By Stephen Henderson
With the way the Patrick County High School Cougar defense looked in the opening moments of Friday night’s varsity football game at Tunstall, one would have thought the final score—35-13 in favor of Tunstall—would have been much closer.
However, a huge Trojan front defensive line kept the Cougar outside running game at bay much of the night. The Cougar passing game stalled because it was necessary to get rid of the ball quicker because of the tough rush.
Tunstall received the opening kickoff and moved the ball from their 41 yard line to the eight yard line. After three attempts to move it into the end zone from the eight, the Trojans opted to kick a field goal—which failed.
Patrick County took over on their own 20 yard line. A 20-yard reception by Colt Martin and a 20-yard run by Tyvin Martin set up Patrick County’s first score. Logan Hutchens dug his way to the end zone on a one yard run for the six points. Ethan Harkey’s PAT attempt was fumbled on the hold and failed. The Cougars lead 6-0 with 4:35 left in the first quarter.
Unfortunately, the Cougars would not score again until 1:26 remained in the game.
The Cougars failed to make good on a Trojan turnover late in the first quarter when Aaron Radford jarred loose a Tunstall pass reception and Shemar Hill recovered it and ran to the Cougar 45. Penalties and failed option plays forced the Cougars to punt the ball. The Trojans went from their own 25 to the goal line in nine plays to take the lead 7-6 with 6:41 left in the half.
Patrick County failed to move the ball in the next series and was forced to punt from their own 11 yard line.
A 65-yard Trojan run set up the one yard TD run for Tunstall with 3:08 left in the half.
For the next three possessions, the Cougars were forced to punt. On the last one, the Trojans ran the ball back for a touchdown but the run was called back for a Trojan personal foul. Two plays later, they ran it in from the Cougar 45 for a TD. The score was 21-6 with 3:23 left in the third quarter.
The next Trojan score came with just under five minutes left in the game when they moved the ball up the field from the Tunstall eight for the score. A two-point conversion was good, adding to the lead, 29-6.
Two minutes later, Tunstall scored on a 36-yard sweep around the left side. The score was then 36-6.
The Cougars received the kickoff on their own 25 and moved the ball to the Tunstall 36 when Logan Hutchens scrambled in for the score with 1:26 left in the game. Harkey’s PAT was good.
The final score was 36-13.
“I thought we did a good job meeting the physicality of Tunstall’s front line tonight,” said Coach Derrick Jones. “They did shut down our outside, but I’m proud of the job our kids have been doing, building on last week.
“If we build on this week, we can do a lot of damage for the rest of our schedule,” he added.
One thing Jones felt good about was the new option system the team has been building on for the past few weeks. “We are getting better and better,” he said.
The pressure that the big Tunstall front line put on Cougar quarterbacks forced them to throw quicker. “We need to improve on our passing game; we need to get that ball out quicker,” Jones said.
“We are not giving up,” Jones said about the final score in the game. “They played hard. This is the first game that we have been in the game for the majority of the game.”
Tyvin Martin had 102 yards rushing on 16 carries and 34 yards on one pass reception. Logan Hutchens added 23 on seven carries while Colt Martin had 22 yards rushing and 34 yards passing.
Zach Strole led the defense with nine tackles and two assists. Seth Scot was 6/4 and Shemar Hill was 4/3. Aaron Martin had four tackles and Tyvin Martin was 4/2.
The Cougars travel to William Campbell for this week’s game.
