Amherst shell shocks Pulaski into submission

DUBLIN — Pulaski County’s final drive Friday night was mostly for show, used mainly to bolster stats against Amherst’s second unit. Before that 99-yard drive, there weren’t many stats to bolster.

In a 33-10 victory in what Amherst coach Cecil Phillips calls one of the three toughest Group AA venues in the state, the Lancers’ defense was downright nasty, making up for a somewhat sloppy offensive performance. The Cougars took over at their one-yard line with less than four minutes to play, and at the time, Amherst had more sacks (seven) than Pulaski had yards of total offense (four).

The Lancers blasted through Pulaski’s young offensive line all night, forcing Cougar quarterback Luke Watson into panic mode. He went down nine times in all and spent most of the night scrambling for his life.

“The dogs went hard, man,” Amherst’s Kirby Anderson said. “I give credit to Demitri Carter. He was rushing real hard out there. He was getting in there almost every play.”

Amherst (5-0) led 26-0 at halftime and held the Cougars (2-3) to minus-1 yard of total offense in the half. In fact, Pulaski’s defense outscored its offense until that final drive, as the Cougars’ only score to that point was when they tackled Am-herst’s Jamar Glover in the end zone for a safety on the first play of the third quarter.

“We’re an attacking eight-man front, and we stunt,” Amherst coach Cecil Phillips said. “We’re bringing five or six at least from all kinds of angles. I think it was a combination of the defensive linemen hitting the gaps and the offensive linemen flowing with that and the linebackers coming in and taking the open gap and putting pressure on the quarterback.”

At one point in the half, Pulaski had eight straight plays go for either a loss or no gain.

“They’re faster in person than you see on film,” Pulaski coach Jack Turner said. “They just shell shock you with their speed.”

The score could have been much more lopsided had the Lancers not struggled to hold on to the football. They fumbled once at the Pulaski 2 while driving for a score, allowing the Cougars to recover in the end zone for a touchback. Another drive stalled when a snap went way over Anderson’s head, leaving the quarterback to scramble and cover the ball for a 22-yard loss.

But Amherst did plenty offensively to take control of the game. Anderson scored on a 1-yard touchdown run and threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Chris McDaniel on a bubble screen. Devonte Brown ran six yards for a touchdown and Tyler Dawson connected on field goals of 39 and 42 yards in the first half.

The Lancers finally put the game away in the fourth on Jamal Glover’s 7-yard touchdown run with 7:28 left, giving Am-herst a 33-2 lead.

The game was a rematch of last year’s Group AA, Division 4, state semifinal, which Amherst won here 13-7. Anderson said practices were a bit sloppy this week, but that was understandable considering at least eight regulars missed time due to a flu bug that’s hitting the school hard.

Still, Phillips was happy to see his team grit out a road victory against a talented opponent, even if the Cougars are down a bit from last year.

“We had to rise to the challenge,” Phillips said. “This is a very hostile environment. They’ve got great fans. We had to match that intensity. We had to be ready to play from the first whistle.”