Archive : September 2006

September 30, 2006

Cheers and Jeers - Coogs vs Mustangs

Cheers:
Cheers to the entire Cooper offense who all played a part in helping quarterback Zach Stewart to a new school and district passing record with 453 yards. Obvious cheers to Stewart who is looking terrific this season. On the field that is. I mean his gameplay!

Jeers:
Jeers to the Mustangs who all night took out their frustrations of getting beaten with unsportsmanlike conduct and an overall lack of class. Talk is cheap boys, Coogs prefer to let their game play do the talking.

Cheers:
Cheers to all the great Cougar fans last night who came out wearing their red and blue and brought out their homemade noisemakers and yelled their heads off in support of their team. I even know of one guy who painted his face like the Ultimate Warrior in support of the Coogs. What a king!

Jeers:
Jeers to casual fans who come to the game and then sit their as though they would rather be somewhere else. In case you don’t know I am obviously a season ticket holder, so I am noting fans who are also sitting in the season ticket holder section. If you’re a season ticket holder the least you could do is find a red or blue shirt to wear and yell every now and then. You paid good money to be there so act like it!

Cheers:
Cheers to the Cougar coaching staff who did an excellent job all week of preparing our Cougars to face Coronado and then executed their game plan Friday night. I have been critical at times of some coaching decisions and I will probably find something in the future to nit-pick about, but overall I appreciate Coach Spradlin and his staff more than I make known. Great job against the Mustangs coaches!

Cheers:
Cheers to our backs and receivers who continued to run hard all night and get the tough yardage. I guarantee our opponent’s defenses are being told that they have to get 3-4 men to be sure and wrap up our ball carriers cuz they ain’t going down without a fight! Jo Jo Jand A’Mon are continuing in the Coogs tradition of great running backs.

Cheers:
Cheers to Big Drigg who’s name was constantly called over the PA system all night. Driggers is undersized but definitely has a nose for the ball.

Jeers:
Jeers to the Cougar defense, namely the D-line who seemed to be gassed the majority of the game. I am sure people want to argue that they were worn out because they played so tough, but the reality is you have to be ready to play the full 48 minutes at top speed. It’s not always easy but that is why you put in the work in practice.

Cheers:
Here is another group I have been critical of previously and they still have room for improvement, but Cheers to the offensive line who on several drives allowed the Coogs to change up the pace and run the ball all over the Mustang D for huge gains. Nothing is more heartbreaking for a defense to be run on and Bonilla, Jase, Hay, Taylor, and Paris opened the holes up. Lost in the excitement of 453 passing yards is the fact that Jo Jo and A’mon had a combined 20 carries for 198 yards. You can see that is just a hair under 10 yards a carry, which is very impressive.

Jeers:
Jeers to KTXS reporter George Levesque for saying that Cooper’s 61 points scored Friday night is the first time the Coogs broke the 60-point barrier in a decade. The reality is the Coogs put 61 points on the board just as recently as 2 years ago when they beat Odessa 61-7 in 2004. (Cheers to Phil for originally pointing this out). I know nobody’s perfect and we all make mistakes, but as a reporter you have a responsibility to insure the accuracy of your information. This is something that wasn’t hard to look up either.

If you have any more Cheers or Jeers to add, please do so with a comment below!

Cooper vs Coronado Summary

If you went to Friday night’s game that saw the Coogs destroy the Mustangs (you can’t even spell Mustangs?!!!) then let me just say WOW!!! The Cougars did an excellent job Friday night beating a good Lubbock Coronado team. The Cougars are peaking at the right time as they are preparing to go into a tough district schedule. The Cougar offense got it going quick and often as all night long the Mustang defense had no answer for the Cougars quick spread O. I saw a few things from the O that had previously been missing. First off, I found it much improved the way the Cougars ran the no-huddle Friday night. For the most part the offense hurried to the line and got the next play off quickly after the previous one. Unlike previous weeks, they did not take 15-20 seconds at the line getting the play in before snapping the ball. This week you noticed the quick, no-huddle kept the defense on their heels all evening and did not allow them to make personnel changes to preferred matchups. Second, we finally got to see the spread offense run the way it is supposed to be and exploit the matchups that make it a popular offense that is tough to stop. What I mean is that we saw the ball “spread” around the field with completions made short, intermediate, and deep in the middle of the field and both sidelines.
On defense, we saw the Coogs completely unleash the blitz for really the first time all year. The secondary played great all game with tight one on one coverage on the sidelines especially on the deep ball. This confidence in the one on one coverage allowed the Coogs to unleash the blitz and bring the extra backers late in the game. The Mustangs simply were not prepared for the Cougar blitz and could not block the extra defenders. However, now that the blitzes are being unveiled more, look for future opponents to have them scouted better. Therefore the Coogs still need to find a way to get pressure on the quarterback from their front four alone. There were a couple of times that the ends brought good pressure but the Coogs are still struggling with breaking down and making the tackle.
Special teams also looked improved this week with nice returns on kickoff returns and better coverage on kickoffs. The Coogs punt formation worries me some, as it seems every week our opponent is getting closer and closer to blocking one. I guess if we continue to get the 15 yard personal foul penalty for roughing the kicker, then that’s okay as long as Lil’ Swink survives.
Overall, great job by the Cougars for keeping up the intensity all night and not allowing the Mustangs back in the game. Congratulations to our Cooper boys, keep up the hard work next week as you prepare for Brownwood and then on to District and our goal of restoring the Roarrrrrrrrrr!!!

