Cougars Fall in Home Opener
A football team has to be disciplined to win and first-year Piedmont Academy coach Will Johnson said his team is not disciplined enough at this point.
As a result the Cougars fell 42-18 to visiting Thomas Jefferson Academy last Friday to fall to 0-2 for the season. Piedmont will be back on the field Thursday of this week for a 6:30 p.m. game against Westwood on the road in Camilla.
“We have been stressing discipline from the start,” Johnson said. “When you are not disciplined and you play a team that is then you get exposed.”
Despite his team not playing to its full capability Johnson said the positive side is the game with Thomas Jefferson was still a one-possession contest into the second half.
“We still have everything in front of us that we want to accomplish,” the coach said.
“The first two teams we played are ones we could see later in the postseason. We have not played close to our potential. We have to look
forward now and get ready to play again and work to keep getting better.”
In the loss to Thomas Jefferson there were some bright spots as quarterback Chris Pittman, the team’s Player of the Week, was 14-of-21 passing for 195 yards and three scores. Despite throwing the football more than 20 times Pittman did not have an interception.
“Chris was under duress all night,” his coach said. “He did not make any bad decisions.”
Owen Brady had four receptions for 50 yards and two scores. Brady, who has three touchdowns for the season, has been a key contributor at tight end, Johnson said.
Tate Marks compiled 100 yards of offense and caught a touchdown reception. Trent Coots carried the football 12 times for 45 yards and two receptions for 30 yards.
Johnson said the offense had the football in Jaguar territory six times but could only put 18 points on the scoreboard.
Defensively Luke Welch got his first start at linebacker and recorded six tackles. Johnson said Welch had a solid game after being thrown into the fire of varsity action.
Eric Tobler had another strong effort on defense with six tackles.
Piedmont will play on Thursday this week since Westwood shares its field with Mitchell County High School. Johnson said he did not want to play the game on Saturday so Thursday was the only option.
The Cougars returned to practice Sunday afternoon since everything is being moved up a day this week. Piedmont players also practiced Monday and Tuesday before having a final walk-through on Wednesday.
The team plans to leave Thursday around noon for a long trip to Camilla.
The Westwood Wildcats are 1-2 overall with a win against Pataula Charter Academy and losses to Brookwood and Robert Toombs.
This week’s opponent does not have a large number of players on its roster but Johnson said the Wildcats play a hard-nosed brand of football and give a maximum amount of effort.