I am honored to have been asked by the Cougar Touchdown Club to provide a column for their brand new website. Each week I will do my best to get you primed and ready for the kickoff with my pre-game skinny. I will also share my thoughts straight from of the press box with a post game reaction after every Friday night battle. There will also be special features throughout the season and interviews with players and coaches to hopefully provide you with the most comprehensive coverage possible. My only hope is that I can convey something of worth to the best high school football fans in the Commonwealth.

I had the honor of playing for head coach Joel Hicks while attending Pulaski County High School in the mid 1980’s and my passion for the Cougars can be traced back to 1979. It was a special Friday evening when the cardinal and gold opened that particular campaign with a game against the Radford Bobcats that still stirs my memories. It was on this night, that coach Hicks made his debut in Dublin with a 13-0 victory over the hated Bobcats and the legend of Cougar football was officially launched. I can still see King Harvey and Anthony Young running through black and gold helmets as that team went on to a nine win season and a VHSL regional playoff birth.

And it is more than fitting that everything has come full circle as we prepare and anticipate the 2009 football season. Once again it will be the Cougars and Bobcats kicking off the schedule as fans young and old will gather to watch a classic rivalry reborn. Of course back in 1979, I had no idea that game would be the last between the old New River District rivals until thirty years later. But I am sure honored that these two teams will mark the beginning of another season behind the microphone for my alma mater.

So let’s all sit back and strap ourselves in for what will prove to be a wild ride here in 2009. The kids have worked very hard in the weight room and coach Turner and his staff have prepared even harder getting the Cougars ready to defend their River Ridge District championship. So come on Cougar Nation…Are you ready for some football!

Rick Watson.