Key play happened right before halftime with score tied

By AL PICKETT / Sports Editor

IRVING - Cooper's second-half demise Saturday at Texas Stadium in the Class 5A Division II state championship football game actually began seconds before intermission.

Austin Westlake had just concluded a 6-minute, 83-yard drive, climaxed by Jamie Tyler's 8-yard touchdown run up the middle, to tie the game 7-7 with 45 seconds to go before halftime.

Cooper, which appeared to be the dominant team for much of the first 24 minutes, wasn't finished, however.

On second down, Dominic Rhodes broke free with a 48-yard gallop on a draw play, giving Cooper first down at the 23-yard line and 12 seconds left with which to work.

But on the next play, Michael Anderson's pass for Miles Durham was intercepted in the end zone by Tomi Keah.

"It was an in-and-out route," Anderson said. "Miles read a hot read, and I threw to the corner. Their guy (Keah) made a great play."

"It was a catchable ball," said Durham, who was playing for the first time since separating his shoulder in the bi-district win over Amarillo High. "Michael put it where it needed to be. Their guy made a good play."

The interception proved to be a forerunner of things to come in the second half as the Cougars self-destructed with six more turnovers in the final 24 minutes.

Compare that to only six turnovers the Cougars had in their first five playoff games.

Despite the turnover and inability to score right before halftime, Cooper was still deadlocked at 7-7 with the Chaparrals and had the football first to start the second half.

But Aaron Santiso intercepted Anderson's pass, intended for Jesse Sharp on the second play of the half.

And things then turned ugly. Westlake took it in for a touchdown, moving 32 yards in six plays. And the Chaparrals just kept scoring and scoring.

Westlake scored on seven of its eight second-half possessions to claim its first state championship, a 55-15 victory over Cooper.

"You can't beat a good team with eight turnovers," Cooper head coach Randy Allen said. "We got beat by a good team. We haven't seen anyone cover us like they did.

"We started off throwing short, but No. 27 (Tomi Keah) was all over it. With the safety playing hard, we thought they might bite on play-action, but they didn't do it. Number 27 did a great job."

Keah finished the game with three interceptions and a fumble recovery.

How critical was the intercep- tion right before halftime?

"It was big," Allen said. "You try to talk to them, but there's a fine edge in the playoffs. The big thing then was right after half. We throw an interception, we go three-and-out and punt and then we fumble the kickoff. They hit us with three quick scores, and we were out of it."

Three touchdowns in just over 31/2 minutes of the third quarter turned Cooper's dream into a nightmare, made even more disappointing by the failure to score seconds before halftime.