Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 26, 1994 TAG: 9411280061
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG LENGTH: Medium
It was the same result by nearly the same score as the first meeting, but this time Pulaski County was a lot closer to E.C. Glass.
The Hilltoppers held off the rallying Cougars, then put them away with a couple of long runs by quarterback Andre Kendrick to win 21-6 on Friday night in the Group AAA Northwest Region Division 5 football championship game.
Early in the season, Glass (11-1) stopped Pulaski County 14-6 in Dublin in a game that wasn't as close as the score.
This one would have finished with the same score except that Kendrick scored a meaningless touchdown with 23 seconds left when the Cougars (10-2) failed to convert on fourth down deep in their own territory.
The Hilltoppers took control when Kendrick dashed 25 yards to get them out of a hole when they started from their 10-yard line midway through the fourth quarter. Two plays later, he went around right end and scored on a 64-yard touchdown run as Glass took a 14-6 lead that blunted some momentum the Cougars had built with two second-half field goals by Shayne Graham.
``The first one was a sprint-out pass,'' Kendrick said. ``It [the run] was wide-open. The coaches told me to take off. I got a couple of blocks to get out of the slouch [bad] place we were in.''
Then came the long run.
``I cut it up, saw the hole and ran as fast as I could,'' Kendrick said. ``I just prayed I'd get to the end zone.''
Bo Henson, the Hilltoppers' coach, breathed a sigh of relief because Pulaski County had beaten Glass in the teams' past three meetings in Lynchburg and no team had ever done that to one of his squads. He also knew Graham, arguably the state's best kicker, was waiting for a third field-goal opportunity.
``We came out in the second half and had a couple of off series. Pulaski County was drooping at the half, but then they got added energy and that field-goal kicker can hit them from way back here,'' said Henson, who was standing near midfield and pointing behind himself.
The turning point came after Graham had hit field goals of 30 and 22 yards to bring the Cougars to 7-6. Pulaski County's defense stopped the Hilltoppers, forcing a punt that gave the Cougars possession at their 41.
``All we were looking for was three points,'' said Joel Hicks, Pulaski's coach. ``Then, we might have won.''
The Cougars picked up a first down, but their offense sputtered and they had to punt. The kick by Travis Hodge was his best of the night, but Kendrick ran Glass out of trouble.
``We hadn't put points on the board like we should have in the first half,'' said Kendrick, referring to three squandered opportunities - two of them halted by Tim Davis' interceptions. ``The defense was worn down a little while and we got down a little bit.''
Said Hicks: ``We just couldn't move it, take it in on Glass. We don't have the big back. We played as hard as we can, but it makes you look bad when you can't block them and you don't have a big back [to run over them].''
Before Graham's first field goal, the Cougars drove from their 46 to the Glass 15 and failed to pick up a first down. The march was aided by a 15-yard penalty.
The second field goal was set up when Davis returned a punt from the Cougars' 46 to Glass' 22, thanks to a super block by Brian Queen. Again Pulaski picked up a first down, but then quarterback Andre Eaves' pass intended for Eric Webb in the end zone was tipped away by the Hilltoppers' George Brown.
The loss was the final game for the first senior class that used the wing T offense Hicks installed four years ago. Eaves and Webb were freshman defensive starters and have been a big part of the offense the past three years as Pulaski County has won a Group AAA Division 6 title, played in another championship game and gone 44-7.
see microfilm for box score
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.