[Stardust]

A nearly 90-minute delay at halftime due to lightning helped the Cooper football team catch a needed breather, but it was the lightning-like way its offense scored that helped it stay unbeaten.

The Jaguars had three of their four scoring drives take four plays or less, including a key two-play, 61-yard drive to start the second half, as they held off Campbell County, 27-16, on Friday night at Bob Miller Stadium at Campbell County Middle School in Alexandria.

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The Cooper football program began in 2008 and won just eight of its first 33 games, but since an 0-3 start last season it has won 10 of its last 12 games, including a 4-0 start now this season. Campbell County (2-2) is the third Class 6A team that the Class 5A Jaguars have defeated this season. They already had wins over Ryle (35-6) and Boone County (10-0).

“Our kids expect to win now,” said Cooper coach Randy Borchers, who is the only head coach the program’s brief history. “I don’t think we go into a game against a team they think is better than us. We kind of have that swagger a little bit.”

Cooper raced out to a 20-0 lead four minutes into the second quarter on first-quarter touchdown passes of 47 and 33 yards from senior Tyler Morris to speedy junior Aaron Morgan and a three-yard touchdown run by hard-charging senior tailback A.J. Collins.

Campbell County, which two-platooned while Cooper had most of its players going both ways, began to wear Cooper down the final eight minutes of the first half and closed within 20-10 by halftime thanks to a three-yard TD run by senior quarterback Tyler Durham and a 41-yard field goal by senior Grant Mahoney on the final play of the half.

Then after the 90-minute delay due to the lightning, Cooper got a 43-yard run by Collins on the first play of the second half and Morris followed by racing 18 yards on an option keeper to put the Jaguars on top 27-10.

“That was huge,” said Borchers. “We were kind of on our heels. They scored 10 unanswered right before the half and we needed to answer. We said we have to set the tone and score to start the second half. I was really nervous to be honest, but we did exactly what we hoped. We felt like they were not going to score on anything quick and if we could get up two scores, three scores and force them to put drives together we felt confident we could win the game.”

Morris, who also plays safety on defense, admitted he and his teammates were getting a bit tired at the end of the first half as Campbell County ran 38 first-half plays to just 19 for Cooper.

“The second quarter they definitely started to wear us down, but we came out in the second half and set the tone,” said Morris. “That’s big time and shows how far we’ve come. We’re really believing in ourselves and have a lot of confidence.”

Morris’ improvement as a passer, and Morgan’s speed on the outside have also given the Jaguars another dimension offensively. Morris completed 7 of 12 passes for 168 yards and Morgan had five receptions for 121 yards. On the season Morris is now 17 of 39 for 353 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions.

“What teams used to do is never honor us outside and just load the box and this year they have to honor that, especially Morgan,” said Borchers.

Campbell County did close within 27-16 with 6:43 left in the third quarter when the 6-foot-4, 225-pound Durham carried tacklers into the end zone to complete a four-yard touchdown run.

The Camels drove to the Cooper 23 with just under three minutes left, but lost the ball on a fumble.

Durham finished with 165 yards rushing on 31 carries, but after passing for over 140 yards in each of the last two games he completed just 5 of 14 passes for a scant 28 yards. Campbell County finished with 267 yards total offense, 239 on the ground.

Cooper had 344 yards, 169 coming on the ground from Collins on 20 rushes.

Campbell County hurt itself in many different ways in the first half. They were penalized seven times for 67 yards in the half, including a holding penalty that wiped out a first down run to the Cooper 5 and a personal foul on a Cooper pass that went incomplete on 3rd-and-9 at the Campbell County 19. That was followed by two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties before the next snap that led to the three-yard TD run by Collins. That TD run came one play after standout senior safety Tyler Walsh jumped in front of a Morris slant pass and would have gone 99 yards for a touchdown, but he dropped the ball.http://nky.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...309070124/

[Stardust]

Cooper 14 6 7 0 -- 27
Campbell County 0 10 6 0 -- 16

C-Morgan 47 pass from Morris (kick blocked)
C-Morgan 33 pass from Morris (Morris run)
C-Collins 3 run (kick failed)
CC-Durham 3 run (Mahoney kick)
CC-FG Mahoney 41
C-Morris 18 run (Turner kick)
CC-Durham 4 run (kick failed)

Records: Cooper 4-0, Campbell County 2-1.

[Wideleft01]

The big question here is "how bad is ncc"?

[jarcoach]

NCC saw them scrimmage cooper, really not that good they made alot of mistakes.

[Stardust]

Let's keep NCC out of this thread!