Pulaski County provides test for Richlands

By MIKE DAVIS

for the Daily Telegraph

RICHLANDS, Va. — The last time the Blue Tornado took the field they pitched a shutout over the Graham to improve to 3-0 on the season.

However, there were areas that head coach Greg Mance surveyed during the game that needed work. Mance stated after the game that he liked his teams’ chances down the road, but right now they’re a wounded ship taking on water and they needed to improve.

After a week’s worth of practice, they’ll take the field again tonight against the Pulaski County Cougars.

“Pulaski is going to be the best team that comes into Ernie Hicks (Stadium/Ematz Field) this season,” Mance said. “They’re talented, they’re experienced, they have receivers that are 6 foot 2 and 6 foot 3 – they’re a very good football team.”

The Cougars come in tonight at 0-3, but according to Mance could have easily been 2-1 on the season.

“If they’d played our schedule, they’d be 3-0 (like we are),” Mance said. “They had Northside on the ropes and we think they could’ve beat them (in the second game of the season), but they had a fumble on a drive that would’ve tied the game.”

The Cougars opened their season against Radford and after sputtering with just 22 yards in the opening half fell behind in the third quarter, 13-0.

The Bobcats had kicked a pair of field goals in the first half, then, came back with a touchdown following the half-time break capping a 61-yard drive. Then, Pulaski staged a comeback and scored 12 straight points with six points in the final two quarters before time ran out.

“They’re a dangerous football team, they have a strong kicking game and they run a 3-5 defense with five linebackers that are very athletic,” Mance said. “They have a lot of speed coming out of the backfield and they’re four or five deep in that position.”

The following week, the Cougars dropped a 17-9 decision to Northside in a game that had to be played on Saturday afternoon due to a lightning delay the night before.

Northside led, 10-9, late in the game after Pulaski’s Marcus Johnston threw a 33-yard pass to Zack Akers to get within a point of tying the game. Then, a fumble with two minutes on a Marcus McClanahan run to go cost the Cougars an opportunity to tie the game.

“We saw that game against Northside and we thought Pulaski was going to tie the game,” Mance said. “They fumbled the ball on the last drive and they had a couple of turnovers, but other than that they looked good.”

McClanahan carried the ball 23 times and rushed for 120 yards against Northside for the Cougars. Last week, Pulaski lost to Patrick Henry (Roanoke), 31-7 and are looking to avenge a tough three weeks to this season.

“They’re in a must-win situation,” Mance said. “If we’d played their schedule, I’m not sure what would’ve happened. They gave up big plays to Radford, and then they should’ve beat Northside and then they played Patrick Henry.

“They’re impressive, they fly around the ball, they run a double-wing motion and they have a lot of misdirection and that’s dangerous coming off play action. They’re running the single wing, empty sets and they are very versatile on offense.”

Richlands’ Devon Johnson is still recovering from an injury in the first game of the season, but was able to run for 111 yards on just 11 carries with an 11-yard touchdown adding an element of explosiveness to the Tornado offense. Quarterback Reece Strong completed 9-of-14 passes for 106 yards for three touchdowns and kicked a 36-yard field goal.

“We’ve had a good week practice and we have to speed up the tempo of the game (tonight),” Mance said. “We’ve been coming to the sideline and we have to speed things up.”

“Devon Johnson is an all-state tailback and he’s carried the ball just 23 or 24 times this season. We’ve had two sophomores back there, Colton Staten and Frank Taylor have been doing a good job for us.”

“We’re getting close, we’re just trying to get five solid players on the offensive line. We’re challenging our kids because the young and inexperienced card has been played.

“We’re going to have to stop the penalties and turnovers and take ownership if we’re going to have a chance to win.”