The 1996 Season: Game by Game

By the Abilene Reporter-News

Here is a quick look at each game on the Cougars' road to the state championship game:

Garland 15, Cooper 5

GARLAND - The Cougars self-destructed inside the Garland 5-yard line on two occasions, and it cost them in their season-opening loss.

Cooper moved inside the Owls' 5-yard line three times and all it got out of it was one Peter Abrigg 23-yard field goal. The Cougars rolled up 325 yards of total offense, while holding the Owls to just 214. But Garland took advantage of two Cooper turnovers to score 12 points.

Dominic Rhodes, coming off shoulder surgery in the offseason, had 95 yards on 21 carries.

Cooper 55, Wichita Falls Rider 14

Cooper dominated this game from the outset with Chris Cherry scoring four touchdowns - three on short runs and one when he recovered a blocked punt in the end zone.

The Cougars jumped out to a 28-0 lead before settling for a 35-14 halftime advantage. With Rhodes nursing injuries, Kino Garner rushed for 108 yards on 13 carries, and Richard Rodriguez had 99 yards on 11 carries.

Cooper 18, Lubbock Monterey 14

LUBBOCK - The Cougars fell behind 14-3 at halftime before battling back to win their fourth game in the last five meetings against the Plainsmen.

But Cooper roared out of the dressing room and scored 15 points in the third quarter on a Michael Anderson 13-yard touchdown run and a Rhodes 7-yard run. The Cougars then held on for dear life in the fourth quarter.

Rhodes, bouncing back from shoulder and toe injuries, had 97 yards on 16 carries.

Cooper 31, Abilene High 3

This was actually a great game until the fourth quarter when the Cougars got on a roll offensively.

Abilene High had limited Rhodes to 20 yards rushing in the first half, but he exploded for 157 yards in the second half to record 177 for the night. Anderson directed a balanced attack with 104 passing yards.

Rhodes broke a 3-3 halftime deadlock with a 32-yard run in the third quarter.

Then the Cougars poured it on in the fourth quarter, scoring 21 points, including seven on Melvin Barnes' 75-yard interception return that sealed the deal.

Amarillo High 31, Cooper 28

The Cougars ran out of time in this one, even though were physically dominated for most of the evening.

Amarillo High ran for 225 yards, while limiting the Cougars to a paltry 60 yards on 16 rushes. Rhodes had 74 yards, but only had 12 carries as the Cougars were forced to throw after falling behind 31-17 in the fourth quarter.

Two TD passes from Anderson to Mark Rau and Jesse Sharp cut the lead to 31-28 late in the fourth quarter, but Amarillo High got the first downs when it needed them to run out the clock.

Midland Lee 27, Cooper 22

MIDLAND - The Cougars sank to 3-3 with their second straight loss of the season, a five-point heartbreaker to the Rebels.

Cooper trailed 14-2 at halftime, but came out and scored the first 13 points of the second half to take a 15-14 lead in the third quarter. Rhodes was the sparkplug, scoring on runs of 7 and 70 yards in the third quarter.

Lee, however, came back to score two fourth-quarter touchdowns, the last on a Fred Pertile 5-yard fumble return that made the score 27-15. Anderson and Miles Durham clicked for a 28-yard TD pass late in the game, but Cooper turned it over on its final two possessions to seal its fate.

Rhodes finished with 183 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries, a game that began his late-season flurry.

Out of this loss, however, Cooper turned its season around.

Cooper 35, Permian 21

Until last week's semifinal win over Richardson Lake Highlands, this win could be classified as Cooper's most important win since its semifinal win in 1967.

The Cougars jumped out to a 14-0 lead, then took a 21-7 halftime advantage when Anderon and Durham hooked up on a 46-yard TD pass with less than 50 seconds left in the first half. On the second play of the third quarter, Rhodes took a flair pass 79 yards for a touchdown to make it 28-7.

He would later add a 32-yard touchdown on fourth-and-11 to seal Cooper's first victory over Permian since 1979.

Cooper 40, Midland High 21

MIDLAND - The Bulldogs grabbed a 14-7 lead, but Cooper scored the final 14 points of the half in the last three minutes of the second quarter. Then Rhodes opened the second half with a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and it was smooth sailing from there.

Rhodes ran for 130 yards on 22 carries, and Anderson was 11 of 13 for 121 yards and two TD passes.

The Cooper defense held the Bulldogs to 200 total yards.

Cooper 59, San Angelo Central 28

Rhodes put his name in the District 4-5A record book with six touchdowns in one game, tying the mark set by Terry Orr (Cooper, 1978), Farris Strambler (Midland Lee, 1989) and Marlon Henry (Midland Lee, 1993).

