Confident Cooper plays Amarillo again

By LANCE FLEMING / Staff Writer

LUBBOCK - It's amazing what can happen with just a little bit of confidence.

Just ask the Cooper Cougars.

Just one month ago they were mired in a two-game losing streak, having lost to Amarillo High and Midland Lee in heartbreaking fashion. Their record was 3-3 and state-ranked Odessa Permian was coming to give the Cougars their annual whipping.

But something strange happened on the night of Oct. 18: Cooper beat the Panthers, saved their season and established themselves as maybe the best team in District 4-5A going into the playoffs.

Since the 35-21 win over Permian, the Cougars have reeled off wins over Midland High (40-21), San Angelo Central (59-28) and Odessa High (42-28).

"I think it's a team on a roll, and our confidence and optimism are high because of the win over Permian and the consistent performances we had in our last three games," Cooper head coach Randy Allen said. "This is maybe the most confident team I've had at Cooper."

Armed with that new confidence, the Cougars get a second chance tonight at Amarillo High in the bi-district round of the Class 5A Division II playoffs.

The Sandies (8-1-1 and the champion of District 3-5A) roughed up Cooper, 31-28, back on Oct. 4 at Shotwell Stadium. The Cougars couldn't run the ball that night (only 60 yards) and couldn't stop the run (allowing 225 yards to Amarillo) in the loss.

Cooper trailed 31-14 before scoring two touchdowns late in the game on Michael Anderson TD passes. Cooper had the Sandies backed up in their own end of the field, but they were able to reel off a couple of first downs and run out the clock.

But Amarillo High head coach Larry Dippel knows this is a different Cooper team than the one he saw six weeks ago.

"The thing you look at is what Cooper did to Midland Lee (a 27-22 loss) and Permian," Dippel said. "That's more of a concern than what we did to them. I know when we played them the last time that we caught them at the right time from a psychological standpoint. They had just beaten Abilene High and they had Midland Lee up next.

"What we did the first of October doesn't matter right now," he said. "We were fortunate to win that the way they came back on us late. That game could have gone either way."

Since that game, however, the Cougars have been a different team.

After a loss to Lee - in a game they had every opportunity to win - the Cougars have put it in another gear.

They've jumped on opponents early - 14-0 on Permian, 40-14 on Midland, 31-7 on Central and 28-0 on Odessa - and not let them up off the mat.

"After the Lee game we decided it was time for us to go out and jump on somebody big-time and make the whole state realize it," Cooper receiver Miles Durham said. "We did that against Permian, and we haven't let up since. It helps the confidence of the entire team to know that we can win a game the whole state expects us to lose."

With that kind of confidence on the other side of the field, Dippel knows it will be tough to win again against Cooper.

"Everybody knows the Lee defense is as good as there is in the country, and it didn't even seem to faze Cooper," he said of the Cougars' 366-yard output in the game. "I'm scared to death that things will get out of hand if their offense gets cranked up."