LANDRUM – At one point last Thursday evening, Jason Farmer’s glum expression said all one needed to know about the Landrum/Pendleton football game at Cardinal Stadium. 

Following the 37-0 loss to the Bulldogs, Farmer, Landrum’s head coach, had nothing to say but he was obviously disappointed when his team came up empty, after edging a very good Blacksburg squad six days earlier.

 Landrum and Pendleton had each entered the game at 4-5, but in different regions, though both have faced tough opposition in their respective circuits.

 Brad Johnson, Pendleton’s fine fullback/defensive end, had already gotten the attention of Cardinal head coach Jason Farmer, but Johnson, who has already received some 15 college offers, only cemented that judgment when he helped lead Pendleton over the Cardinals on Thursday, Nov. 3 in a game originally slated for Oct. 21.

 On a night when little went the Cardinals’ way, except for keeping Johnson from breaking the game even further open, much went the Bulldogs’ way. One was a safety they earned when a punt bounced off a Landrum player, and into the Cardinal end zone, where a Pendleton player covered the ball.

 Neither team demonstrated particular skill in making fairly long field goals, with two Bulldog attempts falling well short, while Landrum was 0-for-1, also on a too-short boot. 

At the half, Pendleton had accumulated a 23-0 lead, not insurmountable, but the Bulldogs kept scoring, and kept the Cardinals from doing the same. 

Landrum’s next game is at Saluda, S.C., when the Cardinals meet the 9-1 Tigers in the first round of the state AA tournament.