By Stephen Henderson
Last week’s Patrick County High School football game was moved up one day due to pending weather from Hurricane Matthew, but the real hurricane, the George Washington of Danville Eagles, did their fair share of damage to the PCHS Cougars with a resounding 54-0 win at Hooker Field Thursday night.
The perfect storm blew up early for the Eagles when they scored on their first possession when they drove in from the 10 for the first score and PAT with 7:33 left in the first quarter.
The Cougars were forced to punt after their kickoff reception; the Eagles moved the ball from their own 10 to the Cougar three in seven plays before diving over for their second score and a 14-0 lead.
The Eagles continued their scoring in the first half, picking up three more TDs before the half ended with GW ahead 35-0.
Just before the half, the Cougars had an offensive opportunity when Matt Amos caught a pass and moved the ball to the Eagle 45 yard line before it was fumbled away three plays later.
With the Eagles leading by 35 points, the clock continued to run for most of the second half.
The Eagles ran back the opening kickoff of the second half increasing the lead to 41-0.
On the next Cougar series, Matt Amos made a daring catch when he was almost on his back to give the Cougars a first-and-10 on the GW 33 before the Eagles pushed the Cougars back and back again, taking over the ball on a fourth down.
On the next play, GW ran the ball in for another TD.
The final Eagle touchdown came on a six-yard run, giving them a 54-0 lead and the game.
Coach Derrick Jones felt the Cougars did some good things in spots, “but it is what it is—Danville is a powerful team.”
Jones said that the team’s biggest goal was to carry over some of the things they did well into this week’s game at Bassett Friday night. “We ran the ball well—in spots, and we threw the ball. They were just better than us,” he admitted.
“Logan (Hutchens) did a good job passing with Hunter (Lawless) being out; Matt Amos stepped up doing a good job,” Jones said.
(Hunter Lawless suffered a concussion at the William Campbell game and is out for several weeks; Seth Scott fractured a bone in his right foot, sidelining him for the rest of the season.)
“With Seth Scott being out, our opposition has been matching up their best defensive back on Matt,” Jones said.
“This week we want to continue to build on what we have started, getting back to some basics. Bassett will be pumped up to play us, and we’re going to be pumped up to play them,” Jones said.
Logan Hutchens had 76 yards on four passes while Tyvin Marti picked up 75 yards on 17 carries. Senior Matt Amos added 76 yards on four receptions.
Zach Strole led tacklers with five individual tackles and one assist. Aaron Radford and Matt Amos each added four individual tackles, and Shemar Hill was 4/2. Tyler Stanley was 2/4.
The Cougars travel to Bassett for Friday night’s game against the Bengals.
