BY JOHN SPARGO
The Copper Basin Cougars kicked off their 2022 football season as they traveled to Benton to take on the Polk County Wildcats with the two schools battling it out for the 55th time in their series.
The Cougars played hard all the way to the end of the football game, unfortunately coming up short by a score of 42-6.
On a cooler than usual August Friday night, the Cougars received the opening kickoff to get the game underway, returning it out to their own 38 yard line. Sophomore quarterback Cade Dean carried the ball twice for 6 yards, but Basin would have to punt the ball to the Wildcats on fourth down. Polk County started their first drive inside their own 30 yard line, and after senior Addison Hook dropped the Wildcat quarterback for a six yard loss, it looked like Basin might force a Polk punt, but on the fifth play of the drive, the ‘Cats found the end zone from five yards out, taking a 6-0 lead. After the extra point was good, Polk had a 7-0 lead with 6:48 to go in the first quarter.
Basin took over their next drive at their 15, but Polk’s defense came up with their first big defensive play of the night, picking off a Dean pass at the Basin 19 yard line. On the first play, the Wildcats hit paydirt again with a quick strike in the corner of the end zone to take a 14-0 lead after the extra point. The Cougar’s next drive ended with an incomplete pass at the 48 yard line, giving Polk good field position for their next possession with 3:24 left in the opening quarter. The 12-play drive ended with another Wildcat touchdown, this one from two yards out, extending the lead to 21-0 with 9:10 to go before halftime. After a Basin punt, the Wildcats began their next drive at the Cougar 42 yard line and started another clock-eating, old school drive. With 5:30 left in the second quarter, the ‘Cats scored again on a ten-yard run and after the extra point attempt was good, they had a 28-0 lead.
Dean got the Cougars next drive off to a good start, returning the kickoff 20 yards out to the Basin 40 yard line. He hit two consecutive passes, one to freshman Tucker Rhodes for four yards and the next to senior AJ Fitchett for ten more. A few plays later, Dean connected with Rhodes again for nine yards on fourth down, but on another fourth down, fourth and 18, his pass to junior tight end Landon Allen went for 16 yards, coming up two yards short, giving the ball back to the Wildcats. After the change of possession, Polk drove the ball down to the Cougar 21 yard line, but a huge sack by senior Joe Proffitt was followed by a Dean interception to stop the drive and end the first half.
One minute into the third quarter, Polk struck again on a 44 yard touchdown gallop, increasing their lead to 35-0 after the extra point try was good.
The Cougars started to move the ball again, this time on the legs of Hook. He carried the ball four straight plays, picking up 13 yards, but later in the drive, the Cougars gave the Wildcats the ball again after an incomplete pass on fourth down at the Polk 42 yard line with 5:27 left in the third quarter.
A ten play drive that ate up over five minutes on the clock, ended with another Cat score, a 15 yard touchdown pass to the left flat, with 15 seconds left in the third quarter. After another successful point after try, Polk had increased their lead to 42-0.
On the Cougar’s next possession, Dean found senior wideout Cadan Williams for 27 yards down to the Polk 35 yard line, but an incomplete pass on fourth down ended the drive. Hook made another big defensive play for the Cougars on first down, dropping the ‘Cat quarterback for a two-yard loss, forcing Polk to punt the ball right back to the Cougars with 3:50 left in the ballgame.
Copper Basin kept playing hard, as sophomore Hayden Deal carried the ball three times for 20 yards and Dean found Williams for another big gain of 39 yards down to the Polk one yard line. Hook cashed in from the one, scoring a touchdown on the final play of the game, and giving the Cougars some confidence heading into next week.
Head Coach Chad Grabowski obviously wasn’t happy about the outcome, but was proud of his kids for battling until the final second ran off the clock. “I was very proud of how hard they played last night and never backed down the whole game. They finished the whole game with the same effort as the start of the game and I couldn’t ask for more. We all would have loved to win that game last night but we were out-manned and just couldn’t get anything going on offense with any consistency. I think we have a good chance this week to pick up our first win of the year and get things on track with Chattanooga Prep coming into town.”
Dean was solid throwing the football, completing seven passes for 122 yards. Williams led the receivers, hauling in two passes for 66 yards, while Fitchett grabbed two passes for 27 yards, Rhodes had two catches for 13 yards and Allen finished with one reception for 16 yards. On the ground, Deal led the way with 28 yards on six carries. Hook had six carries for six yards and a touchdown.
On defense, Fitchett had a great night in the secondary, breaking up three passes and Dean had the interception to end the first half. Hook was also a big factor on defense for the Cougars, getting two sacks for minus 8 yards. Proffitt also had one sack for minus nine yards.
Copper Basin will be back at home when they host Chattanooga Preparatory School Friday, August 26. Kickoff is set for 7:30 at Copper Basin High School.