By Scott Reece

For more than three quarters, the Patrick County Varsity Football team was equal to the highly favored William Campbell Generals, until a pair of blown calls by the officials turned an exceedingly close game into frustrating defeat for the Cougars.

The game started on a promising note for the Cougars. After the defense stopped the Generals on downs, the Cougar offense took the ball inside the 5 yard before being stopped themselves on downs; however it was a sign that the underdog Cougars were up for the task. The first quarter ended with neither team scoring. Early in the second quarter, William Campbell scored on pass play on 4th down and long, and added another touchdown to make the score 12-0. That’s when the offense for the Cougars came alive.

With just a few seconds left in the half, QB Frankie LaComa threw a quick pass to WR Josh Cockham who raced down the sideline for a 62 yard touchdown that cut the score to 12-6. The team recovered an onside kick on the 20 yard line with just 3 seconds. On the final play of the first half, LaComa rolled out and again found Cockham who made a leaping catch in the end zone to tie the game up at 12-12. The Cougars went for a 2 point conversion but the officials ruled that LaComa stopped short of the goal line. The Cougars had scored 12 points in 10 seconds and were clearly pumped for the second half as they left the field to a standing ovation by the crowd.

Early in the third quarter, the Generals scored and held a 18-12 lead but the determined Cougar defense held on and keep William Campbell from scoring the rest of the quarter. It appeared a major upset was going to take place when a pair of very questionable calls by the referees likely changed the outcome of the game.

The Cougar offense was on the move late in the 3rd quarter when an incompleted pass by LaComa was ruled a fumble and the Cougars lost a golden opportunity to tie the score. Minutes later, a second call by the referees completely changed the momentum of the game. Seconds into the 4th quarter, General QB James Boyd threw a short pass to teammate Jordan Young. Young dropped the pass, but the ball bounced up and Young raced to the end zone. One official appeared to rule that the pass was incomplete while a second official signaled a touchdown. Without conferring, the play was ruled a score giving William Campbell a lead of 25-12. The two plays unquestionably broke the back of the Cougars; two late touchdowns made the final score look like a blowout.

Depsite the hard-luck plays, Coach David Morrison praised his team saying he was “proud of our boys, and effort we played with” and said the team was “coming on strong.” Morrison and his staff was very impressed with Cockham’s 2 touchdown/ 2 interception performance.

QB LaComa also said, “If we will believe in ourselves like we did at halftime…we will better for the rest of the year.”

The Cougars will try to rebound next Friday against rival North Stokes for Homecoming.