The effort was there, but the Pulaski County Cougars just couldn’t get it done against a strong Salem Spartan squad Friday night at Kenneth J. Dobson Stadium/Joel Hicks Field. Despite reaching a 7-7 tie after an initial Spartan score, the Cougars fell 49-13 to move to 1-5 on the season.
“We improved in a few of the areas we’ve been working on, but we just couldn’t get things going offensively,” Cougar Head Coach Cam Akers said. “It was good to see us cut down on the penalties, but we still just gave up too many big plays and too much yardage overall. The effort was there for us, but credit Salem for making some great plays.”
The bad luck started for the Cougars when they fumbled the opening kickoff, giving Salem the ball at the Cougar 26-yard line. Three running plays later, Peyton Lewis broke through the Cougar defense for a 17-yard scoring run. Wesley Cross added the point after to give Salem the 7-0 lead with 10:33 remaining in the first quarter.
Pulaski County answered on their next drive. Starting on their own 20-yard line, the Cougars ran the ball six times to cover the 80 yards, with the score coming on a four-yard scamper by Trevor Gallimore. Bryant Nottingham added the PAT to tie the game at 7-7 with 8:15 remaining in the first.
Salem scored on a two-yard and a three-yard run by Jayveon Jones, followed by a 30-yard run by Lewis to take a commanding 28-7 lead with 8:15 remaining in the second quarter.
The Cougars finally regrouped, using a 14-play drive to cover 74 yards. The play used a mix of run and pass plays, with Isaiah O’Dell recorded three catches on the drive, before Gallimore crossed the goal line from one yard out with 52 second remaining in the half. The snap on the PAT attempt was bobbled, and the score at the half remained 28-13 for the Spartans.
Things went downhill for the Cougars after that. The Spartans took the opening kickoff of the second half and scored again with 10:26 on the clock. This time it was a three-yard run by Jones. With 4:17 remaining in the third, quarterback Chris Martin connected with Jaelyn Allen on a 59-yard scoring strike. With 1:43 left in the third, Lewis raced off the right side and ran 68 yards for another Spartan score, moving the final tally to 49-13.
The stats were about what the score would indicate. The Spartans gained 13 first downs and the Cougars had 11, but many of the Spartan plays resulted in big yardage. The Cougars gained 176 yards rushing on 39 attempts. The Spartans had 29 carries for 364 yards. Cougar quarterback Bryant Nottingham completed four of eight pass attempts for 46 yards with one interception. Martin connected on four of 12 pass attempts for the Spartans for 97 yards.
The Cougars finished the game with 222 total yards. The Spartans had 461 total yards. The Cougars had two penalties for 10 yards. The Spartans had nine for 61 yards.
Individually, Trevor Gallimore led the Cougars on the ground with 22 carries for 84 yards and two touchdowns. Chase Lawrence ran five times for 59 yards and caught one pass for 16 yards. O’Dell ran five times for 26 yards and caught three passes for 30 yards. Nottingham ran four times for five yards. Savion Thompson ran twice for three yards.
For the Spartans, Lewis ran 10 times for 161 yards and caught one pass for 24 yards. Jones had 14 carries for 106 yards. Martin ran once for 62 yards. Josiah Persinger ran once for 17 yards.
With the win, the Spartans move to 6-1 on the season and will travel to Cave Spring next week. The Cougars will regroup and travel to Montgomery County next week for a game against the Blacksburg Bruins. After that, the Cougars will host the Graham G-Men, travel to Roanoke to take on the Hidden Valley Titans, and then host the Cave Spring Knights in the final game of the regular season.
“Our guys are going to keep working,” Coach Akers said. “We hate to lose, but we’re not going to fold. We’re taking this one game at a time. The schedule has been tough, but we can’t make excuses. Our time is going to come. We just need to keep doing the work.”