougars accumulated over 500 yards of offense against the Bruins led by quarterback Bryant Nottingham. Nottingham finished the night with 136 yards rushing and two touchdowns while passing for an additional 94 yards and a touchdown.

“Being able to have a good game against Salem definitely gave us some confidence,” Pulaski County head coach Cam Akers said. “We’re still working through some injuries, but I’m really proud of these kids. This is something we really needed.”

The Cougars wasted little time on Homecoming as Pulaski started the scoring on the fourth play of the game when Nottingham ran an option play 44 yards into the end zone to make it 7-0 at the 10:18 mark of the first quarter.

Blacksburg responded with 13 unanswered points to take their first lead of the game, but the Cougars took the advantage back before the end of the opening quarter when Trevor Gallimore completed a 7-play drive with a 3-yard TD run to make it 14-13 with 30 seconds left in the period.

The Bruins moved back ahead on their next drive when running back Jaxon Keys scored on a 17-yard touchdown run, but the Cougars took the lead back for good less than a minute later on a 48-yard scoring run from Gallimore giving Pulaski a 21-19 lead.

The Cougars capped the first half scoring when Chase Lawrence scored his first touchdown of the night on a run from 11 yards out making it 28-19 with 5:37 left in the half.

Blacksburg had 330 yards of offense in the first half, but after some halftime adjustments by the Cougars the Bruins would be shut out over the final two quarters while being held to just 72 yards total.

“We didn’t fit some things (defensively) in the first half. Sometimes its hard to simulate what they do in practice with their speed,” Akers said.

On their first possession of the second half the Cougars only needed four plays to return to the end zone as Nottingham connected with wide receiver Caleb Cregger on a 40-yard scoring strike to give Pulaski their biggest lead in the contest at 35-19 with 8:42 left in the third quarter.

Cregger’s touchdown catch was the start of a 28-0 rally in the third that put the game away. Nottingham and Gallimore scored on touchdown runs of 26 and 3 yards respectively over the Cougars’ next two drives and on defense linebacker Savion Thompson returned a Blacksburg fumble 21 yards for a score to increase the lead to 56-19 late in the third.

With a running clock in the fourth quarter, Pulaski got their final score of the game on Lawrence’s second touchdown of the night on a 1-yard run with 6:44 left on the clock.

Gallimore finished with 153 yards and three touchdowns on a game-high 26 carries. Lawrence had 55 yards on the ground while Sam Carrasco compiled 91 rushing yards.

Cregger had all three of the Cougars’ receptions for 94 yards and a touchdown.

Pulaski will have a challenge as they look for their second straight win on Thursday night when they travel to Bluefield to take on the undefeated Graham G-Men. Graham (7-0) is coming off a 27-14 victory over Lebanon on Friday in a battle of undefeated teams.

Last season the G-Men came to Dublin and knocked off the Cougars 52-24.

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