Maddox Thompson scores one of his four touchdowns for Pulaski County Friday night. (Brian Bishop/Patriot Publishing)
By TROY SARVER
Patriot Publishing
A late game touchdown pass by Tazewell put a damper on a remarkable return performance from Pulaski County’s Maddox Thompson on Friday night.
Tazewell quarterback Ty Whittaker connected with receiver Ellis Day on a 38-yard touchdown reception with 2:45 left in the game as the Bulldogs escaped with a 30-27 victory over Pulaski County at Kenneth J. Dobson Stadium.
Despite the loss, the Cougars got a stellar performance from Thompson in the backfield who finished with 123 yards and four rushing touchdowns. He was the team’s leading rusher last season, but moved out of the area in the offseason before re-enrolling into Pulaski this week.
“It was good to have him back. He was part of the program and he’s a part of it now,” Pulaski County head coach Cam Akers said of Thompson.
Thompson gave the Cougars their first lead of the night with a 45-yard touchdown run at the 5:49 mark of the fourth quarter to make the score 27-23.
After Tazewell (1-0) answered with a touchdown of their own to retake the lead, Pulaski County (0-2) had one more chance to tie or take the lead, but Thompson was stripped of the ball on a rushing attempt and lost a fumble at the Tazewell 42 to ice the game for the Bulldogs.
Whittaker had a huge night behind center for the Bulldogs going 23-for-35 for 348 yards and four touchdown passes. His first TD pass came on Tazewell’s opening possession as he hit Caden Williamson on an 8-yard touchdown pass to make it 7-0 with 8:32 left in the first quarter.
Pulaski County responded with their first score of the season on a nine-play, 67-yard drive capped by Thompson’s first touchdown of the game on a 3-yard run to tie things at 7-7 with 2:11 left in the opening quarter.
The Bulldogs dominated the second quarter outscoring the Cougars 10-0 to take a 17-7 lead into halftime.
The Cougars, however, came out strong in the second half as Rahmyene Jones returned the opening kickoff 51 yards to the Tazewell 47. Three plays later Thompson scored on a 35-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to 17-13 after a missed extra point attempt.
Four minutes later Whittaker threw his third touchdown pass of the game when he hit Chase McDonald for a 42-yard scoring strike to increase the lead to 24-13 with 6:58 left in the third quarter.
After Pulaski recovered an onside kick attempt by the Bulldogs, the Cougars took advantage of the good field position, driving 57 yards in six plays. Thompson finished things off with an 11-yard TD run at the 4:03 mark of the third to move the Cougars to within four at 27-23 setting up the exciting finish.
The win was the first for first-year Tazewell head coach J’me Harris. The Bulldogs had their open week last week.
The fact the Bulldogs were off was a disadvantage for the Cougars in their game planning, according to Akers.
“Their coaches did a good job. They had Week 1 off and they showed us some stuff that we hadn’t seen in their films,” Akers said.
The Cougars will have their open week next Friday before returning to action on September 18 when they play their first road game traveling to Moneta to take on Staunton River. Last season the Golden Eagles came to Dublin and left with a 42-21 victory over the Cougars.
Tazewell 7 10 7 6 30
Pulaski County 7 0 13 7 27
T – Williamson 8 pass from Whittaker (Galloway kick)
PC – Thompson 3 run (Flores kick)
T – Galloway 29 FG
T – Hancock 11 pass from Whittaker (Galloway kick)
PC – Thompson 35 run (kick failed)
T – McDonald 42 pass from Whittaker (Galloway kick)
PC – Thompson 11 run (Flores kick)
PC – Thompson 45 run (Flores kick)
T – Day 38 pass from Whittaker (kick blocked)
Tazewell Pulaski County
First Downs 14 8
Rushing Yards 68 226
Passes C-A-I 23-35-0 4-7-0
Yards Passing 348 43
Penalties-Yards 16-104 4-55
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-1
Punts-average 2-32.5 3-28
RUSHING – Tazewell, Hull 4-0, Whittaker 10-37, Viney 1-20, Johnson 1-2, White 2-9, McDonald 1-0, Pulaski County, Squires 5-47, Aviles 5-56, Thompson 20-123, Marshall 1-0, Akers 1-0
PASSING – Tazewell, Whittaker 23-35-0-348, Pulaski County, Marshall 4-7-0-43
RECEIVING – Tazewell, Gillispie 1-7, Day 8-105, Viney 1-4, Williamson 4-107, McDonald 6-80, Hancock 1-11, Hull 1-9, White 1-25, Pulaski County, Squires 1-24, Price 2-13, Aviles 1-6
