Abilene Cooper crushes Lubbock High, clinches playoff berth

Four Cooper players ran for touchdowns as the Cougars rolled up 223 yards rushing in a 54-7 victory over Lubbock High in a District 2-5A Division II game Friday at Shotwell Stadium.

Chris Warren threw for 148 yards and two more TDs as the Coogs (5-4 overall, 3-1 district) clinched a playoff berth for the 16^th consecutive season.

“I thought we did a good job getting out to a fast start in the first quarter, and we worked together,” Cooper coach Aaron Roan said. “The defense got some turnovers, got us some short fields and we put points on the board. We were able to come out with the win.”

Cooper still can get a share of the district title with a victory over Southtown rival Wylie (6-3, 4-0) on Friday at Sandifer Stadium. The Bulldogs pulled out a 27-24 victory over Palo Duro late Friday night in Amarillo.

“That’s one of the things you want to be able to do, put yourself in a situation to do it, and we have,” Roan said about the chance to still get a piece of the district title. “So, we’ve got to go out there and go play, execute at a high level and give ourselves a chance to win.”

Wichita Falls Rider (6-3, 3-1), which beat Plainview 56-7 on Friday in Wichita Falls, can get a piece of the district title with a Cooper win next week – forcing one of the three to be the No. 3 seed and open the playoffs in El Paso.

Cooper wasted little time putting away the Westerners (2-7, 0-4) . The Coogs scored 30 points in the first quarter. Warren threw a 49-yard TD pass to Cam Herron just minutes into the game.

Tavaris Whitfield, Herron and D’Andre Ralston added TD runs of 2, 24 and 16 yards in the quarter. The Coogs also got a safety late in the quarter.

Ralston ran 1-yard for his second TD early in the second quarter, and he caught a 21-yard pass from Warren for another TD later in the quarter as Cooper led 44-0 at halftime.

Austin Cummins ran 28 yards for a TD in the third quarter, and Kamune Mrisho booted a 23-yard field goal in the fourth quarter for a 54-0 lead.

Lubbock High avoided the shutout when Zeke Rodriguez ran 2 yards for a socre with 1:27 left in the game.

The Coogs amassed 390 yards of total offense, while limiting the Westerners to 184 – just 67 rushing.

Cooper also forced three turnovers, including an interception by Gavin Garcia.

Whitfield led the Coogs in rushing (10-52) as seven Cooper players carried the ball.

Rodriguez led Lubbock High with 41 yards on 15 carries. Ivan McGwier completed 6-of-17 passes for 94 yards.

DISTRICT 2-5A Division II

Cooper 54, Lubbock High 7

FIRST QUARTER

COO − Cam Herron 49 pass from Chris Warren (Kamune Mrisho kick), 10:27

COO − Tavaris Whitfield 2 run (Mrisho kick), 8:00

COO − Herron 24 run (Mrisho kick), 6:52

COO − D'Andre Ralston 16 run (Mrisho kick), 4:04

COO − Safety, 2:30

SECOND QUARTER

COO − Ralston 1 run (Mrisho kick),11:53

COO − Ralston 21 pass from Warren (Mrisho kick),7:16

THIRD QUARTER

COO − Austin Cummins 28 run (Mrisho kick),8:36

FOURTH QUARTER

COO − Mrisho 23 FG,9:45

LUB − Zeke Rodriguez 2 run (Yael Ontiveros kick), 1:27

TEAM STATISTICS

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Lubbock High, Zeke Rodriguez 15-41, Harley Rojas 3-17, Kylor Petrowski 7-9, Sean Briceno 3-7, J. Avery 3-6, Nate Vasquez 1-2, Samuel Teran 1-2, TEAM 1-(minus 6), Ivan McGwier 3-(minus 11. Cooper, Tavaris Whitfield 10-52, Christian Rico 2-40, Daniel Bray 5-38, Cam Herron 2-31, Austin Cummins 2-27, D'Andre Ralston 4-25, Chris Warren 2-10.

PASSING: Lubbock High, McGwier 6-17-1−94, Petrowski 1-1-0−23, Avery 0-1-0−0. Cooper, Warren 10-14-1−148, Cummins 2-7-0−19.

RECEIVING: Lubbock High, Avery 3-60, Rojas 3-48, Zeke Rodriguez 1-9. Cooper, Amante McGowan 3-54, Malik Jackson 3-19, Herron 2-54, Ralston 2-28, Bray 1-10, Clayton Gift 1-2.

RECORDS: Lubbock High 2-7, 0-4; Cooper 5-4, 3-1.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Abilene Cooper beat Lubbock High in a District 2-5A DII football game