After being twice rescheduled because of Hurricane Helene, the Patrick High Cougars hosted the Carroll County Cavaliers for a rare Saturday afternoon matchup. The Cavaliers left with the 21-0 win on September 28.
The field was in fantastic shape for the game, despite all the rain from the previous several days. The Patrick County High ground crews’ work gave the players a good surface to play on, and surprisingly solid footing.
In the first quarter, Carroll County threatened to score when they had first and goal on the Cougar one yard line. Patrick County recovered a forced fumble, ending the Cavalier scoring threat. The Cougar drive ended on an interception, keeping the game scoreless through one quarter.
The Cavaliers opened the scoring with a touchdown run on fourth down with 5:34 to go in the first half. Despite several big runs from Cougar quarterback, Avonne Kidd, the Cougars could not reach the end zone and would go into halftime trailing 7-0.
Carroll County opened the second half with a drive that took over half of the third quarter, but another forced fumble by the Cougars ended the drive. A long pass from Kidd to Jackson Callahan got the Cougars into Cavalier territory, but the drive stalled with a punt.
A long touchdown run for the Cavaliers increased their lead to 14-0. They added another touchdown in the fourth quarter and would close out the game with the 21-0 win.
“We just couldn’t keep momentum,” said Cougar head coach David Morrison. “Carroll County did a really good job of keeping us off balance. They Made plays when they needed to, and they converted an awful lot of third and fourth downs. On the other side of the football, they stopped us when they had to. That was the big thing.”
It was the first game in a while that the Cougars did not control the line of scrimmage on either side of the ball. “Hat’s off to Carroll County,” said Morrison. “They’ve got a very solid, physical, strong offensive and defensive line. We’ve got to do a better job of being able to execute when we see guys that are bigger and stronger than us. It boils down to execution.”
On offense, Avonne Kidd threw for 64 yards and added another 21 on the ground. Calvin Lancaster led the Cougars with 24 yards rushing, and Jackson Callahan finished with 52 yards receiving.
On the defensive side of the ball, Callahan had 8 tackles, including 2 for a loss and Paul Pascale added 8 tackles, with one for a loss. Josiah Spangler and Seth Geiger each had a fumble recovery.
Now 3-2 on the season, the Cougars will begin three weeks of road games with an October 4 match up at Floyd County.