September 23, 2006

San Angelo Central Summary

A wise man once said, “we back those Cooper boys, they go to Cooper high, they’ll never let us down, we’ll fight with might, the red and blue tonight…” Have sweeter words ever been sung? Yes but that is beside the point. I have already stated how proud I am of the Coogs but as well as the Cougars played Thursday night, it is a dangerous thing to be satisfied with where they are at and not continue working toward their ultimate goals.
With that being said, here are some areas of improvement that the Cougars still struggled in against the Bobcats.
First, the Cougars still had too many unnecessary penalties. Are there any necessary penalties? Well that is like asking if anyone gets tracted, and the man who asked that was far too wise. The point is the Cougars need to eliminate foolish false starts (not paying attention) and especially eliminate the personal fouls. 15 yards isn’t worth it to get in that extra push after the whistle and besides, the Cougars will let their game speak for themselves. Second, we must be better tacklers! It is imperative that defenders wrap up and not allow extra yardage from broken arm tackles! The majority, if not all of Central’s big gains on offense came when their ball carrier was allowed the extra yards due to missed tackles. Thirdly, I still think the Cougars are taking too long to get their plays in on offense. I am not sure of all the intricacies of this new Spradlin offense, but I do know that the whole advantage of running a “no-huddle” is to keep the defense on it’s heels and keep the ball moving at an accelerated pace. Several times the Coogs snapped the ball with only 5-7 seconds left on the play clock. Which brings me to clock management. Again I was frustrated somewhat with the way the Coogs managed the clock at the end of the first half.
Another area to improve is turnovers, I know there was at least one fumble by a back and then the turnover on a punt where the ball hit a Cooper player and was recovered by Central. It may be only 2 turnovers, but that is 2 too many in my opinion. Also the Cooper offensive line needs to do a better job of getting push off the ball especially in short yardage. One example is the Coogs had a first and goal and ran two unsuccessful plays from inside the five yd line in their goal line package. On third down the Coogs were forced to go 4 wide. 4 wide on the goal line!! Finally, one of the biggest weaknesses of the Cooper game has to be special teams. I was proud of the Cougars for making their FG’s when they had to, but they also missed two extra points! Also the kick-off coverage seems susceptible to me, the guys need to do a better job of staying in their lane, flying down the field, and making the sure tackle. As for the return game, well so far it is non-existent. I don’t recall the Cougars getting any kind of punt return all evening. Many times the ball is not fielded when I think it could be and when it is we need to get some positive yards. As for kick-off, I know we broke a long one later in the game, but I think that was poor tackling on Central’s part. I credit the return man’s effort, but I believe the Cougars front group needs to do a much better job of getting hat on somebody and then sticking with that man. Special teams are a very important part of football and have decided many a football game over the years. If the Cougars want to play championship ball, then they will need to execute like champions in their special teams play. The good thing is all these areas can easily be improved with hard work and determination. As the coach of the Brisco Hawks says, “You know what you’re capable of, I just haven’t seen it yet.” Another wise man once said, "Good, better, best - never let it rest - until your good is better and your better is best!"
Now onto the positives. First of all, I can’t say enough how much improved the Coogs intensity was from the Temple game. Especially coming out from halftime, the Cooper players had their fires lit and were pumped up ready to take it to those Bobcats. Second, defense did an excellent job on maintaining gap responsibilities and plugging up the running lanes. Excellent job by the defensive line by re-establishing the line of scrimmage in the Bobcat backfield all night. Excellent job by the linebackers and DB’s of coming up in a hurry in run support. Receivers did a much, much better job of catching the ball this week as I only counted one dropped ball all evening. Not only that but the receivers are doing an excellent job of getting up the field after the catch and getting the tough yards. Speaking of getting the tough yards, the backs did an excellent job too of grinding out the tough yards and refusing to go down on the first hit. Back to the DB’s, their coverage was much improved and the guys did a good job of timing the pass so that they broke on it at just the right time to knock it away or to put the hit on the receiver so they couldn’t haul it in. I know I have already criticized the clock management of the coaches, but I do commend them for the way they managed the clock at the end of the game. Their play calling was excellent and it allowed the Cougars to eat up yards and clock so that the Bobcats were helpless to do anything.
To wrap up, I have purposely left off specific names of Coogs who did an excellent job because the Cougars are a team. They lose together and win together and we all know that it is a team effort. I only look for the Cougars to improve as the season goes on. I have had many people compliment me who are not even Cooper fans that this years team looks like it has what it takes to get the job done. I couldn’t agree more, if the Cougars play to the best of their ability. Then and only then can the Cougars win their next few games and go into district with the momentum to bring home the bell and make it back to the play-offs! Go Cougars!

