Cougars Return to Action this Week

The undefeated and No. 1-ranked Piedmont Academy football team will return to the playing field this Friday as the Cougars travel to Augusta for a region contest against Westminster.

Coach Rhett Farmer said practice went well during the bye week.

“We did well because we were able to work a lot on conditioning during our three practice days,” Farmer said. “We doubled the amount we normally do. It was a productive week for us.”

Overall, the team is “pretty healthy,” at this juncture, Farmer said. Payden Cantera suffered a rolled ankle during practice last Thursday but Farmer does not expect him to miss any game action.

The Westminster Wildcats enter this week’s game playing with confidence. The team has already logged wins against David Emanuel, Curtis Baptist and Bethlehem Christian.

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“They throw the football a good bit,” Farmer said. “Their quarterback does a good job. They have a receiver who hurt us last year and he is back. They have some offensive weapons and they are going to show off several looks and formations.”

The Piedmont coach noted how much Westminster has improved this season and its wins should help give the team a new sense of confidence.

“With them throwing the football so much, it is scary,” Farmer said. “We have been trying to scout all of their sets. It takes a lot of film work to prepare for a team like this. They have experienced some victories this season which gives them more confidence than in the past.”

Piedmont will be Westminster’s toughest challenge to date. The Cougars have not scored less than 49 points in a game this season with a high mark of 68 points. The key aspect for both teams is the game marks the start of the Region 1-AA schedule.

“That makes it huge,” Farmer said. “They are for real now. We want to get off to a good start as we try to get the No. 1 seed. We always take our games one at a time and never overlook any opponent. You have to get off on the right foot in your region schedule. You certainly don’t want to have to play catch up after the first game. Our goal is simply to be 1-0 in the region after Friday night.”

Piedmont defensive coordinator Wes Tanner assessed the team’s performance to this point in the season and what needs to be done in future contests.

“We have work to be done but we are getting better,” Tanner said.

“We are starting three, sometimes four, freshmen on defense and expecting them to fill in admirably. Westminster wants to throw it all over the yard. It will be a great challenge for our secondary to step up against a quality opponent. Also, we have to generate a good pass rush to help the secondary out. It will be a challenge for us to see how we stack up against a team that is pass-first when we are so used to teams being run-first.”