It wasn’t always pretty, but the Pulaski County Cougars moved to 3-6 with a 41-19 win over a scrappy Hidden Valley Titans squad that refused to go away.
“Hidden Valley kept coming,” Cougar Head Coach Cam Akers said. “We went up on them, but they never backed down. We built a bigger lead, but they kept pushing. Credit them with never giving up. I thought our guys overcame some things out there tonight and did a pretty good job, but we know we still have plenty to work on. The penalties are still an issue. I thought we got to the ball a little better tonight, but we still need to get more aggressive.”
The Cougars took the opening kickoff and drive the ball right down the field into the heart of the Titan defense. Trevor Gallimore scored his first of five touchdowns on the night with a 39-yard blast with 11:10 remaining in the opening quarter. Bryant Nottingham hit the point after to make the score 7-0.
The Titans answered with a 48-yard pass from Brayden Moore to Daniel Robinson with 8:41 left in the first. The point after attempt was blocked by Chase Lawrence to leave the Cougars up 7-6.
Pulaski County went on a run, literally, with Gallimore scoring three straight touchdowns on the ground. His first was a 15-yard run with one-minute remining in the first quarter. His next was a two-yard score with 9:38 left in the second. With 4:52 remaining in the half, he crossed the goal line from seven yards out. Nottingham hit each of the point after attempts to put the Cougars up 28-6.
Hidden Valley went to the air again. This time Moore connected with Japhon English for a 55-yard catch-and-run with 4:35 remaining in the half. The PAT made it 28-13, and it stayed that way as the two teams headed to the halftime break.
The Cougars came out with the intention of putting the game away quickly. After stopping the Titans on their opening drive, the Cougars began moving the ball. A sustained drive ended when sophomore Savion Thompson scored his first varsity touchdown on a four-yard run. Nottingham added the PAT to make it 35-13 for the Cougars with 9:29 remaining in the game.
Moments later, the Titans answered with another big play. Moore hit English for a 75-yard strike with 9:17 remaining. The PAT was no good, leaving the score at 35-19 for the Cougars.
Laundry littered the field all night, mostly against Pulaski County. Each time the Cougars moved the ball forward, it seemed a yellow hanky moved them back. Despite all that, the Cougars added one more score with 1:54 left in the game. Gallimore crossed the goal line for his fifth rushing score of the night. The PAT failed, leaving the final score at 41-19 for the Cougars.
“We’ll watch the film and evaluate the penalties,” Coach Akers said. “It’s something we just can’t keep having. We have to be more disciplined in everything we do. Our focus should be on execution and doing our jobs. We need to talk less with our mouths and more with our pads. We’re still a work in progress, but I still believe in these guys. We’ll put together our plan for next week and try to get our fourth win. We’ll talk about the playoffs if and when that comes around. Right now, all we need to be focused on is the next game. Period.”
The Cougars finished the game with 20 first downs and ran the ball 65 times or 426 yards. Bryant Nottingham completed two-of-five pass attempts with one interception for 50 yards, giving the Cougars 476 total yards of offense. The Cougars had no fumbles, but were hit with 13 penalties for 140 yards.
The Titans had 14 first downs and ran the ball 23 times for just 58 yards. They completed 14-of-32 pass attempts for 303 yards, giving them 361 total yards. They had no fumbled and had six penalties for 78 yards.
Individually, Trevor Gallimore ran 41 times for 229 yards and five touchdowns. Isaiah O’Dell ran nine times for 51 yards and caught one pass for 35 yards. Chase Lawrence had seven carries for 71 yards. Nottingham had five carries for 64 yards. Savion Thompson ran three times for 11 yards and a score. Marcus Reed had one catch for 15 yards.
Only one Titan had over 50 yards rushing, with Israel Guerrero carrying 12 times for 59 yards. English caught three passes for 138 yards. Robinson caught two for 72 yards.
The Cougars will close out the regular season next Friday at home against the Cave Spring Knights.