The Patrick County High School Cougars knew that the William Campbell Generals were going to be tough football competitors— that proved correct when the Generals defeated PC 53-7 Friday night.
Speed, agility and size were the three main elements that the Cougars encountered with the host team.
The Generals scored on all seven of their possessions in the first three quarters; they failed on their last possession and were forced to punt the ball. Unfortunately, time ran out and the Cougars were unable to move the ball.
The one bright spot for the Cougars was Jacob McNulty’s 65-yard TD pass reception from quarterback Logan Hutchens. The Cougars had just received a General kickoff with them leading 27-0 when the kick went out of bounds.
Patrick County took control of the ball first-and-ten on the Cougar 35 yard line. On the very first play of the series, Hutchens dropped back and fired the pass to McNulty—who was between two General defenders. McNulty snagged the ball and ran it in for the 65-yard touchdown. Ethan Harkey’s PAT was good, putting the Cougars on the scoreboard 25-7.
The General led 46-7 at the end of the half, opening the second half with the 35-point clock running continuously.
The final score was 53-7—William Campbell.
“We knew going in that Campbell had a solid team with a great number of weapons,” said Coach David Morrison. “I was very proud of the way that our kids worked hard all night and never gave up,” he added.
“It’s very hard to replicate the type of speed that Campbell possesses in our practices, and for a lot of our guys who have been out of the game for a while, to see that type of speed for the first time is something that kind of shocked them, I think,” Morrison explained.
Fans saw additional personnel changes for the Cougars Friday night and to some extent, the “tweaks” have been “providing dividends, both offensively and defensively,” Morrison said.
“Changes we make during the game are usually made to bring a guy to the sideline and allow his position coach the opportunity to coach them up on the sideline and get them right with the game plan. Some times we have to adjust personnel during the game for a series or more if we are getting match-up problems, but most of the time we are working on coaching them up throughout the game,” Morrison said.
Morrison was somewhat happy with moving the ball “even though we were still making mistakes up front.”
“We were able to move the ball against them; our backs are hitting the holes harder, our FBs are blocking better, and our QBs are carrying out their fakes better,” Morrison said. “But we are still not anywhere close to where we could be. We have a great deal more growth potential moving forward but being able to move the ball on them even while making some mistakes means that we are on the right track,” he said.
“We are making assignment mistakes; those happen before the ball is ever snapped, so that is something that has to be addressed this week because mental errors kill a team faster than anything else. We got behind the chains a couple of times because of that and it really cost us some opportunities on a couple of drives,” Morrison said.
Harvey Lee Edwards led the Cougar offense with 12 carries for 37 yards. Derek Howard had 22 yards on five carries. Josh Baker had 18 yards on eight carries. The total team rushing was 94 yards.
Logan Hutchens was 1 for 2 passing with a 65-yard TD; Bryson Fulcher was 1 for 3 for 37 yards.
Jacob McNulty scored a 65-yard TD reception and Shemar Hill picked up 37 yards on one pass reception.
Defensively, Hunter Kenyon had eight tackles (one for a loss), Frankie LaComa also had eight tackles. Josh Baker picked up five and Jess Edwards had three tackles.
This week the Cougars travel to North Stokes to play the Vikings.
“We are going to face a North Stokes team that is going to be fired up to see us coming onto their field on Friday night. We have to stay focused on our game plan, limit our mistakes, and play faster and more aggressively on both sides of the ball,” Morrison said.