Cougars Losers No More!

Congratulations to the Cooper Cougars who won their first game of the season and snapped their 7 game losing streak with a big win over San Angelo Central Thursday! Go Cougars! I cannot express how proud I am of these young men, not only for getting a “W” in the win column but for the way the Coogs got the job done. Before I explain what I mean I have to go back a week ago to the Cougars game versus Temple. You may recall that for my Temple preview, (which you can read here) I said that coming off the bye week, I was worried that the Cougars would be flat and that playing an 0-17 team, it would be very easy for the Coogs to underestimate the Wildcats and get beat. If you saw the game against Temple, then you know that is exactly what happened. The Cougars played an extremely sloppy game and they allowed a less-talented Temple team to make them look foolish. The most heart-breaking aspect of the Temple loss for me was the way the Cougars never seemed to get fired up, they played flat, and they simply did not play Cooper Cougar football for a lack of better words. I personally was so dissatisfied with the Cooper effort last Friday night that I did not even write a posting for that game because as the saying goes, “if you do not have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” The one positive that I hoped to come out of the Temple game was that I knew how bitter a taste the loss left I my mouth, how much more so for the players and coaches. I fully believed that this short week to San Angelo Central would be a turning point in the Cougars season. The way I saw it the Coogs had two choices, they could roll over and lose their confidence and simply go through the motions for the rest of the season OR they could realize what happens when you don’t prepare 100%, don’t give your very best effort for 48 minutes, and you expect your opponent to roll over for you. The Coogs then had to make up their minds that they were going to do everything in their power to restore the roar to a proud football program and that is exactly what they did Thursday night!
The Cougars played their brand of ball Thursday night. What is Cougar football you might ask? Well is means doing the little things right, like no foolish penalties. It means knowing your assignment and fulfilling it, even if it may not bring a player personal glory. Cougar football is tackling and blocking they way you were taught, being fundamentally sound. Cougar football is executing the plays the way you have practiced all week. Cougar football is going all out until the whistle blows. It is not getting down if everything isn’t going perfect, but rather overcoming adversity. Cougar football is playing the game with intensity and class. Were the Cougars perfect against the Bobcats? Certainly not, but the Cougars did an excellent job of making the leap of turning this proud program around and letting the state of Texas know that the Abilene Cooper Cougars are a force to be reckoned with. Cooper fans across that state are proud of them for that! Even the intensity dog would be proud! Go Cougars!

September 14, 2006

Temple's One and Only, Dalvin Brown

As reported before, the Cougars will travel to Temple this Friday to face the Wildcats. Temple has a big man named Dalvin Brown who ain't no joke. Mr. Brown placed second in the State Powerlifting meet last year as a junior. His total was 1770 lbs with a 730 lb squat, a 640 lb deadlift, and a 400 lb bench. As you can see he is almost as strong as me. I hope the Cougar D-line is ready. I believe Cooper DT Zach Rose will be ready as his brudder Pete has been preparing him all week by shouting "Oh, Dalvin Brown!" everytime he blocked him in practeese.
Without further delay, the Cooper blog brings you exclusive pics of the legendary Dalvin Brown...


Dalvin.jpg

As you can see he pushes rhymes like weight. His hair is nappy, but at least he has a grill. You can see more pics of the big man here.

Make sure you are at Wildcat Stadium Friday night to see the Coogs telekinesis Temple!

September 12, 2006

Temple Wildcats Preview

This week the Cougars of Abilene head to Temple to take on the Wildcats. So here is a quick preview/review of the Temple Wildcats. It’s not a Chicago Bears one, but it will have to do.

