varsity.roanoke.com

DUBLIN -- Ground-and-pound.

It's a phrase you hear often in a UFC fight and it's the style of football that was played at Pulaski County High School on Friday night.

Christiansburg amassed 260 rushing yards and Pulaski netted 228, but it was the Blue Demons who ended up with the knockout punch, beating the Cougars 26-19.

Both teams had slow starts in the first half, but in the second half, both running games came alive.

After trailing 13-6 at the half, Christiansburg put together a scoring drive capped by Ryan Fisher's| 6-yard touchdown run.

The Cougars answered with a drive of their own, scoring on a Ramell Cobbs run to take back the lead.

Not to be outdone, Christiansburg's Greg Lee scored on a 4-yard run with 9:04 left in the fourth quarter.

Then, as the Cougars (2-4, 0-1 River Ridge) were coming back with a drive of their own, they fumbled with 5:13 remaining. After the Blue Demons recovered the fumble, Fisher scored from 5yards out to give Christiansburg (6-0, 1-0) the lead with 1:31 left.

A Pulaski interception on a desperation attempt from Luke Watson allowed the Blue Demons to kneel the game away.

"It was a back-and-forth game," Christiansburg coach Tim Cromer said. "We felt like we were just missing in the first half anyway.

"It was just a great ballgame by two great football teams and we feel real fortunate."

For Pulaski County coach Jack Turner, the difference between winning and losing in such a tight game was very simple.

"We were driving in to win the game and we fumbled the football. They take it down, drive it down, score and beat us. That's all it was," Turner said.

That may be the case, but the Blue Demons earned it with Fisher, Lee, and Zach Snell each rushing for more than 70 yards apiece and scoring all four Christiansburg touchdowns.

All of that was done with the help of the line, including senior Lamonte' Harrison, who has a message for the rest of the River Ridge.

"We're just showing people that we're real," he said. "They didn't think we were real in the beginning. We're showing the River Ridge that we can do it."

Christiansburg 0 6 7 13--26

Pulaski County 6 7 6 0--19

PC -- Smith 65 run (kick blocked)

C -- Snell 22 run (kick failed)

PC--Randall Cobbs 56 pass from Watson (Bralley kick)

C -- Fisher 6 run (Rasnake kick)

PC -- Ramell Cobbs 3 run (kick blocked)

C -- Lee 4 run (kick blocked)

C -- Fisher 5 run (Rasnake kick)

C PC

First downs 19 8

Yards rushing 50-260 41-228

Passes C-A-I 3-10-1 1-8-2

Yards passing 56 56

Penalties-yards 1-5 7-55

Fumbles-lost 3-1 1-1

Punts-average 3-36 5-35

Individual statistics

RUSHING -- Christiansburg, Lee 17-84, Snell 10-74, Fisher 13-72, Motley 5-27, Graves 1-3, Wills 1-1, Weller 1-1, Team 2-(minus-2). Pulaski County, Ramell Cobbs 20-86, Smith 3-71, Martin 4-36, Watson 6-32, Long 5-8, Randall Cobbs 3-(minus-5).

PASSING -- Christiansburg, Motley 2-2-0-44, Wills 1-8-1-12. Pulaski County, Watson 1-8-2-56.

RECEIVING -- Christiansburg, Tennessen 1-23, Fisher 1-21, Winkle 1-12. Pulaski County, Randall Cobbs 1-56.