By Stephen Henderson
After a three-hour bus ride up Interstate 81, the Patrick County High School Cougars finally arrived at the site of the annual Riverheads High School Football Jamboree. The Cougars played Craig County and Amelia County High Schools in the scrimmage just outside of Staunton.
A total of seven teams played two 10-minute quarters of actual game action (except live punting). After the 20 minutes of scrimmage, teams were allowed 10-play sets of offensive and defensive action.
In the first scrimmage, the Cougars came out on top of Craig County, 7-0. The PC score came after a Cougar goal line standoff where Patrick County held the Rockets inside the Cougar 10 yard line and took control of the ball on their own one after failing to convert a fourth down.
The Cougar march to the goal came to life when Shemar Hill caught a 43-yard pass from Logan Hutchens. Several plays later, Hill caught an 11-yard pass for the score. Ethan Harkey was successful with his PAT.
The second time Craig County neared the Cougar goal, Shemar Hill stopped the run on fourth-and-five to return the ball to the Cougars. Time ran out before the Cougars could score again.
In the second scrimmage against the Amelia County Raiders, a much bigger team with a great deal of depth faced the Cougars.
Several big plays by the Raiders resulted in a 14-0 lead at the end of the first 10-minute quarter. The Cougars were forced to punt twice in the quarter, unable to convert third downs.
In the second quarter, Bryce Fulcher had two long distance pass completions to Jacob McNulty, but to no avail.
The Raiders won the scrimmage 14-0.
The Cougars showed a great deal of improvement from last week’s performance against Eastern Montgomery and Grayson County. “The biggest improvements that we saw from our first scrimmage was in our timing and execution on offense and overall defensive team tackling,” said Coach David Morrison. “We still have a ways to go, but in my mind, that was definitely much improved over week one, and that is a team thing—not necessarily just a unit or individual improvement but a collective improvement,” he said.
Where did most of the team’s improvement fall? “I think most of our improvements would fall in the category of effort,” Morrison said.
The primary focus of this week’s practice will be improving the offensive line and the defensive line’s execution—according to Morrison.
Morrison said there would be personnel changes after the first scrimmage. Morrison was somewhat satisfied with this weekend’s scrimmage. “I think the changes that have been made have made us a more balanced team. We will be looking to adjust some of our special personnel packages this week and hopefully solidify some of the changes that we made this weekend,” he said.
The Cougars will host Carroll County this Friday at Hooker Field. Morrison said this weeks practice will focus on having an extremely tough interior line and be disciplined defensively. “Carroll County is a team that will play you as tough as any team, and if you are undisciplined on defense, they can gouge you,” Morrison said.
This will be the first game that Morrison performs as head coach. His primary concern “is that our guys are prepared to execute the game plan and represent their school, their community and their families with pride. If they can do that, then everything else will work out fine,” Morrison said.
Friday’s game time is 7 p.m. at Hooker Field.
