Pulaski Academy’s defense not taking a backseat

For a team that’s nationally renown for its offensive prowess, Pulaski Academy’s defense has stolen a chunk of the spotlight this season.

According to Bruins Coach Kevin Kelley, that’s perfectly fine with him.

“I’m glad when people ask about our defense,” he said. “This year I will say this, I think our defense finally has gotten more notoriety than our offense, which to me, is awesome.”

Pulaski Academy (12-0) has been nothing short of awesome defensively this season, although the numbers may not show it. But teams who have played the Bruins aren’t oblivious to how tough that side of the ball has been for Kelley’s crew.

“They are really good, and they do a great job,” said Little Rock Christian Coach Eric Cohu, who’ll lead his team into a third consecutive Class 5A state title matchup with the rival Bruins today. “[Pulaski Academy] gets a lot of press and exposure for their prolific offense. I think I heard they were the No. 1 offense in the nation this year, and they do get, rightly so, a lot of attention because of that offense. But I tell you, that defense plays as hard as anybody we’ve seen.

“That’s probably been one of the unsung heroes of their program, especially this year.”

That’s saying a lot for a Bruins’ defensive unit that goes unnoticed at times because of the damage its offense inflicts on opposing teams. The Bruins lead the nation in yards per game with 572.9 and average nearly 50 points.

But Kelley admitted that he knew early on that he’d need an extra boost defensively.

“At the beginning of the year, I went to my defensive guys and said ‘guys, our quarterbacks didn’t get any development time and neither one of them started last year,’ ” he said. “I told them they’re going to be slow-developing, it’s going to take time before they figure out what they’re suppose to be doing to make fewer mistakes. [Defense] will have to be big or we have no chance, especially in our nonconference games.

“And they loved it.”

Kelley pointed toward PA’s game against Ravenwood, Tenn., as a prime example. The Raptors gave the Bruins all they could handle in their September meeting before Pulaski Academy’s defense came up with a number of plays in the second half to help pull out a 37-29 victory.

“We went down [to Raven-wood], and they just stopped us and stopped us,” Kelley explained. “They’ve got all these guys that are playing great and going to D-I schools, they’re bigger. … we couldn’t do much on offense. But [the defense] just kept coming up big.

“And then we go down to Tyler, Texas. Seven deep with Power 5 commits, you look at them and you’re like we can’t compete with those guys. I told the defense we were going to have trouble on offense, and you’ll have to find a way to come up big.”

Pulaski Academy did so, which helped springboard its run to another state-title game appearance with Little Christian, which it beat 60-28 on Oct. 23 after jumping out to a 32-0 lead in the first half.

A pair of seniors have powered a Bruins’ defense under co-coordinators Madison Taylor and Jeremy Wyatt.

Safety Josiah Johnson has recorded 162 tackles, while linebacker Futa Shinkawa has 117 stops, including 14 for losses. Junior linebacker Liam Dyck has 97 tackles, and senior linebacker Izarius Woods has 79 tackles. As a team, Pulaski Academy has registered 55 tackles behind the line of scrimmage and 19 interceptions.

Against Little Rock Christian, the Bruins will have to again find ways to slow down the Warriors trio of senior utility player Corey Platt, Jr., senior quarterback Colin Cooper and junior running back Jayvean Dyer-Jones. The three have accounted for the majority of their team’s touchdowns this season, including all four in the team’s earlier matchup.

Still, Kelley isn’t about to lose faith in his defense now, not with another championship at stake.

“I didn’t realize putting more responsibility on them would make them better,” Kelley said. “I thought not putting more responsibility on them would make them relax. But they accept that responsibility and they want it.”

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