Cooper 17, AHS 3
By LANCE FLEMING / Staff Writer
After a first half of frustration, the Cooper Cougars returned to domination in the third quarter.
And in 17 punishing, time-consuming, powerful plays, Friday night's cross-town game was over.
In a manner befitting the state's fourth-ranked team, Cooper opened the second half against Abilene High with a 72-yard touchdown drive that gave the Cougars a 14-point lead in an eventual 17-3 win over Abilene High in front of nearly 18,000 fans at Shotwell Stadium.
The victory ran Cooper's winning streak over the Eagles to seven games, and ran its record to 4-0 on the season and 1-0 in District 4-5A play. Cooper has now won 13 of its last 14 games. Abilene High, meanwhile, suffered its first loss of the season to drop to 3-1 and 0-1.
This game was still tight until just before halftime when Robbie Johnson took a third-and-2 handoff and broke right up the middle for a 55-yard touchdown run and a 10-3 Cooper lead at the half.
That run was just a glimpse of what fate awaited the Eagles in the third quarter.
Cooper got the ball to start the second half and immediately turned the game over to an offensive line that averages 280 pounds per man. They simply dominated the Eagles on a 17-play, 72-yard drive that took 7 minutes, 37 seconds off the third-quarter clock.
The Cougars converted on all four of its third-down attempts in the drive, and overcame a 10-yard holding penalty on the drive's third play. Robbie Johnson had 39 of his game-high 137 yards on nine carries in the drive.
And Brandon Stover connected on four passes for 38 yards in the drive, which finally ended when he dove in from the 1-yard line on third-and-goal.
"I didn't realize that it was almost an eight-minute drive until we got back to the sidelines," Cooper right tackle Joey Heath said. "That's a long time to be out on the field. But we finally did in that drive what we should have been doing all along, and that's pound it right at them. We tried a lot of stuff in the first half to try and get them off balance, but when it was close we just decided to run it down their throat and do what we do best."
That drive effectively took Abilene High out of the game.
"Both those things -- the touchdown before halftime and then the long drive -- hurt us," Abilene High head coach Steve Warren said. "We missed some tackles on the touchdown run, and then they just took it to us to start the third quarter."
The game turned late in the first half with the score tied 3-3.
Abilene High forced a punt and got the ball on its own 41-yard line with 2:25 to play in the half. Sophomore running back Arturo "Sneezy" Beltran ripped off an 18-yard run on first down, giving the Eagles first-and-10 on the Cooper 41. But on his next carry he fumbled after a 4-yard gain, and Jared Blong recovered for the Cougars.
Three plays later Johnson was in the end zone for a 10-3 Cooper advantage.
That was the first of three AHS turnovers in the game.
"And all three were critical," Warren said. "I thought we might score on the one late in the first half, and then we threw an interception in the second half and then fumbled late in the game when we were trying to get back into it. I told our guys earlier in the week that fundamentals would win the game, and we just didn't play well enough to win."
Give a lot of credit for that to the Cooper defense, which stymied Abilene High's high-powered running game. The Eagles, averaging 317 yards a game on the ground, managed just 211 against the Cougars. Running back Chuck Newman had just 85 yards, Ahmad Brooks 75 and Beltran 48.
"Our defense just played an outstanding game to keep them out of the end zone," Cooper head coach Randy Allen said. "Anytime you stay on the field as long as they did at the end of the game, it's a credit to them."
Cooper, which entered the game giving up an average of just 172 yards per game, never did let Brooks or either of his running backs loose for a big play.
"We had to make sure and keep Ahmad contained and force him to the inside," linebacker Eric Gobert said. "If we did that, we didn't think we'd have any problems. They're fast, but we have a fast defense, too, and we can penetrate through holes."
Cooper had a chance to put the game away early in the fourth quarter before a bizarre intentional grounding call led to an unsportsmanlike penalty on the Cougars. When all was said and done the Cougars had gone from third-and-8 from the 12 to fourth-and-33 from the 37-yard line.
"That kind of thing just takes away a lot of emotion," Allen said. "It completely turned the game around. Instead of sealing the game, we were playing defense the rest of the game."
Abilene High started on its 21-yard line after a punt, and got a roughing-the-punter call on Roy Strahan to keep its drive alive. Newman and Brooks shouldered the load for the Eagles, moving the ball to the Cooper 17-yard line with 5:35 to play.
But on third-and-2 from the 17, Newman never got the handle on an option pitch, and David O'Shields recovered for the Cougars. Cooper was forced to punt and Abilene High in turn drove to the Cooper 21-yard line with 2:28 left.
But two incomplete passes and a holding call left AHS with fourth-and-24 from the Cooper 33-yard line. Brooks completed a 13-yard pass to Odis Dolton, but it wasn't enough for the first down and the Cougars simply ran out the clock.
Abilene High struck first with 10:05 left in the first half when David Perez connected on a 32-yard field goal. Cooper, though, responded with a 10-play, 60-yard drive that ended when Peter Abrigg knocked home a game-tying 33-yard field goal with 6:42 left in the first half.
The two teams see-sawed back and forth until the Eagles turned it over and the Cougars capitalized just before halftime.
Then the Cougars essentially put it away with the long drive to open the third quarter.
And it left the Eagles on the losing end of the cross-town game for the seventh straight season.
"We didn't play well enough to win, but you have to give Cooper credit, because their defense is great," Warren said. "They took advantage of our mistakes, and they didn't make many. I hope we both keep winning and we can meet again somewhere down the road."
Abilene High 0 3 0 0--3
Cooper 0 10 7 0--17
SCORING SUMMARY
A -- David Perez 32 FG
C -- Peter Abrigg 33 FG
C -- Robbie Johnson 55 run (Abrigg kick)
C -- Brandon Stover 1 run (Abrigg kick)
AHS Cooper First downs 14 17 Rushes-yards 39-211 33-172 Passing yards 48 135 Comp-Att-Int 5-13-1 12-23-1 Punts 4-47.1 5-35 Fumbles-lost 4-2 0-0 Penalties-yards 10-70 10-105
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- Abilene High, Chuck Newman 17-85, Ahmad Brooks 12-75, Arturo Beltran 9-48, Adrian Barnes 1-3; Cooper, Robbie Johnson 22-149, Richard Rodriguez 3-23, Mark Rau 1-4, Brandon Stover 6-(-3), Lawrence Riley 1-(-1)
PASSING -- Abilene High, Brooks 5-13-1 48; Cooper, Stover 12-23-1 135
RECEIVING -- Abilene High, Odis Dolton 1-13, Beltran 1-11, Steve Cortinaz 1-5, Frankie Munoz 1-0, Chuck Newman 1-19; Cooper, Mark Rau 6-87, Adam Riddle 3-16, Andy Rodgers 1-6, Luke Harrison 1-3, Robbie Johnson 1-23.