Last Thursday’s season-opening loss to West Marion didn’t go entirely well. Sure, there were some bright spots throughout the night, but for the most part, the Bobcats were dominated.
The good news, however, all PCS needs is more experience, because the players didn’t give up even though the Trojans held a four-touchdown advantage at the end of the game.
There’s only going up from here.
“We played hard,” PCS coach Derek White said. “We’re young, inexperienced but we’re getting better. We got better as the game went on. We have to produce a little more on offense, but we’re going to get there. We have to keep working to get better every day, and I think we’ll see us improve from Week 1 to Week 2, and hopefully from Week 2 to Week 3.”
West Marion jumped up quickly, and it took a couple of series for the PCS defense to find its footing. The unit settled in after allowing two touchdowns in the first quarter and played well.
The only touchdown PCS happened on a fumble recovery on defense by sophomore John Runnels.
“I saw a lot of kids who fought hard who didn’t give up,” White said. “Defense played decent and they played bright in a lot of spots, considering they played a lot of snaps.”
The Bobcats’ offense, however, spun their wheels the entire game with only two first downs and 44 yards of total offense. White believes the more those inexperienced players play, the more they’ll get better.
“It’s going to be just experience,” he said. “You only have one guy on that offense who has real playing time, so you have 10 guys who haven’t played in a real live football game at a varsity level. It’s a lot faster. We just have to do better, get the experience and keep working to find out what we can do well and hone in on that. Just keep grinding away and do better.”
This week, PCS is set to play its first home game Friday with a 7 p.m. kickoff with Columbia Academy. The Cougars are coming off a 15-14 loss to Silliman Institute.
Junior quarterback Ras Pace passed for 138 yards, a touchdown and an interception on 12-of-24 passes, and junior Riles Stuart led the team with 71 rushing yards on 15 carries. Sophomore Robert Johnson had a big game at receiver, grabbing six passes for 96 yards and a score.
“They have a really well-coached football team,” White said. “They do a lot of stuff, they’re very physical and sound in what they do. They present a lot of problems. They’re very big up front but they do a good job at what they do and they do it well.”
Defensively, Columbia Academy had three players record double-digit tackles, and as a team, it had three sacks. When White watches the Cougars on film, he sees a defense that doesn’t beat themselves.
“In high school football, a lot of times your offense is going to mess up,” White said. “It takes timing to get better on offense. They’re a bend--but-don’t-break (defense), they make you beat yourself and they’re not going to let you beat them.”
