Lubbock Cooper Routs Stephenville

By Chris Doelle
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Updated: September 20, 2015

photo: melodee gunter

5A Pirates too much at home for 4A Yellow Jackets

LUBBOCK - It was a packed Pirate Stadium Saturday afternoon as Class 5A Lubbock Cooper looked for a repeat of last season against #4 Class 4A DI Stephenville. Despite the long road trip, Stephenville’s “Can Fans” faithfully filled the bleachers and made racket in support of their Yellow Jackets. At the end of the day though, Lubbock Cooper sent them home silent.

With 7:06 to play in the first quarter, Lubbock Cooper QB Jarret Doege connected with Seth Watts to put up the Pirate’s first points of the afternoon. Kicker, Ethan Ekdahl added an extra point, making the score 7-0.

The Yellow Jackets were forced to punt on their first possession. The ball back in their hands, Lubbock Cooper made a steady drive down the field. Doege in trouble, pitched to Watts who rushed his way into the red zone for the Pirates with 3:06 left in the first quarter. A few downs later, Doege found himself in trouble again but this time could not escape Stephenville’s Zoe Kendall for an 8 yard loss on third down. Lubbock Cooper called on their kicker, and Ekdahl put three more points up on the board for the Pirates making the score 10-0 with 1:11 to go in the first quarter.

The Cooper defense took over immediately when Jon-Clark Giddings, on the return for the Yellow Jackets, was brought down by Kaleb Miers at the 13 yard line. A few plays later, Stephenville QB Easton Jones took a big hit causing a loose ball, which Cooper DE Kirby Vinson snatched and ran in for a Pirate touchdown. The first quarter would come to an end with the score Lubbock Cooper 17, Stephenville 0.

The first play of the second quarter, Cooper FS Ty Thomas caught CB Jay Garibay’s deflection for an interception. Doege taking the reins, completed a pass to Nick Howerton for a 24 yard gain. A few plays later, Watts took the ball up the middle and found the end zone. With 9:02 to play in the half, Cooper had 24 points up on the board.

On Stephenville’s next possession, they were forced to punt yet again after Cooper’s Kirby Vinson earned his second sack of the day on third down. With 1:44 left in the second quarter, Cooper CB AJ Perez earned a “pick six” to extend the Pirate’s lead. Ekdahl’s kick was good once again, and the Pirate’s would dominate the scoreboard 31-0 at the end of the half.

The Pirate’s continued to take care of business in the second half. With 10:37 to go in the third quarter, Perez once again skillfully played his role in the relentless Cooper defense by snagging his second interception of the afternoon. Doege soon found his way into the end zone, and the Pirates continued to control the game with a score of 38-0, which is where it would remain for the third quarter.

With 9:02 on the clock, Cooper began to make their way into Jacket territory, but found trouble in the red zone. The Pirate’s called on their kicker yet again, and Ekdahl didn’t let them down. The scoreboard was looking like a promising shut out with 5:37 left to play - Lubbock Cooper 41, Stephenville 0.

Stephenville was determined to get some points up on the board though. With 4:48 to go in the game, Jones connected with Malachi Taylor for a Yellow Jacket first down. Immediately after, Jones found Nico Madrid for another.

With 2:45 left to play, the Jackets finally found their way through the Cooper defense when Jones nailed WR Josh Nowell down field for a Stephenville touchdown.

After the game, Lubbock Cooper Head Coach Max Kattwinkel explained why the Pirates were so mentally prepared for this game, “We had a tough ball game last week against Frenship”, he said, “I felt like we needed to perform better and I think our kids were pretty hungry coming into today and I think that’s kind of the result you saw. Not anything against Stephenville, but our kids were hungry and ready to come out here and prove that we could play.”

Kattwinkel also added his thoughts on the Pirates’ unmerciful defensive performance, “They’ve been really doing that all year for us”, he said, “They’ve played really well, even when our offense wasn’t clicking and they just continued to do that today. They caused some turnovers and played big again.”

After a tough loss last week, Lubbock Cooper bounced back quickly at Pirate Stadium this afternoon with a 41-7 victory over the Stephenville Yellow Jackets. Cooper continues their season next Friday on the road against the (2-2) Class 4A DII Monahans Loboes.

by Melodee Gunter