By HARRISON HAMLET
(CHRISTIANSBURG, Va.) – Patrick County’s football season has been an up-and-down affair in the first month. A win over Carroll County and a heart-breaking loss to Floyd County set the stage for a trip to play in front of the raucous Christiansburg crowd on Friday night.
The Cougars’ offense produced plenty of yards, but was unable to convert enough points against the Blue Demons’ big-play offense as Christiansburg earned a 48-14 win.
“Defensively, we played well in places, but we were giving up too many big plays,” Patrick County head coach David Morrison said. “They have a big-play offense and they were able to get running backs and the quarterback to the second level of our defense untouched. Against guys that athletic, that’s a recipe for disaster.”
Morrison said the Cougars struggled on their opening possession offensively, but were able to move the ball well the remainder of the game.
Dae’shawn Penn, Will Sprowl and Carson Merriman led the offensive attack for Patrick County and the Cougars actually earned more first downs throughout the game than Christiansburg
Part of that came down to field position, a battle Morrison said his team will have to win in future games to remain in position to earn wins.
“Field position absolutely killed us,” Morrison said. “We would start our drives from the 20 and they were starting around the 40. Playing on a short field makes it stressful on your defense. We have to do a better job winning that battle.”
Patrick County gained 326 yards of total offense in the hostile environment, earning over 250 yards rushing for the third consecutive week, with Penn punching in touchdown runs of 33 and 11 yards to account for the Cougars’ scoring on the night.
“I think we moved the ball pretty well after the first drive, after feeling them out,” Morrison said. “We’re moving the ball pretty well on the ground and moved it through the air a little bit. One big pass play that got called back or we’d have even more.”
Defensively, the Cougars surrendered too many long running plays, according to Morrison, leading to big scoring first and third quarters for Christiansburg, the second of which secured the victory for the home team.
“We just didn’t hold serve well enough on defense to keep us in the game. We learned quite a bit from this game and we’re going to be heading in the right direction moving forward.”
Christiansburg, known for its rowdy crowd, produced a “big-game environment” according to Morrison, something he thinks was good for his team to experience this early in the season.
“The environment was one of the things our coaching staff was taking in before the game,” Morrison said. “I think it was really good for our kids to see and experience that. Getting that experience in a big-game atmosphere is great for our kids. The next time we find ourselves in that situation we’ll have a little bit of experience with it.”
Next up for the Cougars (1-2) is a trip across the border to play perennial opponent North Stokes (N.C., 3-1), a team Morrison said he is looking forward to seeing on Friday night.
“They’ve been winning some games and have a solid football team,” Morrison said of North Stokes. “Going down there is going to be a really good challenge for us. It should be very exciting. They usually have a strong crowd when we come down there.”
Christiansburg 48, Patrick County 14
CHS – 14 7 21 6 – 48
PCHS – 0 7 0 7 – 14