Saturday, October 18, 1997
Cooper 17, Permian 14By LANCE FLEMING / Abilene Reporter-News
ODESSA -- Cooper's Peter Abrigg kicked Cooper one step closer to a District 4-5A championship Friday night, and at the same time just might have booted Odessa Permian out of the playoff picture.
Abrigg's 39-yard field with four seconds left gave the sixth-ranked Cougars a 17-14 win over Permian and their first-ever victory over the Panthers at Ratliff Stadium.
"That was a great, heart-stopping victory," Cooper head coach Randy Allen said. "I guess the only thing better than beating Permian last year is beating them two years in a row."
The victory pushes Cooper to 6-1 overall and 3-0 in district play with Midland High, San Angelo Central and Odessa High left on the schedule. Permian, meanwhile, falls to 3-4 and, more importantly, 1-3 in district play with Midland Lee and Abilene High left on its schedule.
Friday's loss means the Panthers will finish with three or more district losses for the first time since 1964.
Cooper trailed throughout the game until it finally got the game tied at 14-14 midway through the fourth quarter. Robbie Johnson made it a 14-12 game with a 2-yard touchdown run, and the Cougars tied the game when backup quarterback Dowell Loggains -- subbing for the injured Brandon Stover -- threw a two-point conversion pass to defensive tackle Kevin Stevenson.
The touchdown was set up when Permian punter Jimmy White was forced to throw an incomplete pass when a bad snap on a punt attempt kept him from getting a punt off.
Both teams got the ball again before Cooper began its game-winning drive. Permian's offensive possession did nothing, and the Cougars played it perfectly, stopping the clock after three running plays to give the offense one last chance.
Johnson -- who was heroic with 168 yards on 32 tough carries -- got an 11-yard punt return to the Permian 38-yard line, setting the Cougars up with 14 seconds left in the game. Loggains then threw a strike to Jesse Sharp on an out route, who caught the ball and stepped out of bounds at the 22-yard line with nine seconds to play.
"We were just trying to get about 20 yards and get out of bounds to get the kick off," said Loggains, who completed 9 of 17 passes for 130 yards. "We gave Peter a chance to kick it and he got it."
Abrigg's kick from the right hashmark was a low, line-drive knuckleball that split the uprights. When the officials threw their arms up to give the signal the kick was good, it set off a wild celebration on the Cooper sidelines.
Permian ran off one more play, but it amounted to little and the Cougars celebrated their second straight win over the Panthers.
"The kick was a little ugly, but I'll take it," said Abrigg, who also kicked field goals of 23 and 28 yards. "It was a good snap and good hold, and it felt good when I kicked it. I was fairly calm when I went out to kick it. I knew what the stakes were, and I was glad I was out there to kick the ball."
Cooper broke down offensively inside the Permian 10-yard line on both of Abrigg's field goals and were forced to take a 7-6 deficit late into the third quarter.
The Panthers went ahead 14-6 when sophomore Roy Williams caught his second touchdown pass of the night, this time a 14-yarder from Casey Waite with 34 seconds left in the third quarter.
Outside of that, however, the Panthers did little offensively, especially in the second half.
Instead, the Cougars concerned themselves with turning the field position game around and waiting for the Panthers to crack.
And they did when White's punt attempt midway through the fourth quarter never got off and the Cougars moved downfield for the game-tying touchdown.
"We were trying to get ourselves out of the bad field position we had throughout the first half," Cooper head coach Randy Allen said. "When you look at our field position in the first half, we were having to continuously drive the ball 80 yards, and that's tough to do against a good defensive team.
"But we got our break on the punt, and we got what we needed," he said.
Permian got on the board first on its initial drive of the game, going 60 yards on nine plays to a 4-yard touchdown pass from Waite to Williams. The Panthers mixed some trickery into the drive when White threw to Williams for 14 yards on a fake punt.
Cooper couldn't seem to get untracked offensively on its first three drives, but Abrigg saved his team from digging a deeper hole when he intercepted a Waite pass in the end zone that was intended for Williams.
The Cougars finally mounted a drive late in the first half, moving 74 yards on 11 plays to Abrigg's 23-yard field goal. Johnson had a 19-yard run on the drive, and Loggains ran for 15 yards and threw for 15 to Mark Rau to keep the drive moving.
Cooper went into the halftime lockerroom trailing 7-3, but still very much in the contest.
"Permian had a lot of adrenaline coming out, and they threw a couple of gadgets at us and we were still there," Allen said. "I thought we would turn it around in the second half and get the breaks we needed, and we did.
"I'm so proud of our team for hanging in there and picking up the slack where it was needed," he said. "I guess the thing we have now on this team is that we've been in enough big games that we're able to keep our confidence and poise when things get tough."
And it all added up to one of the biggest district victories in school history.
"This is a night," Loggains said, "that I'll remember the rest of my life."
Cooper 0 3 3 11 --17
Permian 7 0 7 0 --14
SCORING SUMMARY
PHS -- Roy Williams 4 pass from Casey Waite (Jimmy White kick)
CHS -- Peter Abrigg 23 field goal
CHS -- Abrigg 28 field goal
PHS -- Williams 14 pass from Waite (White kick)
CHS -- Robbie Johnson 2 run (Kevin Stevenson pass from Dowell Loggains)
CHS -- Abrigg 39 field goal
Cooper Permian
First downs 16 11
Rushes-yards 39-180 30-102
Passing yards 130 110
Comp-Att-Int 9-17-1 9-19-1
Punts 5-39.6 4-50.8
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 4-30 2-10
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- Cooper: Robbie Johnson 32-168, Dowell Loggains 6-14, Richard Rodriguez 1-(-2). Permian: Koefie Powell 11-45, Chris Murry 11-35, Casey Waite 3-(-3), Justin Cooper 5-25
PASSING -- Cooper: Loggains 9-17-1, 130 yards. Permian: Waite 7-15-1, 64 yards; Jimmy White 1-2-0, 14 yards; Roy Williams 1-1-0, 32 yards; John Johnson 0-1-0.
RECEIVING -- Cooper: Mark Rau 2-31, Jesse Sharp 2-30, Andy Rogers 2-38, Robbie Johnson 2-31. Permian: Williams 5-45, Chad Bell 2-37, Jimmy Sheen 1-11, Murry 1-14