The Pulaski County Cougar football team will take the field Friday to officially open the 2022 regular season. When they walk onto the surface of Joel Hicks Field, it will be against a very familiar opponent in the Northside Vikings.
Pulaski County and Northside have a long history and a lot of historic ties. Former Head Coach Jim Hickam was the head coach of the Pulaski High School Orioles their final year before Pulaski and Dublin came together to form PCHS.
The Cougars and Vikings have played each other 37 times in the 49-year history of Pulaski County High School. The Cougars have won 20 of those games. The Vikings have won 17 times. A Cougar versus Viking game is normally a tight one. The average score is just 22-14 in favor of the Cougars. In fact, three games were decided by 10 points or less and three more were decided by a touchdown. Another seven games were decided by a field goal or less. Three games were decided by just one point.
“Northside is in a transitional period and they’re making some changes to their program,” Cougar Head Coach Cam Akers said Monday. “They have some of the same issues we have in some places. Their quarterback is a freshman, but he’s a good one. They have a bunch of young players, but they’re all very eager and athletic. They’ve got some great skill kids.”
More than worrying about the Vikings, Coach Akers has concerns within his own program that he feels need to be addressed. While the film of the Radford benefit game showed some good things on each side of the ball, he was disappointed in some of the others. Not all of those things that concerned him were about playing football.
“We’re not tough enough right now and we don’t have the right mindset,” Akers said. “When you have a long drive going and you’re moving the ball, your body language should show that. When the other team has their hands on their hips and they’re showing signs of fatigue, your body language should show that too. We need to be much more physical and confident than we have been. We need to get a little more grit about us. I’m seeing an effort, but it’s not enough. We need to focus on what matters, and that’s what is taking place on the field.”
Some of the areas of concern coming out of the scrimmage were at least partially expected.
“We know our secondary has a lot of room to grow,” Akers said. “Our guys back there are athletic and some have experience, but they’re still pretty young overall. They need to grow up in a hurry. I thought our defense did a good job of stopping the run up the middle, but we can’t try to arm tackle and then miss tackles on the outside. It comes back to being more physical. We need to be tougher. We need to challenge ourselves more and expect more.”
Freshman quarterback Angel Rigney (5’10”, 170) and junior running back Tierre McGinnis (5’9”, 170) lead the offensive charge for the Vikings. The center is junior Anthony Jones (5’8”, 205). The rest of the offensive front averages around 5’11”, ranging from210 to 265 pounds. The exception is senior Marc Desir, who tips the scales at 6’ tall and 300 pounds.
The Vikings will line up in a spread and run the same offensive sets they’re run in the past, with some variations. Expect passing, slashing runs and screen plays to get the ball to their athletes.
Defensively, Desir seems to stand out as the top player again. He’ll be joined on the defensive front by senior Hudson Handy (5’11”, 265), sophomore Terry Burns (5’11”, 225) and senior Jourdan Swaine (6’7”, 255).
In their final preseason matchup last week, the Vikings fell to Liberty-Bealton 7-12 despite having almost three times the offensive output. Turnovers were a problem for both teams, with the Vikings throwing two interceptions and Liberty fumbling three times.
“We need to focus on ourselves and doing what we’re supposed to do,” Coach Akers said. “We’ve been saying we have to get better every day. That has got to happen. We know we’re a work in progress this season, but there has to be progress fast. There are little cultural changes that need to happen within our program if we intend to be successful. We’re going to address those with the players. This is a good group and I think the potential is there to do some great things, but we have got to get more physical.”
While much of the starting lineup will be similar to what was seen Friday against Radford, changes will happen.
“We want to be in competition every day,” Akers said. “We’re encouraging that. We want the best players on the field.”
Game time Friday at Kenneth J. Dobson Stadium is set for 7 p.m.