Rhodes named offensive player of year

By LANCE FLEMING / Staff Writer

Cooper running back Dominic Rhodes did some phenomenal things on the football field this season.

Among them his 57-yard run on the final play of the game to beat Amarillo High in the bi-district round of the playoffs.

But maybe his biggest accomplishment was lifting his team on his back in the playoffs and carrying it to the Class 5A Division II state championship game.

For his efforts, Rhodes is the Reporter-News' Class 4A-5A Offensive Player of the Year. Stephenville defensive back Landon Kribbs, continuing a long tradition of great Yellowjacket defensive backs, is the Defensive Player of the Year; and Cooper head coach Randy Allen, who led the Cougars to the state title game for the first time since 1967, is the Coach of the Year.

Rhodes led a contingent of nine Cooper players to make the 4A-5A team: quarterback Michael Anderson, receiver Miles Durham, linemen Joey Heath and Matt Royals, kicker Courtney Martin, defensive tackles Kevin Stevenson and Roy Strahan and safety Melvin Barnes.

Stephenville had five players on the team, Brownwood and Sweetwater each had four, Abilene High had two and Graham one.

Rhodes might have been the most dominant player in the state over the course of the last 10 weeks of the season. He helped rally the Cougars from a 3-3 start to a 12-4 finish, along the way beating Odessa Permian, Amarillo High, Flower Mound Marcus and Richardson Lake Highlands.

He was impressive in the regular season with 1,096 yards rushing, but he was unbelievable in the Cougars' six-game playoff run.

In those six games he rushed for 1,087 yards and scored 14 touchdowns (17 overall). What was the most impressive thing, however, is that Rhodes did most of that after Durham - Cooper's top receiver - was lost for 41/2 games with a shoulder injury suffered at the end of the first half against Amarillo in the bi-district round.

With no real deep passing threat to worry about, defenses keyed on Rhodes and they still couldn't stop him.

For the season, Rhodes rushed for 2,183 yards and 25 touchdowns on 323 carries. He scored 33 touchdowns rushing, receiving and returning kicks.

Kribbs picked up the mantle passed down by Keith Graham, Jeff Thompson and Jason Bragg at Stephenville.

He had 44 solo tackles, 133 assists, one fumble recovery and intercepted four passes from his free safety position. He also helped the Yellowjackets turn around their season after a mediocre start and advance to the state quarterfinals.

"We really have had some outstanding defensive backs over the last four or five years, and he fits the mold as a talented, aggressive and intelligent player," Stephenville head coach Art Briles said of Kribbs. "He really improved as the year went on and turned out to be a really fine defensive football player for us."

On the offense, Anderson completed 160 of 267 passes (60 percent) for 2,285 yards and 21 touchdowns. His favorite target was Durham, who caught 50 passes for 831 yards and eight touchdowns.

In the backfield are Stephenville's Bill Odell (1,158 yards and 16 TDs), Brownwood's Audey Mitchell (1,556 yards and 23 TDs) and Sweetwater's Jason Blueford (1,390 yards and 17 TDs). The receivers are Durham and Graham's Lance Cauthen (50 catches for 1,001 yards and 6 TDs).

The linemen are Sweetwater's Tony Luz, Stephenville's Kelly Terrill, Heath and Royals from Cooper and Brownwood's Scott Kelly. Cooper's Martin was 58 for 58 on extra points and had seven field goals, including a 22-yarder in overtime to beat Richardson Lake Highlands in the semifinals.

The defensive line is Travis Clark of Brownwood, Kandon Culberson of Abilene High and Stevenson and Strahan of Cooper. Strahan's forced fumble and fumble recovery on the first play of overtime against Lake Highlands helped the Cougars knock off the Wildcats.

The linebackers are Jack Graves of Stephenville, David "Spider" Bennett of Abilene High and Jonathon Palafox of Sweetwater.

The secondary consists of Cooper's Barnes, Ahmad Brooks of Abilene High, Bryan Clark of Brownwood and Shedrick Williams of Sweetwater.