“There is no substitute for speed!” It may have been Vince Lombardi, or maybe it was Knute Rockne, or it could have been Paul Bear Bryant who said it. But whichever legendary football coach first uttered that phrase, it still rings true today. Lately, it has been Pulaski County head coach Jack Turner who has sworn by the adage after watching both Patrick Henry and William Fleming. And although his Cougars survived the Patrick Henry speed for a victory two weeks ago, the outcome was not the same for Fleming’s arsenal as the Cougars fell 35-17 on Friday night.
To borrow a cliché, the final score certainly did not indicate just how close this football game truly was on a chilly, rainy evening. There the Cougars were leading 17-14 heading to the fourth quarter and then in the span of five scoreboard minutes, it was 35-17… William Fleming. And if you blinked at all, you missed the barrage of points put up by the Colonels Devin Dean and Devin Richardson.
Dean, the junior quarterback, scored four touchdowns on the night while also racking up over 300 all purpose yards. But it was Richardson’s 79 yard scamper that sealed the win for the visitors from Roanoke as the Colonels improved to (4-0). And now somehow, the reeling Cougars (2-2) must put themselves back together and prepare for the fastest bunch of all coming to Dublin next week as Amherst pays a visit to Kenneth J. Dobson Stadium.
Through three quarters on Friday it was clear that Pulaski County was ready to stand toe to toe with the Colonels as the Cougars were winning the push at the line of scrimmage. But poor execution on offense and a very untimely turnover on special teams gave Fleming too many extra opportunities.And eventually the defense wore down because it was on the field for too many minutes. The sensational Robert Cobbs kickoff return will be remember for the bizarre ending of the play when the ball was dropped at the one yard line and recovered by the Colonels in the end zone. If the score is 28-24 after that return, who knows how things may have turned in the end.
But the truth is that Cobbs made one of the highlight plays of the season with the kickoff return and he should be commended on the effort. Coach Turner said he was not sure what had happened at the end of the play and I still am unsure myself. But one play did not decide the final out-come , it rarely does, and credit needs to be given to William Fleming for taking their opportunities and turning them into points on the road. Still, anyone who was there had to leave with the knowledge that the Cougars were close to putting all of the pieces together and very well could have won the game.
But as is the case with a team with as many inexperienced starters that Pulaski County fields, combined with the Cougars murderer’s row of a schedule, the learning curve is very steep. And make no mistake, this team will get better by playing teams like Fleming and Amherst in preparation for the very tough River Ridge District. But the in-game mistakes must be corrected and plays have to be made when the chances present themselves.
