By Stephen Henderson
The Patrick County High School Cougar football team just could not get its offense headed in the right direction long enough to reach pay dirt and the end zone in Friday’s game at Bassett. The Bengals defeated the Cougars 35-0.
It looked like the Cougars could score early in the game when they moved the ball from their own 28 yard line on the opening kickoff to the Bassett 11 before having to give up the ball on downs.
Three plays and three first downs later, the Bengals completed a sideline pass and ran the ball in from 32 yards out for their first score.
Once again, the Cougars failed to covert a fourth down and turned over the ball on the 38 yard line.
The Bengals completed a touchdown pass on first play of the second quarter for the second score of the game.
A series of penalties against the Cougars on their next possession forced a punt.
Six plays later, the Bengals were in the end zone and leading 21-0 with 7:49 left in the half.
Bassett’ own recovery of their on-side kick resulted in another score with 5:05 left in the half.
The Cougars pounced on Bassett’s next on-side kick and started moving the ball downfield before a Cougar pass was intercepted on the five yard line.
On the next series of plays, the Bengals had two TDs called back due to penalties.
The half ended with the Bengals leading 28-0.
The call was made that the Bengals recovered their own on-side kick in the opening of the second half, and the Bengals made the score 35-0 several plays later with 10:33 left in the third quarter.
According the VHSL rules, the clock continued to run for the remainder of the game. Neither team made a serious threat, trading possessions on fourth down situations.
At one point during the game, Coach Derrick Jones was heard saying, “It’s painful to watch us on defense.”
The “big play” was the name of the game that made Friday night tough for the Cougars. PC and Bassett had roughly the same yardage on the ground, but the Bengals had an additional 134 yards in the air that made the big difference.
The Cougars suffered several injuries Friday night, including shoulder injuries to both Tyvin Martin and Matt Amos.
To make up for Martin’s absence from the action, Zach Strole put on jersey #46 at the half to run in the backfield. He added 29 yards to the Cougar offensive total of 176 yards rushing. Martin picked up 68 yards before leaving the game, and Tyler Stanley added 40 yards.
Logan Hutchens was 0/5 passing on the night.
Zach Strole had eight tackles against the Bengals; Aaron Radford collected six. Shemar Hill added four with one assist, and Tyler Stanley had three.
At the end of the game, Coach Jones express his pride in the players Friday night. “They didn’t roll over—they didn’t give up,” he said. “We had a number of injuries, and guys were trying to step up and fill the spots—they did a good job,” he said.
“We were just very limited tonight,” he said. ”It was what it was.”
This week the Cougars travel to Magna Vista to play the Warriors at 7 p.m.
