On Friday night, the Pulaski County Cougars (2-7,0-4) will end their regular season when they travel to Salem Stadium to battle the undefeated Spartans. The Cougars have lost their last six consecutive games and are coming off their worst performance of the season last week in a 34-3 loss to Blacksburg. Salem (9-0,4-0) enters the game as the top ranked team in the Region 4, Division 4 playoff standings and are coming off their fifth shutout of the season. Last week, the Spartans stopped Hidden Valley and tailback David Williams 28-0 and they have not forgotten about losing to the Cougars twice in 2008.

 

There is not much else that can be said for the debacle of last week\'s Kenneth J. Dobson Stadium finale. The Cougars were steamrolled by the Bruins on both sides of the football and there never was a feeling that the game would ever favor Pulaski County. All of the credit in the world goes to Dave Crist and the Blacksburg football team but the Cougars seemed flat and not very interested in sending the senior class off with a victory. And the result left the Cougar Nation scratching their collective heads as now the coaching staff has to get this team ready one more time against what may be the most well rounded opponent it has faced.

 

Salem has been remarkable this season, especially on defense where they have not allowed a single point to be scored by any team at Salem Stadium. Head coach Stephen Magenbauer has been very honest about how his team has used last year\'s 38-0 defeat to Pulaski County in the regional finals as motivation for 2009. Junior quarterback Adam McGarrell has been outstanding, throwing for 1250 yards and 11 touchdowns. The Spartans have three running backs in Kirk Coles, Daniel Dyer, and Adam Collie that have combined for over 1200 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns. Coles, Salem\'s top rusher, missed the Hidden Valley game due to injury, but the offense still put up 21 points in the first quarter against Hidden Valley. Stephen Barnette is Salem\'s best receiver (32 receptions) and they also utilize Anthony Tolliver and Stephen\'s twin brother Reggie consistently in the aerial attack.

 

But it is Salem\'s tremendous defense that has dominated its opponents all season. The only team that has had any success against the Spartans defense was Christiansburg who lost to Salem 45-43 in triple overtime two weeks ago. But even then, the Blue Demons gained less than 250 total yards in the game as the Salem offense found a way to score enough points to notch a huge road victory. Linebacker Seth Fisher leads the (5-3) attack as the Spartans leading tackler. Salem flies to the football and thrive on their ability to create turnovers and positive field position for the offense. In their two wins against the Spartans last season, Pulaski County rushed for 665 yards while piling up 72 points but the Cougars will find it much tougher this week to move the football against Salem.

 

Pulaski County is basically playing for pride entering the annual rivalry game and they need to change an environment of losing that has haunted the club for nearly two full months. The offense could not create much in the way of yardage against Blacksburg, nor could it sustain any drives throughout the night. Head coach Jack Turner knows his offense has had success in past seasons against the Spartans so there is hope that some momentum can be created on offense again in this year\'s game. But make no mistake about it, for the Cougars to win, they will have to play a mistake free game and then hope that Salem makes uncharacteristic mistakes with turnovers and penalties. Salem has been a well oiled machine in 2009 and Pulaski County hopes to throw a wrench into the engine and a victory against the Spartans would salvage what has been a very disappointing campaign.

 

The Cougars lead the overall series (18-16) after their two victories a year ago. This game usually is played with much at stake for both teams in the way of district titles or playoff births but this season is the rare exception where there is nothing but pride and perfection as the primary motivation. The Salem seniors have talked a lot about redemption against Pulaski County after the losses in Dublin a season ago. The Cougars are hoping their redemption for a sour season comes as a result of what would be considered the biggest upset of the season in Southwest Virginia.