10-07-2011, 01:03 PM
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll...110070368/
After not winning a single district game in Class 6A in its first three years of existence, the Cooper football team finds itself in a very different spot tonight in its fourth year - a chance to clinch first place in its first season in Class 5A.
Cooper (3-4 overall, 2-0 Class 5A, District 5) hosts South Oldham (4-3, 1-1) at 7:30 p.m. today. Because it beat Conner last week, and Conner beat South Oldham the week before, a win would wrap up first for the Jaguars.
They spent their first three seasons inching their way toward respectability. They went 2-8 in 2008, their first season, with many of the losses blowouts to Class 6A teams. Then they improved to 3-7 in 2009 with the losses a lot closer. Last season they went 3-7 with three of their district losses by seven points or less.
Cooper lost its first three games this season, two to former Class 6A foes, but coach Randy Borchers could tell his team was on the right track. It proved him right by winning three of its last four games, including a 20-13 win over Conner last week.
It was Conner that blasted Cooper in its first game, 57-0, in 2008. Borchers says the score could have been worse, too, if not for the benevolence of Conner coach Dave Trosper.
"It really showed all of our kids just how far we've come," said Borchers. "I said, 'Seniors, do you remember when you were freshmen and just how bad they beat us, and look where we are now.' It's very rewarding, not so much for me, but for these kids. They've believed in what we're doing and just kept working."
Borchers said he thought that belief would be put to the test after Cooper started the season 0-3, losing to Ryle 41-17 in a game that was 7-7 until the last play of the first half, then to Holy Cross 19-10 and to Boone County 35-14 in a game that was 14-7 in the third quarter.
"My fear was we would lose these kids after 0-3, but this is really a special group of kids - they have character and resilience," Borchers said. "Every Monday I was concerned, what are we going to get, but in a way it made them even more focused.
"A lot of it is being so young it was just a matter of maturing and cleaning up a few things that we could fix. You take 5-6 minutes out of that Ryle game we were right there and against Boone ... We were able to see on film it's not that we can't compete, it's just that we were making some mental mistakes."
The problems weren't as much with the defense early in the year as it was the offense.
The Jaguars lost standout running back D'Vontae Bradley and three linemen to graduation and Borchers tried early in the season alternating junior Tyler Morris between quarterback and tailback with sophomore Will Ludwig playing some at quarterback. He put Morris at quarterback full time a couple of weeks ago, and moved junior fullback A.J. Collins to tailback. The result has been back-to-back district wins in which Cooper rolled up 59 points after scoring 64 in the first five games combined.
"Tyler is our best all-around athlete and we're doing different things with him and things weren't clicking so we went back to him at quarterback and Collins was the fullback last year and we wanted to keep him there this year, but decided to move him to the feature back and things just jelled," Borchers said.
Now comes the biggest game in the history of the program. It's uncharted territory - having something significant for which to play.
"The biggest thing we're facing is kids haven't been in this situation and my biggest concern is these kids don't get too uptight," said Borchers. "The kids could play loose even last week against Conner, but now we can't say this, a game we have nothing to lose. We've tried to keep them loose and very upbeat and they've done a good job of treating this like any other week."
Collins said it's been pretty much business as usual this week, but admits there's a different feeling around school.
"We haven't been in this position before, but we're not scared and it helps that the student body and everyone really is supporting us now," he said. "At 0-3 there were a lot of people really questioning us, but we never had a feeling of, 'Here we go again.' Since then we came back because we really believe in what we can do. Our motto is, 'Believe,' and we really do."
After not winning a single district game in Class 6A in its first three years of existence, the Cooper football team finds itself in a very different spot tonight in its fourth year - a chance to clinch first place in its first season in Class 5A.
Cooper (3-4 overall, 2-0 Class 5A, District 5) hosts South Oldham (4-3, 1-1) at 7:30 p.m. today. Because it beat Conner last week, and Conner beat South Oldham the week before, a win would wrap up first for the Jaguars.
They spent their first three seasons inching their way toward respectability. They went 2-8 in 2008, their first season, with many of the losses blowouts to Class 6A teams. Then they improved to 3-7 in 2009 with the losses a lot closer. Last season they went 3-7 with three of their district losses by seven points or less.
Cooper lost its first three games this season, two to former Class 6A foes, but coach Randy Borchers could tell his team was on the right track. It proved him right by winning three of its last four games, including a 20-13 win over Conner last week.
It was Conner that blasted Cooper in its first game, 57-0, in 2008. Borchers says the score could have been worse, too, if not for the benevolence of Conner coach Dave Trosper.
"It really showed all of our kids just how far we've come," said Borchers. "I said, 'Seniors, do you remember when you were freshmen and just how bad they beat us, and look where we are now.' It's very rewarding, not so much for me, but for these kids. They've believed in what we're doing and just kept working."
Borchers said he thought that belief would be put to the test after Cooper started the season 0-3, losing to Ryle 41-17 in a game that was 7-7 until the last play of the first half, then to Holy Cross 19-10 and to Boone County 35-14 in a game that was 14-7 in the third quarter.
"My fear was we would lose these kids after 0-3, but this is really a special group of kids - they have character and resilience," Borchers said. "Every Monday I was concerned, what are we going to get, but in a way it made them even more focused.
"A lot of it is being so young it was just a matter of maturing and cleaning up a few things that we could fix. You take 5-6 minutes out of that Ryle game we were right there and against Boone ... We were able to see on film it's not that we can't compete, it's just that we were making some mental mistakes."
The problems weren't as much with the defense early in the year as it was the offense.
The Jaguars lost standout running back D'Vontae Bradley and three linemen to graduation and Borchers tried early in the season alternating junior Tyler Morris between quarterback and tailback with sophomore Will Ludwig playing some at quarterback. He put Morris at quarterback full time a couple of weeks ago, and moved junior fullback A.J. Collins to tailback. The result has been back-to-back district wins in which Cooper rolled up 59 points after scoring 64 in the first five games combined.
"Tyler is our best all-around athlete and we're doing different things with him and things weren't clicking so we went back to him at quarterback and Collins was the fullback last year and we wanted to keep him there this year, but decided to move him to the feature back and things just jelled," Borchers said.
Now comes the biggest game in the history of the program. It's uncharted territory - having something significant for which to play.
"The biggest thing we're facing is kids haven't been in this situation and my biggest concern is these kids don't get too uptight," said Borchers. "The kids could play loose even last week against Conner, but now we can't say this, a game we have nothing to lose. We've tried to keep them loose and very upbeat and they've done a good job of treating this like any other week."
Collins said it's been pretty much business as usual this week, but admits there's a different feeling around school.
"We haven't been in this position before, but we're not scared and it helps that the student body and everyone really is supporting us now," he said. "At 0-3 there were a lot of people really questioning us, but we never had a feeling of, 'Here we go again.' Since then we came back because we really believe in what we can do. Our motto is, 'Believe,' and we really do."