Pulaski County will travel to Roanoke Friday for the season opener with a familiar opponent, the Northside High School Vikings.
The Cougars hold a 23-14 game advantage over the Vikings, including the last three meetings and six of the last eight. Last year was a convincing 43-0 win for Pulaski County.
Their first matchup was in 1974, resulting in a 15-26 loss. Dave Brown was the head coach for the Cougars. Jim Hickam was the head coach for the Vikings. The two had regularly faced off as head coaches, with Hickam serving as the head coach of Pulaski High School and Brown the head coach at Dublin High School before the two former high schools consolidated and Brown got the lead job. Pulaski High School actually won the final meeting between the two former county high schools, with the Orioles coming out on top 16-11.
Head Coach Scott Fisher is entering his eighth season as the leader of the Vikings. He has an overall record to this point of 35-30. His two best seasons were 2018, where the Vikings finished 11-2 before falling in the third round of the playoffs, and 2019, when the Vikings finished 9-4 and fell in the third round. Last season the Vikings finished a disappointing 0-10 with a team of many young, inexperienced players. That team also suffered six shoutouts. A large portion of those players are back for this season, and they are expected to be very much improved.
“We saw some things that we were happy with after watching the film from Friday against Radford, but we also saw a lot of things we need to work on,” Cougar Head Coach Cam Akers said. “Northside is going to be better and we know that. They are working hard and their kids are going to show a ton of improvement this season. We need to worry about doing our jobs, cutting down on the mistakes and penalties, and being physical. Our players need to be focused and do their jobs. We’re not going to have any easy games this season. Everybody will be better than they were last season. I’ve been happy with our team’s efforts to this point, but we absolutely have to get better every day. We also need to continue to develop our younger players, because at some point we’re going to need them to step up.”
The Cougars are coming off a 4-6 season in 2022, with losses in their final three games to Graham, Patrick Henry, and Christiansburg. That final record does not, however, tell the entire story.
Their first loss of the season came at the hands of Tennessee high School. The Cougars led late in the game, but the Vikings were driving. Brett Jones intercepted a deep pass in the endzone, which should have given the Cougars the ball at their own 20-yard line with time running out. Instead, a flag thrown on the Cougars for a sideline warning, the first of the game, and somehow allowed Tennessee to keep the ball. The flag should have been a warning for Pulaski County, and the Cougars should have had the ball. Instead, the Vikings maintained possession, were given 15 yards, and scored a few plays later to seal the win.
Their second loss came to the Cave Spring Knights. The Cougar offense was off all night, and that turned into a 2-12 loss. The third loss was a lopsided 14-49 game against Salem.
After getting their fourth win of the season over Blacksburg the following week, Pulaski County faced a problem that had very few answers. Injuries to key players left the Cougars. A 14-41 loss to Graham was followed by a 27-56 loss to Patrick Henry.
Things were looking tough for Pulaski County heading into their game against Christiansburg. The Cougars spotted the Blue Demons a few touchdowns early, but slowly began to crawl out of the hole they had created. With time running out, the Cougars earned a stop and scored to move the game to 31-34 in favor of the Blue Demons. Another stop gave the Cougars hope, but the clock ran out on the game and season.
The Cougars will take the field this season using a rotation at quarterback. Senior Chris Gallimore (6’1”, 220), who has played that position for the past two seasons, and sophomore Bryant Nottingham (6’1”, 154) will rotate as needed. Each offers different options, but the key will be to keep them as fresh as possible while they both also rotate on defense.
Junior Isaiah O’Dell (6’, 176) will likely be pulled into a running back spot, due to an injury to senior Brett Jones (5’9”, 170) that will force him to miss his senior year. O’Dell will be in the mix at the A-back position with senior Tyler Underwood (6’1”, 210) on one side and junior Chase Lawrence (6’1”, 181) on the other.
The slot backs will be a combination of junior Trevor Gallimore (5’10”, 192) and sophomore Savion Thompson (6’, 183) who played on the JV line last season.
Senior Marcus Reed (6’3”, 202) should be a big target as a wide out, along with junior Tanner Mace (5’11”, 156).
Several key players were lost to graduation across the offensive front, forcing a revamping of that group. Some positions are still going to be handled by more than one player, as those key players are going both ways.
The center position will be manned by sophomore Blake Ratcliffe (6’, 211). The guard spots will be handled by junior Noah Hinkley (5’8”, 253) and junior Aiden Moore (5’9”, 268). The tackles will be a combination of senior Jack Allen (6’2”, 218), junior Hunter Hill (5’10”, 205), and sophomore Chase King (5’11”, 193).
The defensive unit will see senior Duncan Umberger (5’5”, 233) in the middle. Jack Allen and junior Gavin Lytton (5’8”, 169) will handle the tackle duties on one side. Aiden Moore will line up on the other side. Lytton performed well in the Radford scrimmage, and could see significant time this week.
The outside linebackers will see a four-man rotation. Senior Marcus Reed and senior Chris Gallimore will handle one side. Savion Thompson and freshman Parker Price (6’1”, 186) will handle the other. The inside linebackers will be seniors Tyler Underwood and Nick Woolwine (6’1”, 186).
In the secondary, the free safety will be Chase Lawrence. The strong safety will be Isaiah O’Dell. The corners will be a rotation of Bryant Nottingham, senior Trey Landreth (6’, 161), and Tanner Mace.
Nottingham will handle the kicking and punting duties. The holder on field goals and extra points will be Isaiah O’Dell. The long and short snappers will be Chris Gallimore or Chase Lawrence.
“Our team is young in spots, but I’ve been pleased with our work ethic,” Coach Akers said. “They come to work each day with a purpose and they’re learning. We’ve always said football is about blocking and tackling, and it really is just that simple. Friday night it starts to count. We’re excited to get this season started.”
Game time Friday at Viking Stadium is set for 7 p.m.