Cougars Host Edmund Burke In First Round of State Playoffs

The Piedmont Academy Cougars will begin their quest for a state championship this week as they host Edmund Burke in a first-round GISA Class AA matchup.

Coach Danny Camp’s football team enters the postseason at 6-4 overall and as the No. 2 seed from Region 4-AA. The top two teams in each region earn the right to host opening-round playoff games.

Piedmont closed out its regular season last Friday falling 40-18 to Thomas Jefferson. The Jaguars are expected to make a run at the Class A state title this fall. In that game, the Cougars were unable to slow down the Jaguars running game.

“Thomas Jefferson is a good team,” Camp said. “They have a chance to win it in Class A. They ran the football at will on us running it right between the tackles. In our four losses this season, that’s where we’ve been hurt.”
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Thomas Jefferson jumped out to a 9-0 lead before the Cougars got on the scoreboard on an 11-yard run by Lance Richardson. The Jaguars simply proved too tough, however, and eventually took a 22-point win.

Despite the loss, Camp’s team had a solid offensive outing with two 100-yard rushers. Richardson finished with 107 yards on 17 carries while Justin Atkins added 135 yards on 11 attempts. Atkins scored the other Piedmont touchdown on a 16-yard run in the third quarter.
Chris Brunton added a 30-yard field goal for the Cougars.

Camp said quarterback Zac Hauther continues to make positive strides this fall. Hauther passed for 52 yards last week and rushed for 28. The coach also credited his team’s pass blocking in last Friday’s game.

Whit Morgan caught two passes for Piedmont while J.J. Tweedell had one reception. Morgan also caught a two-point conversion pass from Hauther.
Camp said he liked his the Cougars’ efforts on special teams as well.

“The game could have been a lot closer,” the Piedmont coach said. “We had some long drives that we didn’t get points on.”
Piedmont has been preparing this week for Edmund Burke, who, like Thomas Jefferson, uses a wishbone attack.

“We have to buckle down this week and stop them from running right up the middle,” Camp said. “Edmund Burke doesn’t have the speed of Thomas Jefferson, but they do play in a tough region and they have some good athletes. They will just line it up and come right at you.”
Camp said Edmund Burke runs six or seven base plays but uses several formations.

“They are a scrappy team,” the coach said. “It should be a good first-round matchup.”
The Spartans don’t have the best overall record (3-8), but they did defeat Curtis Baptist 32-6 in their final regular season contest last week.

For Piedmont, this fall has represented a strong improvement from 2004 when the Cougars went only 3-7. Piedmont is 6-4 this year and Camp, who is in his second season as head coach, said he would like for his team to go further into the postseason in 2005.