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Looking back on Pulaski’s ’09 season
Dan Callahan, Sports Writer
12-11-2009
It's been awhile since the 2009 football season ended for Pulaski County. It seemed like such a short season, but when you follow a 12-1 state semi-final year with a 2-8 and out, it feels that way. It's time to put a lid on the season.
Why did Pulaski County have a disappointing season in 2009? For a lot of reasons actually, but there is really no one to blame for any of those reasons. That's just the way it goes. And while people sometimes have difficulty accepting reality, sometimes the other folks are just a little better.
It was talked about way back during pre-season that it would hard to replace such an outstanding senior class that left after that 12-1, 2008 season. It was even more difficult that one could imagine. It didn't happen. Too much maturity, too much speed, too much size, too much strength, too much talent was gone from the program, and it could not be replaced in one short year, and it might take more than one year.
Then you have the schedule, arguably the most difficult ever faced by a Pulaski County team. Remember please, this is not the 80s or the 90s, this is now. Eight of the 10 opponents qualified for state playoffs, and none of them got in because of the new watered down system. Five of Pulaski County's opponents, half the schedule, played in the state semi-finals!! That's almost unheard of, and Saturday, three of those opponents played in state championship games. That amounts to the toughest schedule in the state for a team that lost 18 starting seniors from 2008. That is a system that will not work.
For the first time in my memory, and that's a few years, Pulaski County did not place a single player on the first or second team All-District football team, on offense or defense. Four players received honorable mention offensively. No player received any mention at all defensively.
As disappointing as that might be to some, it cannot be argued with. For years Pulaski County won because it ran the football, and it stopped the run. That's how you win football games. You can talk about all the fancy schemes you want to, but if you cannot run the football, and you cannot stop the run, you cannot win. That goes directly to two areas. It's called knocking people off the football, and not being knocked off the line of scrimmage. For years and years, the Cougars gave up yards in the passing game, but stopped the run, and won. This past season they gave up the most yards rushing in school history in a single season, and that's why they lost.
Six teams had running backs record career highs in rushing yards against Pulaski County in 2009. The Cougars allowed almost 300 yards a game. In 2008, the Pulaski County defense allowed the opposition barely 80 yards a game.
The passing statistics are basically meaningless. Teams just ran and ran and ran. The Cougars got knocked off the football, and that was a huge area of pride for the program, and that pride took a tough hit in 2008.
Mistakes also took a toll, a heavy toll. During the 2008 regular season there were a total of four turnovers, just one lost fumble. That's less than half a turnover a game. In 2009, there were 20 turnovers, an average of two every game, a dozen lost fumbles, and eight pass interceptions. If a team can't stop the run, and averages two turnovers a game, you might as well just hang up the equipment because you cannot win that way.
That's all the bad stuff. The good stuff? Every week, every day, after every disappointing defeat, the team returned to practice, and continued to work hard. The coaches did the same. Regardless of the record, the 2009 team worked as hard as the one before it. Usually during seasons when you can least afford it, you have sickness and injuries. Pulaski County had more than its share. There were other problems too, but the Cougars moved on, frustrated yes, but the team was prepared well by the coaching staff for each game, and always, the idea that an opportunity for victory was there.
One can be disappointed for coming up short, everybody likes to win and certainly Pulaski County football has done far more than its share of winning over the years, but sometimes it just doesn't work out. Everything was tried. This was a great season to get on the field. There were 34 different players to start a game. That is of course a problem, but it's also an opportunity, and all the playing time may well pay dividends the next season.
Everything was tried during the season. The coaches changed defenses a half dozen times trying to help find a way to slow down the opposition running attacks. There were new formations and plays added to the offense. Much of it worked too, but it just wasn't enough. You need a lot of things in place to win a football game, especially against the kind of schedule Pulaski County had to face in 2009, but the Cougars simply did not have all the necessary parts. Do the best you can, that is all that's required. There is nobody to blame. Really nothing to feel all that bad about. Sometimes the other folks are just a little better, and as frustrating as that can be, sometimes you just have to accept that fact.
But thankfully, there will be another season. The best part of Cougar football is that you get to do it every year. A proud program hurts a little bit when things don't go well, and Pulaski County is feeling a little down. Nothing wrong with that, but that will change in time. Cougar football will return in 2010, and many of the players that had to endure disappointment will be back, and want very much to change that feeling. I'm already looking forward to it.
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