The Cougar football team fell to 1-4 Friday night after falling to the Patrick Henry Patriots 48-22.
“We just made too many mistakes,” Cougar Head Coach Cam Akers said. “We have three areas that are killing us. We need to tackle better. We need to not put the ball on the ground. We need to stop committing penalties. It’s really just that simple.”
Patrick Henry came out to a quick lead after a one-yard touchdown run by Marcel Murray and an 83-yard scoring scamper by Kwalei Carter. The Cougars were able to block the extra point attempt on the first score, leaving the Patriots up 13-0 with 11:29 remaining in the second quarter.
“In our first drive we shot ourselves in the foot with 35 yards of penalties,” Coach Akers said. “You can’t beat any kind of team like that, and you sure can’t beat a good one. We had the ball moving and then it started. We’ve just got to find a way to stop it.”
The Cougars calmed down and put together a 13-play drive that covered 60-yards, with Trevor Gallimore putting the ball into the endzone from three yards out. The snap on the point after attempt was bobbled, and Bryant Nottingham picked it up and raced into the endzone for two points. That moved the score to 13-8 with 5:07 left in the half.
Nottingham stepped up again, this time on defense. He made a move on a pass attempt by Carter, intercepting the ball and racing all the way to the Patriot 28-yard line. The drive stalled in the final seconds of the half, and Nottingham was lined up to try a 30-yard field goal before the Cougars were hit with an illegal procedure, backing the ball up five yards. The 35-yard attempt by Nottingham came up just short to end the half.
The Cougars got the ball to start the second half, but were forced to punt. The Patriots used six plays and two Cougar penalties to cover the 62 yards, scoring on a 41-yard run by Carter. The PAT by Sam Dowdy moved the score to 20-8 for the Patriots.
Once again, the Cougars answered. In seven plays, with a pass interference call against the Patriots added for good measure, the Cougars covered 69 yards, with Chase Lawrence running the ball in from four yards out with 4:04 remaining in the third. Nottingham hit the PAT to make the score 20-15.
Patrick Henry scored three straight touchdowns to put the game out of reach for the Cougars. The first was a 33-yard run by Carter. The second was a 28-yard run by Murray to end the third quarter. Murray added a 48-yard scoring run with 8:39 remaining in the third. The PAT kicks by Dowdy made the score 41-15 for the Patriots.
The Cougars used nine plays and another Patriot pass interference call to move the ball 75 yards for their final score of the night. That came on a five-yard run by Trevor Gallimore with 4:32 remaining in the game. The PAT by Nottingham made it. 41-22, but the Patriots put one more in the endzone on another long run, this time 45 yards by Murray.
“It’s frustrating because I know they’re better than this,” Coach Akers said. “I’ll never talk bad about our kids, because they go out there and bust their tails and play with a ton of heart. We just can’t miss tackles and we can’t commit these penalties. If we can fix that, I feel like we can play with anybody. If we don’t fix it, we’ll have more night like this.”
The Cougars earned 21 first downs, compared to 15 by the big-play Patriots. The Cougars ran the ball 56 times for 248 yards. The Patriots ran 28 times for 385 yards. Cougar quarterback Chris Gallimore completed two of four pass attempts for 14 yards. Cater completed three of six pass attempts for 40 yards with one interception. The Cougars ended with 262 total yards. The Patriots had 425 total yards.
While the Cougars committed 10 penalties for 61 yards, they weren’t alone in the mistake zone. Patrick Henry committed 15 penalties for 165 yards. Pulaski County fumbled the ball five times Friday night but recovered them all. The Patriots fumbled once and recovered it.
Trevor Gallimore led the Cougar rushing attack with 29 carries for 153 yards and two touchdowns. Chris Gallimore ran 15 times for 35 yards. Lawrence ran five times for 34 yards and a score. Isaiah O’Dell ran five times for 19 yards. Tyler Underwood ran twice for seven yards.
Carter led the way for Patrick Henry with 11 carries for 199 yards, and three touchdowns. Murray helped out with 11 carries for 168 yards and four touchdowns. Dayvion Journiette ran three times for 13 yards. Tequan Martin ran four times for five yards.
Marcus Reed was targeted several times for passes, drawing several pass interference calls, but caught two for 14 yards.
The Cougars will be back in action next Friday at home against the Salem Spartans. Salem defeated Hidden Valley 51-0 Friday night.