He did it in just about every way imaginable, scoring on four runs, one pass and one kickoff return. Leading 52-14, Cooper gave up a Central touchdown that gave Rhodes - who left the game early in the fourth quarter - one last shot at the record.

And he took advantage of it.

On the ensuing kickoff, he went 81 yards for a score to tie the district mark.

He finished the night with 104 yards on just 12 carries.

With the win, Cooper clinched its fifth straight playoff berth.

Cooper 42, Odessa High 28

The Cougars jumped all over the Bronchos early, scoring 28 points in the first quarter on a Josh Button 28-yard punt return, Rhodes' 70-yard run, Melvin Barnes' 26-yard interception return and Durham's 30-yard TD reception.

Rhodes finished with just 87 yards, but he carried the ball just six times as head coach Randy Allen rested most of his starters in the second half.

Odessa High made it close at the end, but it wouldn't be enough against a Cooper team that appeared prime to make a playoff run.

Cooper 20, Amarillo High 14

Bi-district

LUBBOCK - Rhodes pulled off one of the biggest plays in Cooper history - as well as one of the best runs in Abilene high school football history - to help Cooper get past Amarillo High.

With the game tied at 14-14, Rhodes took the handoff on a draw with only three seconds to play and went 57 yards for the game-winning touchdown. He dodged seemingly the entire Amarillo High defense on his way to the end zone.

The run put him over the 200-yard barrier for the night, and gave him touchdown runs of 70 and 57 yards.

The only downer for Cooper was the loss of Durham, who separated his left shoulder on the final play of the first half and was lost for the balance of the season.

Cooper 42, El Paso Irvin 21

Area

Richard Rodriguez got things started on the right foot for Cooper when he took the opening kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown.

Rhodes added touchdown runs of 50, 3, 36, 1 and 2 yards to give him five touchdowns and 230 yards on 23 carries.

However, Irvin quarterback Edmund Stansbury - one of the most sought-after prep players in the nation - was outstanding, completing 21 of 45 passes for 382 yards and 3 touchdowns. He threw two interceptions, but continually got back up after taking a beating from Cooper defenders Cory Aldridge, Eric Gobert and Kevin Stevenson.

Cooper 38, Irving Nimitz 18

Regional Semifinals

The Cooper defense stepped up and shut down the Nimitz ground game, holding it to just 171 yards on 41 carries.

The Cooper offense, meanwhile, found the running tough and turned to the pass. Rhodes had just 111 yards on 20 carries, but Anderson completed 9 of 13 passes for 205 yards and one touchdown.

However, Rhodes again made the game's two biggest plays on a 57-yard punt return and a 70-yard TD reception.

Nimitz had cut Cooper's lead to 17-12 with 19 seconds left in the first half and appeared to have the momentum.

But Cooper got the ball at the 30 after the kickoff went out of bounds, and Rhodes made Nimitz pay for not using up all the clock. He took a simple flair pass from Anderson, turned it up the field and scored from 70 yards out with just five seconds to play in the first half. That, essentially, was the ballgame.

Cooepr 37, Flower Mound Marcus 19

Quarterfinals

IRVING - Revenge.

The Cougars avenged last season's 41-7 loss to the Marauders with a big victory.

After a slow start, Rhodes took over in the third quarter with a 69-yard punt return for a touchdown and two big runs on a 98-yard scoring drive that sealed the game.

Cooper led 20-16 at halftime. But on its first possession of the second half Marcus had to punt. Rhodes took the punt return 69 yards for a score to make it 27-16. He then keyed a 98-yard drive on Cooper's next possession, picking up runs of 26 and 28 yards on the drive.

Marcus quarterback Spencer Stack threw for 316 yards, but Anderson countered with 205 yards and Rhodes finished with 212 yards rushing, 139 of them coming in the second half.

Cooper 24, Richardson Lake Highlands 21 (OT)

Semifinals

IRVING - Courtney Martin proved to be the most unlikely of heroes on this night when he got a second chance to win the game and took advantage of it.

Cooper squandered a 21-7 fourth-quarter lead and saw the game go into overtime knotted at 21-21.

On Lake Highlands' first play of overtime, however, quarterback Sean Stilley - playing in place of the injured Davaren Hightower - was hit by Cooper tackle Roy Strahan and fumbled. Strahan recovered the ball to give Cooper the football.

Three plays later, Martin trotted out to try a 44-yard field goal, but it was short and right. However, he was roughed on the play, giving Cooper a first down at the 12-yard line.

Three Rhodes' runs later, Martin drilled a 22-yarder to win the game and send Cooper to the state finals for the first time since 1967.

And Saturday, the Cougars will play for one more inch.