Pulaski is still struggling through some growing pains. This team was relatively young to begin with, but they've gotten younger as the season has moved forward with sophomores and even a freshman or two making some noise on the depth chart. The seniors we have are fewer in number than normal with only eight on the team, but they are doing their best to make an impact. John Lyman, Keyontae Kennedy, JJ Gulley, Caleb Yelton, DeMarcus Hayden, Felipe Aguilar, Jack Johnson and Tyler Sutherland are all fine young men. Obviously Lyman, Gulley and Kennedy are incredible to watch.
Our junior class is solid and will lead this program to a good place next season. Trevor Burton, Cam Cooper (if he heals right), Diego Turner, Alan Fernandez and a healthy Evan Alger will shine.
Our sophomores are the ones who have me the most excited right now. Normally seeing a sophomore on the field means trouble. These guys have done a good job of handling the pressure and learning on the go. Tyler Underwood, Zack Parker, Braylon Foster, Trey Landreth, Chris Gallimore, Brett Jones and Jack Allen are all either starting or seeing significant playing time on varsity. Several of the JV players have also shown great potential.
Freshman quarterback Johnny Anderson has been a consistent performer on that JV team, along with freshmen Trevor Gallimore, Chase Lawrence, Aiden Moore and of course Nolan Dalton, who was moved up to varsity quickly. Others have also shown plenty of potential.
Our middle school team also has several players who have the potential to be real standouts. Quarterback Bryant Nottingham will kickoff, punt, placekick and either hand off, throw or run the ball on the varsity level very quickly. A crew of long and fast wide outs and running backs will be there to give him targets. Cole Boone (younger brother of Grace Boone) and a young man by the name of Silas Sweet (first real year of football, very fast and learning quickly) are exciting to watch along with power runner Kaden Hatch, among other potential big time players. Savion Thompson (write that name down and remember it) will be a monster on the defensive line along with several of his teammates.
The biggest problem for Pulaski County right now is consistency. Our line needs to perform better. Without using it as an excuse, that line has been different almost every week due to injuries. Those keep mounting up on us. As of today, our starting quarterback is out (broken collar bone) and a sophomore (Chris Gallimore) had his first varsity start Friday at qb against Hidden Valley. A freshman (Nolan Dalton) won the starting center job and was doing an excellent job, but he's out for the foreseeable future with a knee injury now. Starting tackle and defensive end (Evan Alger) is out and it's not clear when he'll be able to return. Several others are out with injuries now as well.
Coach Dixon is teaching them the right things and they are absorbing it, but it's going to be a process. Even with a new starter at quarterback and a new center and all of the others out, the Cougars still put up a good fight against one of the better Hidden Valley teams I've seen in a while. The James Wood game should have been a Cougar win and would have been if not for an extremely bad penalty administration at the end of the game. That should have been Cougar ball, take a knee twice, game over. A first sideline warning is supposed to be just that, a warning and not a 15-yard penalty.
We'll take our lumps this season, but what you won't see is our kids giving up. The young players out there now will be back and they'll be bigger, stronger, faster and smarter. The weight room is becoming the house of pain again. Coach Dixon is getting the players at a younger age. If you're going to beat Pulaski County, I suggest you do everything you can to do that this season. With that said, it still won't be a cake walk. We're going to continue to improve as the season moves along and these guys have a ton of fight in them.
Remaining River Ridge District
- Salem is Salem. After their season opening loss to Martinsburg, WV, they have won three in a row, including a win over a very much improved Christiansburg team. They'll get better as the season moves along as usual. They haven't changed much of anything since opening the school and I don't expect they will. They execute and that's what matters. They'll make their normal run in the playoffs. Anything less than a state title is considered a bad season.
- Cave Spring is going to get better, especially over the next two seasons. Don't take them for granted. As they learn their new system, things will improve for the Knights. Their new coach is putting in a very familiar system that has proven results for other programs.
- Hidden Valley is pretty good this season, but I can see them falling to at least one or two teams if they slip up even a little bit. The teams they will have the toughest time with will be Salem, PH and Christiansburg. With all of the injuries Pulaski County had Friday night, they should have won that game in a much more convincing fashion. With that said, I see them finishing with at least one loss, possibly two, and making a nice run in the playoffs.
- Patrick Henry is sitting at 4-1 with their only loss coming in the season opener to Brookville. Tough to say if they're as good as some of their past teams because of who've they've beaten so far, but they always have athletes and play tough. Their upcoming games to round out the season will tell how good they actually are.
- Blacksburg is 0-4 and struggling again this season. Losses to Giles and Grundy were particularly telling. They may be able to put some consistency together by the end of the season, but from what I see their best chance at a bit win might be against Cave Spring in the season finale. Anything can happen though.
- Christiansburg is likely one of the most improved teams in the district this season. They play hard and they've won the games they were supposed to. They destroyed Radford, something I didn't expect to see happen. The Bobcats may not be 4D, but they usually hold their own. A 63-0 win over them was much more than I expected from the Blue Demons. From talking to some of their kids on the sidelines this year at other games, they are excited and are buying in to what Coach is selling.
