Saturday, November 7, 1998

Cougars receiver injured, out for playoffs

Cooper's 41-14 win Friday night over cross-town rival Abilene High proved to be a costly one for the Cougars.

Wide receiver Adam Riddle, who was undoubtedly the star of the game for Cooper, broke his collarbone in the fourth quarter and will likely miss the playoffs.

Midway through the fourth period, Riddle made a leaping grab of a pass from Dowell Loggains for a 38-yard gain to the Eagles' 8-yard line. But when Riddle hit the turf, he landed on his right elbow, breaking his right clavicle.

Oddly enough, it was an injury that was nearly identical to the one suffered two years ago by Cooper's all-time leading receiver Miles Durham in a first-round playoff game against Amarillo High.

If Cooper fans are looking for a positive omen after a bad break, remember that was also the year that the Cougars advanced all the way to the state championship game.

Until the unfortunate injury to Riddle, the 6-2, 180-pound senior had certainly enjoyed one of his finest games in a Cooper uniform.

Riddle caught six passes for 159 yards and three touchdowns.

The first of his three TD receptions was a spectacular hookup. Loggains lofted a pass to the corner of the end zone and Riddle, seemingly coming out of nowhere, made the catch between two AHS defenders for a 12-yard touchdown and a 14-0 Cooper lead with 10:51 to play in the second quarter.

Abilene High responded with an impressive 80-yard, 11-play scoring drive, capped by Sneezy Beltran's 5-yard touchdown run to close the gap to 14-7.

In a game in which Cooper compiled 506 yards of total offense, including 337 yards passing, it might seem a little strange to call a little 5-yard run in the middle of the field a key to the game.

But that's exactly what happened after Abilene High had scored to pull to within a touchdown of the Cougars.

Facing third-and-two at the 35-yard line, Loggains pitched the ball to tailback Carl Bloom, who tried to sweep around left end. Bloom was seemingly hemmed in and about to be thrown for a loss when he cut back to his right and turned the play into a 5-yard gain and a Cooper first down.

"That was huge," Abilene High coach Steve Warren said. "We had momentum. They got the first down and then they took the ball and scored -- and scored again."

"It was a great run," Cooper coach Randy Allen said. "It was shutoff to the outside, and Carl made a great cutback. He's been doing that the last several weeks."

Two plays after Bloom's key first-down run, Loggains and Riddle hooked up again on a 27-yard TD pass with 4:00 to go in the half, lifting Cooper to a 21-7 advantage.

Cooper got the ball back again with 2:16 to play before half. Allen inserted strong-armed backup quarterback Jeremy Janssen into the game. Ironically, Janssen has missed most of the season himself with a broken collarbone.

On first down, Janssen heaved a bomb downfield that caught Riddle in perfect stride behind the Eagles' secondary for a 59-yard touchdown pass and a 28-7 halftime lead for the Cougars.

Abilene High never recovered.

Although the Eagles moved the ball well in the second half, they never could make up the 22-point second-quarter explosion by Cooper -- or Riddle, to be more specific. Riddle himself scored 20 of Cooper's 22 second-quarter points, including a two-point conversion.

Bloom, who gained 79 yards on the ground for Cooper, hurt his shoulder in the second half, but Allen didn't know the extent of Bloom's injury after the game. Bloom's replacement, Kyle Wiskow, had a spectacular second half, rushing for 79 yards on 11 carries.

"He was impressive," Allen said of Wiskow. "Both of them are juniors. We moved Kyle from defense to offense this year. He ran with power tonight. He just needs the opportunity to play and get his timing. He has the same type of speed as Carl."

Earlier in the week, Allen talked about his team's ability to have players step up and successfully fill in for starters who go down with injuries. Someone else will now have that opportunity in the playoffs, whether it is Wiskow for Bloom or Ryan Gibbs or Casey Fields for Riddle.

But it is hard to imagine anyone having a better game than Riddle did Friday night.

Abilene High was never able to solve the Riddle.

Al Pickett can be reached at 676-6772 or picketta@abinews.com.