By DOUG EADS, CJ Correspondent
Somerset — The Pulaski County Maroons are just one win away.
One win away from a regional championship.
One win away from an 18-game home winning streak.
One win away from shutting up all the ‘nay sayers’ once and for all.
Tonight’s game is for all the marbles, when the 9-3 and district champion Pulaski County Maroons host the 10-2 and district champion Letcher County Central Cougars for the Region Four championship in Class 5 A.
For Pulaski County, 2009 has been one remarkable year to say the least, regardless of the outcome of tonight’s game — a game that is arguably the most important football game in school history.
PC began the year in stunning fashion by dropping its first two games of the season on the road at North Laurel and Somerset.
And, on top of that, the Maroons lost All-State quarterback Chris Muse in the first half of that Somerset loss for the season with a knee injury.
My oh my how those days of have long since been forgotten.
PC managed to right its ship in ‘09, and became known over the course of this season as “The Cardiac Kids.”
Counting last week’s thrilling, 40-34 victory over Whitley County, the Maroons have had six of their 12 games this year decided in the game’s final minute.
Pulaski County has found a comfort zone in those type of games this season, finding ways to win coming down stretch.
Tonight, the Maroons will be gunning for their 10th win in their last 11 games, while putting a 17-game home winning streak on the line against the Cougars.
Johnny Hines for one says he’s glad he has been part of a wild and wacky ride this year as the Maroons head coach — a year he says he will never ever forget.
“I don’t like to compare teams from the past, but this has been a fun team to coach, because they’ve been so focused and worked very hard,” pointed out the PC head coach.
“The best part about all of that is we’ve had very few off field distractions, because those are the kinds of things that can really destroy a team,” Hines added. “We’ve got some very good chemistry with our team, and it’s been fun to come to work everyday with these guys and watch them get better week after week.”
Getting down to work is exactly what the Maroons have been doing of late.
Pulaski County, regardless of the scheme or opponent, has found a way to win more times than not this season.
And, in the friendly confines of PC Field, the Maroons have been simply invincible.
Pulaski County puts its three-year, 17-game home winning steak on the line tonight, facing a Letcher County Central team that hasn’t gotten on a bus that many times this season.
The Cougars have played eight home games in 2009, with the latest coming last week, when Hillard Howard’s club earned the right to meet PC tonight for a regional title, with a come from behind, 14-13 win over Harlan County.
As for PC, last week the Maroons faced an opponent in Whitley County that was a predominant running team with not much of a passing attack. That will not be the case tonight.
Letcher County Central will bring a 10-2 mark into PC Field, and the Cougars run a balanced offensive attack led by sophomore quarterback Logan Johnson.
Johnson leads the Cougars in rushing this season, as he went into last week’s game against Harlan County with 843 yards on the ground, to go along with 13 touchdowns.
Through the air, Johnson had completed 58 percent of his passes going into last week for 1,532 yards and 18 TD’s.
Headed into last week’s contest against Whitley County, the team perceived to be the toughest in its own district, coach Hines knew his club had to worry about stopping the run in order to win over the Colonels, which is exactly what the Maroons did.
This week however, the Maroons will have to stop both the run and pass if they are going to claim the first ever regional title in the program’s history.
“They’re probably a better offensive unit than Whitley County simply for that reason — they’re more balanced on offense,” pointed out Hines.
“They’ve got an outstanding quarterback,” Hines remarked. “The (Logan) Johnson kid is probably as good of a quarterback as we’ve seen all year, because I think he’s just outstanding,” stated the PC head coach. “He’s a good runner and a good passer. He’s a true double threat at quarterback. They’ve got some good receivers and some nice running backs, and they’re huge up on the line of scrimmage, so what else is new?”
While the Cougars are going to surely present Pulaski County with some problems in trying to find a way to slow down Letcher County Central’s offense, tonight’s game is certainly not going to be one sided.
On the flip side, coach Hines and crew are going to present the Cougars with plenty of problems as well when PC has the football.
And, it all starts with PC’s quarterback Zach Eastham.
Last week in the 40-34 victory over Whitley County that sent Pulaski County on to tonight’s regional championship game, Eastham set two school records along the way.
The PC quarterback completed 23 of 31 passes, with those 23 completions breaking the mark of 22 held by former Maroon QB Brett Faulkner.
And, Eastham threw for 425 yards and 4 touchdowns last Friday, which no PC quarterback had ever surpassed the 400-yard plateau in a single game until Eastham notched the trick last week.
Plus, the Maroons have a couple of other things going for themselves tonight as well.
First, it’s Letcher County Central, not Pulaski, that’s going to be making a bus ride that will be pushing the four-hour mark, as well as the simple fact this game is at PC Field to boot.
The Maroons have won 17 in a row at home coming into tonight’s game, and PC certainly doesn’t have any plans on seeing that streak snapped this evening.
Pulaski has played much better this season at home, and that’s one reason why the Maroons confidence is at an all-time high right now.
So coach Hines, is that confidence team-wide about sky-high headed into tonight’s game?
“It probably is, because we’ve had a pretty good run, winning nine of our last 10 games, other than the debacle over at Barren County,” said Hines.
“Our kids do have a lot of confidence right now, and I think you’ve got to have that to be a good football team,” Hines said. “I think that comes from guys making plays — our offensive line has continued to improve each and every week and they’ve gotten better and better in pass protection and run blocking. And, our guys love playing at home in front of our home crowd. Our home crowd makes it exciting. The band gets wound up, the cheerleaders get loud, and the student section seems to get louder and louder at each game. Our kids have a lot of confidence playing on this field, and we’ve got some kind of mojo playing here. I’m not sure what it is, but we certainly want to keep it going for at least one more game. We want everybody to wear maroon on Friday night, and we’re going to try to maroon-out the stadium.”
Kickoff for tonight’s PC—Letcher County Central football game is set to get underway at PC Field beginning at 7:30 p.m.
