The Pulaski County Cougar football team will head back into the fire Friday, as they host the Salem Spartans in a matchup that will resemble a David versus Goliath situation.
“Salem is Salem,” Cougar Head Coach Cam Akers said. “They have outstanding coaching and tremendous talent and depth. Their program is one that a lot of other schools attempt to create and one that produces results. They are what we used to be and what we’re working to get back to.”
The Cougars are coming off a disappointing 22-48 loss at the hands of the Patrick Henry Patriots. The Patriots earned 425 total yards in the contest, with 385 of that coming from their ground game. The Cougars earned just 262 total yards, with 248 coming from the running game. All of the Patriot touchdowns came from the ground game, as Patrick Henry backs slashed their way through the Cougar defenders.
Pulaski County junior Trevor Gallimore ran 29 times for 153 yards and two touchdowns. Senior quarterback Chris Gallimore ran 15 times for 35 yards and completed two of four pass attempts for 14 yards, both to senior wideout Marcus Reed. Junior Chase Lawrence ran five times for 34 yards and a touchdown. Isaiah O’Dell and Tyler Underwood also saw action running the ball. Sophomore Bryant Nottingham ran a two-point conversion in after a bobbled snap, kicked two point-after attempts, and intercepted a pass on defense.
Penalties were costly for both teams. The Cougars were hit with 10 flags for 61 yards, with three of those coming on their initial drive for 35 yards. The Patriots were hit with 15 penalties for 165 yards, many of those against the Patriot secondary as they attempted to cover Reed on deep pass attempts.
“We’ve got to get better at tackling and cut out the penalties,” Coach Akers said. “We’re looking at putting our guys in a better position with our alignment, but missed tackles kill us. This is going to be the biggest test for us yet, so we need to come out focused and ready to give it everything we’ve got. We believe in our guys. We may be few in numbers, but they’re big in heart.”
The Cougars are on the board as the first set of VHSL ratings were released Tuesday. Magna Vista (5-0) leads Class 3, Region D with 24.40 points. Christiansburg (5-1) is second at 22.66. Lord Botetourt (4-1) is third at 22.40. William Byrd (4-1) is fourth at 20.60. Bassett (3-3) is fifth at 18.83. Abingdon (3-3) is sixth at 16.20. Staunton River (2-3) is seventh at 16.20. The Cougars hold the eighth spot, mainly due to the strength of their schedule, at 1-4 with a 16.00 rating. Northside, Carroll County, Cave Spring, Tunstall, and Hidden Valley round out the region. The top eight teams at the end of the regular season make the playoffs.
The Spartans are led by Head Coach Don Holter, who is in his fifth year at the helm after taking over for former Head Coach Steven Magenbauer. In his five years, he has an overall record of 48-8 that includes reaching the state final-four nine of the last 11 seasons, three Region Championships, and two state semifinal appearances. In the Covid season in the spring of 2021, the Spartans went 10-0, winning the Class 4 State Championship over Lake Taylor 28-20 in Norfolk.
This season, the Spartans come in with a record of 5-1 after losing their season opener to LCA 14-21. Since then, they have defeated Franklin County 48-7, William Fleming 33-14, Northside 62-14, Patrick Henry 24-7, and Hidden Valley 51-0.
The Spartans lead the overall series with Pulaski County 31-19 and have won the last 14 matchups and 22 of the last 25 meetings. The last win by the Cougars was during the first year under former Head Coach Todd Jones, with the Cougars rallying from a halftime deficit to earn a 21-13 win and finish the season 5-5, despite being under sanctions from the VHSL for what was deemed out of season practice violations.
Salem will come into the game running the same offense and defense that has gotten them to where they are today. Offensively it will be a two-back set, but they’ll also use the I-formation and sometimes work out of the shotgun. They run the ball often and they run it well. They use play action and some passing to keep opposing defenders honest.
In a recent article out of Roanoke, Coach Holter was asked about the criticism Salem sometimes gets for using the same basic offense for so many seasons instead of a more exciting and flashy scheme.
“There’s a lot of critics, but I don’t worry about things from critics. We do what we do,” he said. “Football is about execution, not gimmicks. When you run what you run and you execute that properly, you’re going to be successful at it and score points.”
Salem has a host of talented players. Running back Peyton Lewis (6’1”, 205, sr) has already committed to play next season at Tennessee. Last week he had eight carries for 112 yards and three touchdowns. He added another on an 82-yard kickoff return score and another on a 50-yard punt return score.
Linebacker Chris Cole (6’4”, 222, sr) is a four-star recruit who has recently committed to playing his college ball at the University of Georgia. He is ranked as the top player in the state by ESPN and 247Sports, the number six linebacker in the nation, and the number 56 high school football player overall in the nation. He made his Georgia decision with hats from the Bulldogs, Penn State, Miami, Southern California, Tennessee, and Virginia Tech also on the table.
Salem has a slew of returning starters from last season also on the field, some of whom have started for two or three seasons now, and a larger amount of talented young players to back them up.
For the Cougars, the lineup will remain the same as the coaching staff continues to tweak and insert younger and new players into spots as needed.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Kenneth J. Dobson Stadium/Joel Hicks Field.