Folks dubbed it "The Battle of the Bridge" and indeed last Friday\'s Pulaski County and Radford tussle proved to be a battle to the bitter end. The Cougars 19-7 opening night victory was hard fought and emotionally challenging. And after thirty years of anticipation Pulaski County and Radford put on a terrific show for the reported 10,000 spectators and the 2009 high school football season opened in grand style.

Luke Watson, the Cougars senior quarterback started the fireworks with a picture perfect 50 yard touchdown connection to Robert Cobbs on a third and nineteen. From there the Pulaski County defense dominated the rest of the first half,, shutting down Radford\'s Dontae Carter and the Bobcats offense. A Randall Cobbs run of 17 yards gave the Cougars a 13-0 lead heading into halftime but you got the sense that the Bobcats were still very much in the football game and Dontae Carter delivered on the hunch in the third quarter.

Carter\'s ten yard pass to Michael Goodman shaved the Cougars lead to 13-7 with just under 5:00 minutes left in the frame.  But a couple of dropped passes and a ferocious Pulaski County defense would ensure that the Bobcat\'s would not challenge for the lead. The only scoring in the fourth quarter came from the toe of Matt Songer, who nailed two field goals for the final margin of victory.

Being the first game, the most important goal was to win, which Pulaski County accomplished. But at the same time,  many of the concerns that Coach Turner expressed came to light as the offensive line struggled at times and there were far too many penalties, even for a first game of the season. With the schedule being as tough as it is, the learning curve has to be quick and that is what the coaching staff has been working on this week in practice. The players know that there is improvement to be made and they are working very hard to correct the mistakes committed against the Bobcats.

This Week, the two game road trip to start the 2009 season continues with a bus ride to Roanoke for a huge early season clash with the Northside Vikings. Coach Burt Torrence told me that this a team he has been gearing up to coach since he tool over for Jim Hickman. The Vikings are loaded with talent, experience, size, and tremendous speed.  To say that the task will be daunting for the young Cougars would be an understatement. But then again, there is no one in Dublin who thinks that Pulask County cannot win the football game if they can improve and execute much better than they did last Friday.

One thing is for sure,  it will be a terrific early season match-up that will tell us a whole lot about the Cougars and where they stand as we enter September.