Wednesday, September 16, 1998

Eagles, Cougars face tough competition again this week

By JEFF WALKER

Staff Writer

The Cooper football team can never be accused of a cupcake schedule.

The Cougars lost 24-10 Thursday to Waco High, which was ranked 18th in the Texas Football magazine's pre-season poll. Cooper (1-1) will host North Mesquite - ranked eighth this week in the Associated Press poll in Class 5A - Friday at Shotwell Stadium for Cooper's homecoming game.

After racing with the Stallions, Cooper will have a bye week before playing the current No. 1 team in the AP poll, Killeen Ellison.

"Our team understands that we have a tough schedule," Cooper head coach Randy Allen said Tuesday at the weekly coaches luncheon. "It's not often you play the No. 8 team and No. 1 team in back-to-back games."

Allen added that the Cougars aren't worried about the non-district schedule as much as they are about being prepared for District 4-5A competition.

"We have an outstanding pre-district schedule and we'll use it to find our weaknesses," he said. "We'll make the necessary changes and focus on improving. Right now we're concentrating on our district schedule and these guys know that once that starts they won't face any better competition than they've faced this season."

Abilene High faced its toughest opponent last Friday, Temple High, and handled the Wildcats as easily as they did Amarillo Tascosa and Lubbock Monterey, posting a 27-7 win over Temple.

"We know we have the ability to play with anybody," AHS head coach Steve Warren said. "I was excited to face a quality opponent like Temple, that spoke volumes about our program. The kids matured a lot and that's good to see."

Things won't get any easier for the Eagles. Next on the menu is Euless Trinity, which boasts the leading rusher in the Metroplex.

Robert Lolohea has carried the ball 39 times for 436 yards in leading the Trojans to a 2-0 start. Warren said the coaches spoke to the players about overconfidence in lieu of Friday's big victory.

"We spoke to them about that at the team meetings Monday," Warren said. "We know over at Trinity they don't care whether we won or lost, they're looking to beat us. We've got to get back to reality and look to take the next step for our football team."

Abilene High's game Friday with Euless Trinity is at Pennington Field in Bedford.

Opposite doctors' reports

Just when the Eagles are getting healthy, the Cougars are getting hit with their own case of the injury bug.

Warren said defensive tackle John Gonzales is still questionable for Friday's game with the Trojans, but defensive ends Chesrick Pope and Jerry Culberson and center Dominic Horton should all be available and in uniform when AHS goes for its fourth straight victory of the season.

The Cougars' loss at Waco High was a costly one. Linebackers Somdy Vorasane and Paul Mock left the game with knee injuries and cornerback Lee Haggerty fractured his wrist.

"We're still waiting on the doctor's reports on Vorasane and Mock," Allen said. "Lee will be out a couple weeks. He has a long cast on now and is expected to get a short cast put on in a couple weeks."

Allen said Josh Adams and Vincent Puluscio will step in at linebacker, while Adam Riddle or Josh Nunn will fill the void left at cornerback.

"I've found out through the years that when you lose a player to injury your team can play better than expected," Allen said. "The player who steps in wants to do well and show he can play while it seems the rest of the team picks it up a notch to help him out as best they can."

Familiar face

When the Cougars face North Mesquite Friday a familiar face will be roaming the visitor's sidelines. The Stallions' head coach is Buster Leaf, who took the job at North Mesquite after coaching at Lubbock Monterey.

Cooper was 5-1 against Leaf's teams at Monterey, with the only loss coming in 1995, 21-7. That loss came a year after the Cougars beat Monterey twice in '94, once in the regular season (27-7) and once in the playoffs (28-10).

Leaf said although he is familiar with Allen and the Cougars, that doesn't give his current team any advantage.

"We didn't have much success against them when I was there," Leaf said. "When you go one for however many we played, I don't know how much of an advantage you can have."

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