By TROY SARVER
Patriot Publishing
CHRISTIANSBURG – The third time proved to be the charm Friday night for Christiansburg placekicker Mason King.
King belted a 19-yard field goal as time expired after having two previous attempts nullified due to penalties. Tthe Blue Demons won their first game of the season with a thrilling 34-31 victory over Pulaski County at Christiansburg High School.
With two seconds left King connected from 25 yards, but a Pulaski County offside penalty blew the play dead. His next attempt from 22 yards was blocked by the Cougars’ Carter Wilson, but another offsides penalty against Pulaski County gave King a third opportunity from 19 yards out.
The two teams were tied at 17-17 at halftime, but Pulaski County (2-3, 1-1) came out on fire after the break. On just the third play of the third quarter Sammy Carrasco got loose on a 68-yard touchdown run to make it 24-17.
On the night Carrasco ran for 153 yards, which was the first time this season the senior rushed for over 100 yards.
Christiansburg (1-4, 1-0) answered Carrasco’s score midway through the third when running back Trent Byrd ran up the middle on a 58-yard touchdown run to tie things up 24-24 with 5:15 left in the quarter.
Carrasco hit paydirt again on Pulaski’s next drive breaking free on a 34-yard TD run to put the Cougars back on top 31-24 at the 1:28 mark of the third quarter. The score capped a seven-play, 67-yard possession.
After the Cougars’ defense forced a punt on Christiansburg’s next possession it looked like the Cougars had control of the game, but on the first play of Pulaski’s next drive Wilson lost a fumble on a run at the Pulaski County 16.
Three plays later Christiansburg cashed in on the turnover when running back Sean McMurray scored on a 5-yard touchdown run to tie things up again at 31-31 with 9:37 left in the fourth.
The rest of the fourth was a defensive standout with each squad being held scoreless before the Blue Demons’ final drive. Christiansburg got the ball with 3:06 on the clock on the Blue Demons’ 7 after a 46-yard punt from PC punter Bryant Nottingham. Christiansburg would move 85 yards down the field in seven plays sparked by a 56-yard run from McMurray setting up the winning field goal.
McMurray finished the night with 158 rushing yards after having just one carry in the first half.
Pulaski County head coach Cam Akers expressed his frustrations with miscues his Cougars’ squad made on the night, which included two lost fumbles, a critical 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty in the fourth and a 5-yard penalty for a player not wearing a kneepad earlier in the game.
“I told them it was kneepads, fumbles, penalties and pouting is what lost us the game,” Akers said.
Christiansburg started the night with a 17-play drive that took nearly ten minutes off the clock. The Cougars stopped the possession at the PC 14, but King connected on a 31-yard field goal to make it 3-0.
Pulaski County would score on their first two possessions with Maddox Thompson rushing for touchdown runs of 2 and 47 yards respectively to make it 14-3 midway through the second quarter.
Christiansburg, however, would respond with touchdowns on back-to-back drives. Both possessions ended with touchdown receptions by Izaiah Cotto. The first was a 43-yard TD pass from quarterback Jeremiah Barnes and the second was a 22-yard connection to make it 17-14 with 1:20 left in the second quarter.
The Blue Demons, though, left Pulaski County enough time to drive down the field before the half as Nottingham connected on a 32-yard field goal as the clock hit all zeroes to make it 17-17 at the break.
The Cougars return home next Friday night to take on Graham in the first of four games in Dublin over the next five weeks. Akers said a lot of work would need to be done before Pulaski takes on the G-Men.
“Our coaches will be working really hard,” Akers said.
Game time on Friday will be 7 p.m.
Pulaski County 0 17 14 0 31
Christiansburg 3 14 7 10 34
Ch – King 31 FG
PC – Thompson 2 run (Nottingham kick)
PC – Thompson 47 run (Nottingham kick)
Ch – Cotto 43 pass from Barnes (King kick)
Ch – Cotto 22 pass from Barnes (King kick)
PC – Nottingham 32 FG
PC – Carrasco 68 run (Nottingham kick)
Ch – Byrd 58 run (King kick)
PC – Carrasco 34 run (Nottingham kick)
Ch – McMurray 5 run (King kick)
Ch – King 19 FG
Pulaski County Christiansburg
First Downs 13 16
Yards Rushing 360 277
Passes C-A-I 3-5-0 16-29-0
Yards Passing 25 202
Penalties – Yards 10-67 4-20
Fumbles – lost 3-2 0-0
Punts – average 4-44.5 3-34
RUSHING – Pulaski County, Carrasco 9-153, Wilson 9-60, Thompson 14-90, Squires 3-19, Nottingham 3-38, Christiansburg, Byrd 16-100, Barnes 3-10, Cotto 2-9, McMurray 16-158
PASSING – Pulaski County, Nottingham 3-5-0-25, Christiansburg, Barnes 16-29-0-202
RECEIVING – Pulaski County, Wilson 1-14, Carrasco 2-11, Christiansburg, Macie 5-50, Howell 4-23, Cotto 6-132, McMurray 1-(-3)
