Amarillo 36, Cooper 11

By AL PICKETT

Sports Editor

LUBBOCK -- A couple of critical mistakes and two failed scoring opportunities inside the 5-yard line cost Cooper dearly Friday night, sending the Cougars to their earliest exit from the Class 5A football playoffs since 1992.

Amarillo High eliminated Cooper, 36-11, in front of 8,000 fans at Jones Stadium in a Class 5A Division II bi-district playoff game. The Sandies won despite having fewer yards total offense and fewer first downs than Cooper.

"We lost 21 points in the kicking game and we didn't score inside the 10 twice," said Cooper coach Randy Allen. "Our kids played with a lot of adrenaline for five weeks. We ran out of gas tonight. Our kids played as hard as they could for five weeks, and they were a little flat emotionally tonight. We didn't get any breaks, and when that happens you have to be more sound fundamentally than they are. We did things tonight we haven't done all year."

The opening possession of the second half epitomized what a frustrating night it was for the Cougars.

Luke Harrison was called for offensive pass interference on the second play of the half, a play that the Cooper coaches argued should have gone the other way. Cooper was then forced to punt, and the snap sailed over punter Mark Rau's head into the end zone. Rau kicked it out of the back side of the end zone for a safety, stretching Amarillo's lead to 22-11.

"That was big when we failed to score on the first possession of the second half," Allen said.

The coup de grace came later in the third quarter. Cooper had driven from its own 14 to the Sandies' 5-yard line. But on fourth-and-goal from the 9-yard line, Amarillo High's Jared Hughes blocked Ryan Shahan's 26-yard field goal try. Brad Brashears picked up the ball and returned it all the way to the Cooper 12-yard line.

"Shoot, that was flat-out huge," veteran Amarillo High coach Larry Dippel said of the blocked field goal. "They got inside the 5-yard line twice and didn't get any points. That was the turning point."

The Sandies then scored on an 8-yard pass from Travis Jones to Garrett Glass, increasing their lead to 29-11 with 3:10 to go and effectively eliminating any hopes Cooper had for a comeback win.

Johnny Johnson, who led Amarillo High with 163 yards rushing, added his third touchdown of the game early in the fourth quarter on a 7-yard run to finish off the scoring.

Cooper ends the year at 5-5, but successfully defended its District 4-5A championship and earned the school's seventh consecutive playoff berth.

"I'm so proud of these seniors," Allen said. "I don't know if any group has overcome more than they have. They kept the bell and put a championship trophy in the trophy case. They were part of four championships last year. These seniors are closing out a tremendous career. I can't tell them how much I appreciate them."

Amarillo High (8-3) advances to the area round against El Paso Socorro next week.

"Our offense played the best game it has played all year," Dippel said. "It'd be safe to say our offensive line had their best overall performance of the year."

After a wild first quarter, a missed opportunity and a penalty kept Cooper from taking the lead in the second quarter.

Trailing 14-11, Cooper moved into scoring position on a 41-yard pass to Casey Fields and a 20-yard run on a draw play by Kyle Wiskow. But with first-and-goal at the 2-yard line, the Cougars couldn't punch it into the end zone.

On fourth-and-goal from the 3-yard line, Cooper opted to go for it rather than kick a game-tying field goal. Quarterback Dowell Loggains, rolling to his right, couldn't find anyone open and was sacked for a 5-yard loss back at the 8-yard line by John Haliburton and Brashears with 10:21 left in the second period.

Amarillo responded to the big defensive stop with a 10-play, 92-yard scoring drive. The big play was a screen pass to Johnson, who turned it into a 62-yard gain to the Cooper 17-yard line.

The Sandies then scored on a 7-yard pass from Jones to Garet Teuton, increasing their lead to 20-11 with 5:58 to go in the first half. Zach Sasser missed the extra-point kick.

Cooper had a touchdown negated by a holding penalty on its next possession. Carl Bloom broke free for a 50-yard TD run, but the play was wiped out by a holding penalty.

Neither team could stop the other one in the first quarter. Amarillo went 68 yards in six plays on the game's opening possession, scoring on Johnson's 3-yard run. His 49-yard run set up the touchdown.

Cooper countered with a 33-yard field goal by Shahan, but Johnson went 46 yards, breaking two tackles along the way, for a touchdown on the next possession to give the Sandies a 14-3 advantage.

The Cougars needed only two plays to get the seven points back, however. Rau beat Jesse Arias on a deep out route and turned the pass from Loggains into a 69-yard touchdown with 3:14 to go in the first quarter, cutting the deficit to 14-11.

Cooper was held to a minus-11 net yards rushing, but Loggains and backup quarterback Jeremy Janssen threw for 354 yards.

Amarillo 14 6 9 7--36

Cooper 11 0 0 0--11

SCORING SUMMARY

A -- Johnny Johnson 3 run (Zach Sasser kick)

C -- Ryan Shahan 33 FG

A -- Johnson 46 run (Sasser kick)

C -- Mark Rau 69 pass from Dowell Loggains (Luke Harrison pass from Loggains)

A -- Garet Teuton 7 pass from Travis Jones (kick failed)

A -- Safety, snap out of end zone

A -- Garrett Glass 8 pass from Jones (Sasser kick)

A -- Johnson 7 run (Sasser kick)

Amarillo Cooper

First downs 14 16

Rushes-yards 35-211 26-(-11)

Passing yards 114 354

Comp-Att-Int 8-15-0 19-41-0

Punts 3 28.3 3-31.7

Fumbles-lost 2-0 1-0

Penalties-yards 4-20 4-32

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Amarillo, Johnny Johnson 17-163, Travis Jones 3-6, Dallas Sisneros 2-(-11), Garrett Glass 11-45, Blake Barnes 2-8; Cooper, Carl Bloom 4-(-4), Kyle Wiskow 11-73, Dowell Loggains 6-(-14), Jeremy Janssen 3-(-15), Mark Rau 1-(-20), Team 1-(-31)

PASSING -- Amarillo, Travis Jones 8-14-0 114, Chris Neilson 0-1-0; Cooper, Dowell Loggains 13-22-0 276, Jeremy Janssen 6-19-0 78

RECEIVING -- Amarillo, Garrett Glass 2-17, Kory King 1-10, Bret Wondle 1-5, Garet Teuton 2-14, Chad Kennedy 1-6, Johnny Johnson 1-62; Cooper, Kyle Wiskow 2-26, Mark Rau 4-87, Luke Harrison 8-89, Casey Fields 3-122, Ryan Gibbs 1-15, Carl Bloom 1-15