Thursday, October 29, 1998

Cooper defense has improved considerably

By JEFF WALKER

Staff Writer

The Cooper football team's offensive weaponry has received much of the attention from media and fans, and much of the focus from opposing coaches thus far this season.

What may be lost in the shuffle has been the exceptional play by a defense that is almost completely different this week than it was when the Cougars opened the season against Killeen High.

Injuries, ineligibilities, ineffectiveness and other reasons have prompted head coach Randy Allen to make almost weekly changes in his team's defensive personnel.

Defensive end Robert Clark and cornerback Aaron Byrd are the only two players that started at the same position against Killeen High the first week of the season, as well as against Midland Lee last week.

Lee Haggerty played cornerback against Killeen High and Lee but he was injured for part of the season.

Some players on the Cougar defense have merely shifted positions.

Roderick Spurlock moved from tackle to end, Danny Krumbholtz moved from safety to linebacker and Elijah Quesada moved from free safety to strong safety.

Everyone else on the Cooper defense was not penciled in to start at their respective position at the beginning of the season.

"I've seen guys rise to the occasion and do whatever is asked of them to do," Allen said. "They have filled the roles and made us more effective using teamwork. Everyone else around them has had to pick the pace and tack up slack to play better."

Completely new faces in the starting lineup have included Michael Walker, Ryan Martin (making his first start at defensive tackle this week in place of Michael Foster), Josh Adams, Vincent Paluscio and Nivek Hatcher.

Allen said the defense has solidified with each new addition.

"Nivek was the key because we were able to move Elijah to strong safety against North Mesquite," he said. "Elijah was able to make more tackles and that really solidified our defensive backfield.

"Josh Adams has played real well; Vincent has been steady throughout the year; Danny sacrificed his body a lot against Lee last week; Roderick has taken more of a leadership role and shown more enthusiasm since moving to end; Michael Walker has shown promise; Robert Clark has played real well and gotten better every week and Aaron Byrd has been very consistent at corner all year."

The Cougars' defense is ranked next-to-last in District 4-5A in average yards allowed per game. Allen said statistics aren't good measuring sticks for how well the defense has performed.

"I think with part of that you have to look at who we've played," he said. "If you take out the Waco game and the (Killeen) Ellison game we've been very consistent. Permian moved the ball well against us but I think we're becoming more level as far as how we play than we were at the beginning of the season.

"We had times earlier in the season where the defense would play great and then they'd play poorly. We were up and down and if you look at it, the games that we haven't played well is when we've given up the big play. We shut people down when we don't give up the big plays and that's what we're trying to stress right now."

Jeff Walker can be reached at 676-6711 or sports@abinews.com.

Cooper defense vs. Killeen

DE - Robert Clark

DE - Brian Baker

DT - Miris Ray

DT - Rodrick Spurlock

MLB - Coby Ford

WLB - Paul Mock

SLB - Somdy Vorasane

CB - Aaron Byrd

CB - Lee Haggerty

SS - Danny Krumbholtz and Kyle Wiskow (alternating)

FS - Elijah Quesada

Cooper defense vs. Odessa High

DE - Robert Clark

DE - Roderick Spurlock

DT - Michael Walker

DT - Ryan Martin

MLB - Josh Adams

WLB - Vincent Puluscio

SLB - Danny Krumbholtz

CB - Aaron Byrd

CB - Lee Haggerty

SS - Elijah Quesada

FS - Nivek Hatcher