The past five games have been tough for the Pulaski County Cougar Football team, but the Cougars are hoping to begin a different streak this Friday as they travel to Montgomery County to take on the Blacksburg Bruins.
The Cougars started the season off with a convincing 42-7 win over the Northside Vikings. Since that opening week matchup, the Vikings have gone on to earn wins against Cave Spring (30-27) and Hidden Valley (43-27). They’ve lost to Salem (14-62), Heritage-Lynchburg (7-40), and Franklin County (28-42).
For the Cougars, the schedule after that opening week has been one of the toughest in the state. They lost to Lord Botetourt 20-48. The Cavaliers haven’t lost a game since, with their only loss coming at the hands of EC Glass (5-1) in their season opener. The Cougars lost a barn burner in West Virginia at the hands of Princeton High School, 40-49. The 6-1 Tigers lost their first game of the season last week against 5-1 Hurricane.
The Cougars hosted Christiansburg for Homecoming, falling 20-44. The Blue Demons are 6-1, with their only loss being a 21-24 setback against 5-1 Riverheads. A trip to Roanoke gave the Cougars their next loss, 22-48 against the 5-1 Patrick Henry Patriots. Their only loss was a 7-24 setback against Salem.
And then the Cougars hosted the Salem Spartans. Salem came into the game with two current D1 commits, one planning to play his college ball at the University of Georgia and one heading to the University of Tennessee. There will be others that follow to the college level from the Spartan roster.
The Cougars fell 13-49 to Salem. The Spartan defense held Pulaski County to 222 total yards of offense while amassing 461 yards of their own. Salem outgained the Cougars on the ground 364 yards to 176. Two Spartan running backs went over the 100-yard mark rushing.
On a positive note, the Cougars were able to cut down on their penalties, committing only two for 10 yards. The Spartans had nine for 61 yards.
Big plays were again costly for the Cougars. A fumble on the opening kickoff gave Salem the ball deep in Cougar territory. They scored three plays later. Salem had a 30-yard scoring run, a 59-yard touchdown pass, and a 68-yard touchdown run on top of many other long runs.
“We truly believe that we’re a better football team than what we’ve shown,” Cougar Head Coach Cam Akers said. “What we’re seeing is a lack of depth at a lot of positions, several players that just can’t come off the field, and a schedule made up of some very tough and talented teams. We’re young at spots, and we’re still learning. What we do have is guts and heart. I haven’t seen our guys back down from anyone. The effort is there. We just need to keep building and getting better.”
The Cougars will get a chance to continue building this week, as they take on the Blacksburg Bruins. Blacksburg comes into the game under the direction of second-year Head Coach Zack Leonard. The Bruins have shown improvement this season and much like Pulaski County, they are working to get back to the level of play they’ve seen in past years.
The Bruins have seen success in the past. While a lot of fans consider them a dominant soccer school, the Bruins have won three State Championships in football. The first was in 1977 when they got the best of Southampton in Lane Stadium, 16-7. In 1989, the Bruins defeated Courtland 19-6. Both of those title teams were led by former Head Coach Dave Crist. The field at Bill Brown Stadium is now named in his honor. In 2016, former Head Coach Thad Wells led his Bruins to another title, defeating Staunton River 28-20 at Zable Stadium in Williamsburg.
In 2017, the Bruins went 11-2 before falling to Salem 32-33 in the Region Championship game. In 2018, they went 13-1, falling to Woodgrove in the state semifinals, 23-26.
Things have been tougher for Blacksburg since then. Beginning at the end of the 2019 season, the Bruins lost 29 games in a row before finally breaking their streak against Floyd County this season. The Bruins won that game 40-14 on the road, then hosted and defeated Rockbridge County 38-20 the following week.
This season, the Bruins are sitting at 2-4 with losses to Giles (8-35), Lord Botetourt (6-83), Cave Spring (7-38), and Christiansburg (7-71).
The Cougars lead the overall series between the two teams 16-9, including the last five matchups. Blacksburg won four in a row before that from 2016-2018. Last year, Pulaski County won 48-7.
Blacksburg has several talented players that, as the team continues to improve, will continue to move the Bruins in the right direction. Senior quarterback Ethan Karpa (5’11”, 180) completed eight of 13 pass attempts against Giles for 97 yards, but his performance against Floyd County outshined that. He completed 15 of 25 pass attempts that night for 243 yards and three touchdowns. In their loss to Christiansburg, he was held to 31 yards passing on four of six attempts.
Junior running backs Jared Bradley and Isaiah Lewis have each added to the running game. Lewis scored the only touchdown of the night for Blacksburg against Christiansburg. Bradley ran 18 times for 95 yards against Floyd County.
“It doesn’t matter how good or bad someone’s record is at this point,” Coach Akers said. “We do not have the luxury of ever taking a night off or overlooking anyone at this point. I believe we can put our players up against anyone, but we have a long way to go. Our focus needs to be on doing our jobs and executing. We have some tough games left on our schedule against a bunch of teams that are hungry for success. We better be too.”
The latest batch of VHSL Ratings were released this weekend, and the Cougars are still right at the edge of making the playoffs for the first time since the 2020-21 Covid season where they lost to GW Danville 35-42 in the first round.
Magna Vista currently sits at the top of the Class 3 Region D standings with a 6-0 record and 25.66 points. Christiansburg in in second at 6-1 and with a 24.14 rating. Both of those teams will be in the state playoffs when they begin, having clinched a spot.
Lord Botetourt is currently in third at 5-1 and 23.16. William Byrd is fourth at 5-1 and 23.00. Bassett is fourth at 4-3 and 19.71. Abingdon is in fifth place at 4-3 and 18.28. Cave Spring is seventh at 3-4 and 16.57.
Northside and Pulaski County have identical 16.33 ratings. Northside is listed in eighth due to their 2-4 record. Pulaski County is listed ninth at 1-5. Only the top eight teams enter the playoffs at the end of the regular season.
The rest of the region is rounded out by Staunton River (2-4, 16.16), Carroll County (2-5, 15.85), Tunstall (1-6, 13.00), and Hidden Valley (0-6, 13.00).
Kickoff Friday at Bill Brown Stadium is set for 7 p.m.