Return of Miles Durham wasn't enough

By LANCE FLEMING / Staff Writer

IRVING - Not even the return of Miles Durham could help the Cooper Cougars in Saturday's state championship game.

Durham, who separated his left shoulder in the Cougars' bi-district playoff win over Amarillo and had surgery on it the following week, had two catches for 14 yards in Cooper's 55-15 loss to Austin Westlake at Texas Stadium.

Cooper's standout wide receiver was thought to be out for the playoffs, but was cleared to play this past Monday. Durham, head coach Randy Allen and the rest of the Cooper football staff were coy all week when it came to if Durham would play, and if he did, how much he would play.

But he played the entire game outside of the first play of the contest.

He was the target of many of Michael Anderson's passes, but District 4-5A's top pass-and-catch combination never could find a rhythm.

"During the week it was like old times," Durham said of the Cougars' week of practice. "Our routes and execution were perfect and everything was clicking."

But it never did in the game.

Durham drew everything from single coverage by Tomi Keah to triple coverage, and he never really got into the game.

And, by his own admission, he appeared tentative when the ball was in the air.

Keah picked off two passes over Durham, both on fade patterns down the left sideline.

The first came on Cooper's first possession of the game when Keah got the inside position on Durham and picked off Anderson's pass at the Westlake 18 and returned it 36 yards. Durham also got a bit of a scare on that play.

"I came down on my left shoulder and I felt the whole arm go up into the socket," he said. "I just laid there and thought, 'Oh, God, I did it again.' But I got up and rolled my shoulders and it was OK."

Keah's second interception on Durham came with just seconds left in the first half with Cooper trying to score to take a halftime lead. With the score tied 7-7, Dominic Rhodes broke off a 48-yard run to get the ball down to the 23-yard line.

Anderson then tried to hit Durham in the end zone, but the two never connected on the correct route, dooming the play from the start. Keah stepped in front of a waiting Durham and picked off the ball to keep the game tied at halftime.

"We came in at halftime and, even though it was tied, it was like we were behind," Durham said. "Dominic makes a big play, and then I do something stupid."

The Cougars focused at least half of their passing game toward Durham, and even though he had been out four weeks, Anderson said that the layoff didn't hurt.

"When Miles was out there, he did a great job," Anderson said. "He showed a lot of heart to be out there knowing he could re-injure the shoulder."

But Durham put the blame squarely on his shoulders.

"I played a horrible game," he said. "I would just as soon somebody else have done the job. There were balls that were thrown that I should have gotten, and five weeks ago they would have been mine.

"That first interception when I landed on my shoulder scared me, and I'm big enough to admit it," Durham said. "Michael didn't throw one ball out there that wasn't catchable. Every one of them should have been ours. We've been getting them all year, but we didn't today."