Cooper/Lake Highlands match features exciting players

By LANCE FLEMING / Staff Writer

IRVING - Two of the state's most exciting players will be on display tonight at Texas Stadium, and without doubt, both will play a prominent role in deciding which team moves into the state championship game.

Cooper running back Dominic Rhodes and Richardson Lake Highlands quarterback Davaren Hightower will be on center stage when their teams clash in a Class 5A Division II semifinal game. The winner will move into the state championship game where it will face the winner of the Aldine-Austin Westlake game.

Cooper is looking for its first appearance in the state title game since losing the 1967 Class 4A game to Austin Reagan, 20-19. Lake Highlands' last appearance in the state championship game was in 1981 when it beat Houston Yates, 19-6.

Whoever makes it to that game, will be hard-pressed to come up with two more exciting players than Rhodes and Hightower.

Rhodes has been mind-boggling in the playoffs with 759 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns on 100 carries, 151 yards and one touchdown on 10 catches, a 57-yard punt return and a 69-yard punt return, both for touchdowns. He's also rushed for more than 200 yards in three of Cooper's four playoff games.

For the season he has 1,855 yards and 23 touchdowns on 269 carries, another 368 yards and four touchdowns on 26 catches, 19 punt returns for 303 yards and two scores and 17 kickoff returns for 586 yards and two more scores.

In 14 games, Rhodes has touched the ball 331 times for 3,112 yards (an average of 9.4 yards per touch) and 31 touchdowns (1 TD every 10.7 touches).

He's left opposing coaches and players alike scratching their heads wondering how to stop him.

"I know Cooper has a great, great athlete at running back," said Lake Highlands head coach Jerry Gayden, a 1968 graduate of Abilene High. "From what our scouts have said, he's tremendous running the ball, catching it and returning it. He's something special."

As is Hightower, who's in his first year as the Wildcats' starting quarterback. He was a running back last year as quarterback Marcus Stiggers operated the Wildcats' wishbone offense.

But Hightower made a smooth transition to quarterback this season, and his production has been phenomenal. He's carried the ball 251 times for 2,143 yards and 28 touchdowns. He also returns punts and kickoffs for Lake Highlands.

Hightower not only has the speed that one normally associates with wishbone quarterbacks, he has great size and strength. He has the quickness to outrun defenders in the open field, but at 6-2, 188 pounds, he also has the strength to run them over in tight quarters.

In fact, most of his yardage comes from running between the tackles.

"You don't really stop Hightower; you just try to contain him," Cooper head coach Randy Allen said. "He's their punt and kickoff return guy, and he's dangerous. They try to get the ball in his hands as much as they can."

Both teams have other weapons, too, such as Lake Highlands fullback Sam Needum (181 carries for 1,283 yards and 17 touchdowns) and Cooper quarterback Michael Anderson (137 of 226 for 2,074 yards and 19 TDs).

What makes Lake Highlands so hard to stop is the wishbone offense itself. Hightower and Needum handle the ball the majority of the time (Hightower had 33 carries for 165 yards last week against Tyler John Tyler), but they're still effective.

The wishbone attack - with four potential ballcarriers on a play - can be hard to defend. And it means the front seven of ends Cory Aldridge and Charlie Andrade, tackles Kevin Stevenson and Roy Strahan and linebackers Eric Gobert, Mack Garrett and Coby Ford will have to play well.

"Option football is assignment football," Allen said. "You have to do a lot of film study and play awfully hard. It's hard to simulate the wishbone in practice, so it's hard to give the defense a good picture of the offense."

But Cooper's diversified attack has given opponents fits over the last two months. In their eight-game winning streak, the Cougars are averaging 361.5 yards and 39 points per outing.

Lake Highlands, though, is one of the fastest defenses the Cougars have faced this season. In fact, Wildcat defensive end Justin Penny said in Tuesday's Dallas Morning News that, "as a team we don't think anybody can run on us sideline to sideline."

Lake Highlands, in fact, gave up just 224 yards to John Tyler in last week's game, almost 140 yards below the Lions' average for the season.

"They're a fast defense, and they have good tacklers," Allen said. "They have a good secondary, and they present a big challenge with a quick pass-rushing front line. The way they stopped John Tyler is indicative of the speed they have."

The Wildcats are in the semifinals for the second straight season. Last year they lost to Flower Mound Marcus, 48-14, and they were hoping to get another shot at the Marauders this season. But Cooper fouled up those plans with a 37-19 win over Marcus last week.

"Everybody in the media over here thought we'd be disappointed if we didn't get Flower Mound Marcus again," Gayden said. "But I think our focus will be on Cooper. Both teams know what's at stake."