The Cougar football team took their final snap of the season last week in Vinton, with senior Tyler Underwood scoring the last touchdown of the year on a dive play. The gear is being looked at and packed up, with some of it being sent for reconditioning. The seniors will move on to other sports and begin preparing for graduation and life after high school. The underclassmen will get into the weight room and start preparing for next season.
With this season in the books, it’s worth taking a moment to look back at what worked and what didn’t. While emotions can run high during the games, the numbers don’t lie.
The Cougars won four games. They opened the season with a 42-7 victory over Northside. The Vikings finished the season 2-8 with wins over Cave Spring and Hidden Valley. Pulaski County earned a 69-13 win over Blackburg. The Bruins ended their season with a forfeit to Salem and a 2-8 record with wins over Floyd County and Rockbridge County. We defeated Hidden Valley. The Titans finished 1-9 with a win over Blackburg. Our final win of the year was over Cave Spring. The Knights ended up 3-7, missing the playoffs after falling to the Cougars.
That’s a record of 8-32 for the teams we defeated.
The Cougars lost to 9-2 Lord Botetourt. They travel to William Byrd this week for the season round of the playoffs. Pulaski County lost to Princeton. The Tigers finished 10-1 and will take on Parkersburg this week in the West Virginia playoffs. The Cougars lost to Christiansburg. They are now 8-3 and travel to Magna Vista this week for the second round of the playoffs. The Cougars lost to Patrick Henry. The Patriots finished their season 9-2, falling to cross-town rival William Fleming in a shocker for the first round of the Class 5 playoffs.
The Cougars lost to Salem. The Spartans are now 10-1 and will host Handley in round two of the Class 4, Region D playoffs. Pulaski County fell to Graham. The G-Men are 10-1 and will host Gate City this week. Finally, the Cougars lost to 10-1 William Byrd, which will host Lord Botetourt this week.
That’s a record of 66-11 for the teams Pulaski County lost to.
As a team, the Cougars performed well offensively. Pulaski County earned 193 first downs, compared to 142 for the opposition. To understand how good that is, the most first downs ever earned by a Cougar team was 201 by the 2000 team.
Pulaski County ran the ball 555 times this year for 3,131 yards, an average of 284.63 yard per game through 11 games. The 2000 Cougar squad holds that record also, with 507 attempts for 4,032 yards. They did that in 12 games.
The Cougars gave up 2,393 yards on the ground in 300 attempts, an average of 217.55 yards per game. The most rushing yards ever allowed was in the 2009 season, when the Cougars gave up 2,910 yards in 480 attempts.
Cougar quarterbacks completed 43-of-81 pass attempts with six interceptions for 1,009 yards. That’s a 53.1% completion rate. The most passing yards in a season came in 2017 when the Cougars were good for 2,191 yards through the air.
Cougar opponents did well, completing 85-of-161 pass attempts with four interceptions for 1,405 yards. The 2017 squad also holds the record for most passing yards allowed with 1,590.
The total yardage for the Cougars is 4,140 yards. The 2000 team had 4,299 yards. Cougar opponents gained 3,798 yards of total offense.
Turnovers played a big part in the Cougar troubles this season. In addition to the six interceptions that were thrown, Pulaski County fumbled 21 times, losing 10 of them. Their opponents fumbled 11 times, losing six of them.
Pulaski County scored 339 points this season, an average of 30.82 points per game. Their opponents scored 394 points, an average of 35.82 points per game.
The Cougars were hit with 68 penalties for 580 yards. Their opposition had 73 penalties for 673 yards.
Individually, several new records were set for Pulaski County.
Junior running back Trevor Gallimore ran the ball 314 times for 1,719 yards. That will rank him among the top running backs in Pulaski County history. He set a new record for most rushing yards in a game with his 375 yards against Blacksburg, all in the first half. He also broke the record for most rushing touchdowns in a game with six against the Bruins, and tied the record held by Kwasi Scott from the 1998 game with Cave Spring where Scott scored five on the ground and one receiving. Gallimore scored 30 rushing touchdowns this season, breaking the previous record of 27 rushing touchdowns in a season. Those same 30 touchdowns also set a new record for most points scored in a season with 180 points. The previous record was 162 points.
Trevor Gallimore did all this while also playing on special teams and defense regularly. Expectations will be high for next season for the gritty running back.
Sophomore Bryant Nottingham scored two touchdowns on the ground, made good on 38 of 46 extra point attempts, made one of three field goal attempts, and scored on a two-point conversion run for 55 points. He ran the ball 45 times for 205 yards and completed 28-of-57 pass attempts for 635 yards and four touchdowns with six interceptions. He also intercepted a pass and played in the Cougar secondary. He punted the ball 32 times for a 40.25 yard per punt average.
Senior Marcus Reed caught 26 passes for 657 yards. He also recorded eight touchdown catches. There would have been more, but many of his catch attempts resulted in pass interference calls against defenders who couldn’t contain him. Reed also spent time on defense and special teams.
Junior Chase Lawrence ran the ball 61 times for 450 yards, a 7.37 yard per carry average, and caught five passes for 101 yards. He scored three touchdowns while also playing most of the remainder of the game on defense and special teams.
Senior Tyler Underwood ran the ball 21 times for 209 yards and caught two passes for 15 yards. He scored the final touchdown of the season for the Cougars and a two-point conversion. He also did all this while playing on every special team and on defense.
Junior Isaiah O’Dell ran 34 times for 170 yards and caught five passes for 94 yards. He also scored a touchdown and played special teams and defense.
Freshman Brock Schneider and sophomore Savion Thompson also scored touchdowns for the Cougars this season. They are expected to be big parts of the Cougar varsity next season, along with a host of other younger players from the varsity and junior varsity squads this season.
With nine Cougar seniors leaving the program through graduation, the remaining nine juniors, 14 sophomores, and 16 freshmen will move into the weight room, hope to recruit more of their classmates out of the hallways, and begin to prepare for the 2024 season.