Get out the gun...he's pickin' against Cooper

By BILL HART/Staff Writer

The voice on the other end of the telephone line called to warn me. There was a woman working at a local hospital who was upset because I had picked Cooper to lose to Lake Highlands last week.

She was thinking about getting a gun and coming after me. She would have had to stand in line.

My record picking Cooper this year is 9-6. Two of the misses, Garland and the first Amarillo High game, were the Cougars' "fault" because they lost when I picked them to win.

And to brag a little, one prediction was Midland Lee 27, Cooper 21. Lee won, 27-22.

Few picked the Cougars to beat Amarillo in bi-district, but my only playoff losses have been the past two weeks, to Flower Mound Marcus and Lake Highlands.

Flower Mound Marcus eliminated Midland Lee the week before and Lee beat Cooper. Lake Highlands had defeated Tyler John Tyler in the quarterfinals, and most sports writers covering high school football figured John Tyler would make it to the state championship game then beat Austin Westlake for the second time in three years.

Just because Cooper is picked to lose doesn't mean I want it happen, but the feeling is they're meeting stronger teams. After all, people in the crystal ball business want the best percentage they can get.

Last week was to be the final week of predictions, but Cooper threw a wrench into those plans by winning.

So here goes, one more time:

-- Austin Westlake 28, Cooper 22 - The Austin school has been in a state championship game before and that's a big plus. Hope this is a miss.

-- La Marque 26, Denison 14 - Maybe they decided to have two state champions in Class 4A so someone else could win it besides La Marque.

-- Sealy 22, Tatum 16 - Winning state titles nothing new for Sealy, either.

-- Groveton 16, Iraan 13 - Groveton's been there and won before, too.

-- Last week: 5 right, six wrong, 45 percent. Season: 707 right, 207 wrong, 77 percent.