Saturday, October 25, 1997
Cooper 23, Midland High 21By AL PICKETT / Abilene Reporter-News
The Cardiac Cougars did it again Friday night.
For the second straight week, Dowell Loggains and Peter Abrigg worked their magic and Cooper pulled out a victory on a field goal in the closing seconds.
Abrigg booted a 21-yard field goal with seven seconds left to give the Cougars a heartstopping 23-21 win over Midland High at Shotwell Stadium.
"Hopefully, there won't be many more like that," said Abrigg, who kicked a 39-yarder with four seconds left last week to beat Odessa Permian.
Cooper coach Randy Allen wouldn't mind, however.
"These kind are fun when you win," he said. "You find out a lot about your football team when you put them behind the 8-ball. The most pleasing thing is our guys can do the things they have to win games. They look forward to doing it. There was no panicking. I'm so proud of them."
The victory keeps Cooper (7-1) tied for the District 4-5A lead at 4-0. Tough-luck Midland High falls to 1-7 overall and 0-5 in district, where three of their five losses have been by four points or fewer.
Cooper's band performed a Halloween show at halftime, but the biggest scare of the night was the one the Bulldogs threw into the sixth-ranked Cougars. Midland recovered a fumble deep in Cooper territory and turned it into a go-ahead touchdown with 1:11 left to play.
But Loggains, the 5-7 junior quarterback filling in for the injured Brandon Stover, engineered his second game-winning drive in as many starts.
"It feels great to win, but that was a little too close," said Loggains, who completed 13 of 20 passes for 191 yards.
Cooper's game-winning drive began on the 36-yard line, but four plays later the Cougars were facing fourth-and-two at their own 44.
Loggains tried a short pass to Adam Riddle. Midland cornerback John Reyes broke up the pass, but Reyes was flagged for interference.
"He hit me early," Riddle said. "When I caught the ball, he was already on top of me. I didn't want to drop the last pass."
The fourth-down penalty gave Cooper a first down and kept the drive alive. The Cougars then marched to the Midland 30, but again faced fourth-and-six with just 17 seconds remaining.
Allen, thinking a 47-yard field goal was probably out of Abrigg's range, rolled the dice and went for it on fourth down. Riddle, running an out route toward the right sideline, caught a pass from Loggains, stepped out of the tackle by Reyes and tightroped his way down the sideline.
He danced into the end zone, setting off a wild Cooper celebration. But the trailing official said Riddle had stepped out of bounds at the 4-yard line.
"It was an out route," Riddle said. "We had run it four times on the drive and completed three of the four. I caught the ball and (Reyes) flew right by me. I thought he was going to tackle me out of bounds. I thought I had a touchdown, but when we were celebrating, someone said I had stepped out of bounds. But we won, that's all that matters."
With 10 seconds remaining, Cooper didn't try another play, instead sending Abrigg out to try the game-winning kick. After a Midland timeout to try to ice him, Abrigg split the uprights for his second straight game-winning field goal.
"I just tried to stay relaxed and do what I have to do -- concentrate on the tee, kicking my foot through it and watching it go through the uprights," Abrigg said.
Cooper led 14-7 at halftime, but Midland scored on the second play of the second half when Shemond Davis, who rushed for 191 yards on 16 carries, took a pitchout from quarterback Camar Jackson and raced 70 yards for a tying touchdown.
The Cougars had plenty of opportunities to put the game away in the second half but couldn't put it into the end zone.
Cooper drove to the 1-foot line on its next possession, but Robbie Johnson fumbled and Weldon Cooks recovered at the 4-yard line for the Bulldogs.
The Cougars scored on their next two possessions on field goals of 24 and 23 yards by Abrigg.
The Cooper defense, led by defensive end Charlie Andrade who recorded a couple of key sacks, shut down the Midland attack which had given them trouble all night.
With 3:28 remaining in the game, however, Johnson fumbled and Zach Davis recovered for Midland at the Cooper 20-yard line.
The Bulldogs then drove for the go-ahead touchdown, scoring on fourth down from the 1-yard line with 1:11 to go. Davis took a pitchout and swept right end for the touchdown. Preston Reeder's PAT kick gave Midland a 21-20 lead, setting the stage for game-winning drive for Cooper.
Loggains, who started at quarterback, led the Cougars to a touchdown on their second possession of the game. A third-down, 39-yard pass to Jesse Sharp was the key play on the drive, and Johnson did the rest of the damage on the ground, carrying five straight times for the final 36 yards. Johnson scored on a 3-yard run with 11 seconds left in the first quarter.
Jeremy Janssen, playing the second period at quarterback, took Cooper on a 6-play, 97-yard scoring drive. On his first varsity pass, Janssen and Mark Rau hooked up on a 75-yard play. The long bomb was tipped but Rau made a juggling catch and carried it all the way to the 10-yard line. Two plays later, Janssen fired a 10-yard strike to Sharp for the touchdown.
In the final minutes of the half, however, Midland went 80 yards for a score. Ryan Stewart came out of the backfield and caught a 2-yard pass from Jackson, who rolling out to his left, threw for the touchdown with 19 seconds remaining in the half.
"I couldn't be happier with the efforts of our kids," Midland coach David Browning said. "I said we had to play a perfect game to beat Cooper. We just had too many mistakes in the first half. But we're a lot closer to winning games than in the past. We just have to find a way to win one. When we do, the sky will be the limit."
Midland High 0 7 7 7--21
Cooper 7 7 3 6--23
SCORING SUMMARY
Cooper -- Robbie Johnson 3 run (Peter Abrigg kick)
Cooper -- Jesse Sharp 10 pass from Jeremy Janssen (Abrigg kick)
Midland -- Ryan Stewart 2 pass from Camar Jackson (Preston Reeder kick)
Midland -- Shemond Davis 70 run (Reeder kick)
Cooper -- Abrigg 24 field goal
Cooper -- Abrigg 23 field goal
Midland -- Davis 1 run (Reeder kick)
Cooper -- Abrigg 21 field goal
Midland Cooper
First downs 13 20
Rushes-yards 35-253 39-150
Passing yards 82 274
Comp-Att-Int 6-13-1 16-24-0
Punts 4-36.8 2-37.5
Fumbles-lost 2-1 3-2
Penalties-yards 7-41 3-25
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- Midland: Shemond Davis 16-191, Ryan Stewart 8-24, Camar Jackson 11-38. Cooper: Robbie Johnson 20-92, Richard Rodriguez 13-50, Dowell Loggains 4-26, Jeremy Janssen 1-(-9), Mark Rau 1-(-9).
PASSING -- Midland: Camar Jackson 6-13-1, 82 yards. Cooper: Dowell Loggains 13-20-0, 191 yards; Jeremy Janssen 3-4-0, 83 yards.
RECEIVING -- Midland: Lance King 2-37, Ryan Stewart 1-2, Shemond Davis 2-20, Luke Conder 1-23. Cooper: Jesse Sharp 5-72, Mark Rau 2-81, Adam Riddle 4-57, Andy Rodgers 3-52, Anthony Rozzell 1-(-2), Robbie Johnson 1-14