The Temple Wildcats are 0-2 to begin the 2006 season, losing to Dallas Wylie in week 0 (21-7) and Round Rock McNeil (21-14) last Friday. Temple is currently on a 17 game losing streak going back to 2004. Before you think that this is a cake-walk game, consider this: the Cougars are on a losing streak of their own having lost six games in a row. The Cougars themselves haven’t tasted victory since September 23, 2005 so if we are going to simply look at records, then the Coogs don’t make a strong case themselves for having this game in the bag. I have cautioned a couple of the Cougar players not to sleep on the Wildcats this week. With that being said, I do think the Cougars can win this game if they go in and play the way they are capable of playing. The Cougars didn’t have a game last week, so I am interested in seeing what kind of attitude the Cougars will come out with this Friday. It was great to see the Cougars fired up for their first game two weeks ago, I hope they bring that same fire with them on the road. If so perhaps the Cougars can be the team that snaps the losing streak and Temple will have to go on one more week with the bitter taste of defeat in their mouths. Do worms have mouthes? I have no idea but I do know it would be embarrassing if the Wildcats got their first win in over two years against the Coogs!

Now to preview Temple. According to Dave Campbell magazine, Temple has five offensive and five defensive starters returning to a team that went 0-10 last season. Dave Campbell also notes the following regarding the 2006 season: Second-year Coach Monsen says traditional-power Temple will improve because of his players’ familiarity with his offensive and defensive systems. The key returnee is QB Jackson, the leading passer (537 yards, 3 TDs) and rusher (380 yards, 2 TDs) from last year’s team. OL Brown, a state powerlifting finalist, did not give up a sack last season.

Here are Temple’s “Players to Watch” according to 5A Texas football:
QB Terrell Jackson Sr 6'0 180 Temple
OL Dalvin Brown Sr 6'1 350 Temple
WR Kelvin Neely Sr 5'8 165 Temple
DE Nico Curtis Sr 6'5 220 Temple
FS Anderson Johnson Sr 5'9 180 Temple

Dalvin Brown is probably Temple’s best prospect according to various websites and articles. Brown is big, he is listed at 350 so he most likely weighs closer to 370 maybe more because we all know people lie about their weights in programs, especially linemen. Last fall Brown was a state powerlifting finalist. His numbers from his qualifying meet in powerlifting were 390 bench press, 730 squat, and 650 deadlift so he isn’t just fat, he is very strong too.

Read a preview of Temple’s district, 13-5A, here.

Here is an article about Temple’s loss to McNeil last week. The article mentions that the Wildcats are struggling in special teams having a punt blocked. McNeil outgained Temple 318-197 yards but went into half-time tied 7-7 and it took a last second interception by McNeil to seal the victory.

Here is an article about Temple’s loss to Wylie (Dallas, not Abilene) in week 0.

Also of note: Temple’s colors are red and blue also so don’t get confused. Also they have just installed new turf and are in the process of building a new “Wildcat Stadium” There may be some incomplete areas to the stadium such as I know they will not have their scoreboard complete. Also, the Cooper game will not only be the Wildcats’ home opener for this season but also Parent’s Night at Wildcat Stadium. You can imagine the Wildcats will be fired up and ready to play, so the Coogs better show up ready to play themselves. Who will step up for the Coogs and tell them, “It’s our turn!!!”


Please comment and leave your best encouraging alliteration for the Cooper Cougars against the Temple Wildcats. For example, Topple Temple or Whip the Wildcats.

September 9, 2006

Marty Secord Update

Just for fun...and cuz the great Coogs had a bye this week...(to the tune of Ranger Joe) it's time for a Marty Secord update!

If you don't know, Coach Secord was hired as the athletic director and head football coach at Frisco Wakeland. Wakeland is in district 9-3A. Frisco Wakeland was open in week 0, but the Wolverines played Frisco Liberty's JV squad this Friday for their first game ever. And guess what... the Marty Secord's were victorious, winning 19-0!! Congrats Marty Secords! (by the way, please do not leave comments asking me if Wakeland's mascot is really a Marty Secord. If you do I will answer you, yes. Although it would be very cool if a school mascot were named after a specific person, alas this is not the case. Wakeland are the Wolverines. But this better be their mascot).

Here is a nice little article about the Marty Secord's first year program and what it's like getting kids to play for a new team.

Did you know???? Mansfield Summit began their first year of varsity football in 2002 and their record that year was an impressive 5-5. The next year Summit was in the playoffs and we all know that the Tigers are currently a respectable football team. (shout-outs J-Chiles) So don't tell me that if you are a new team you are expected to stink.

Remember, Situ keeps you up on information like the local news. (shout-outs DMB)

September 3, 2006

Coogs Just Ran Out of Time...

Anyone who saw the Cougars game against Weatherford Saturday evening could all agree on two things. 1) It was a heartbreaking loss that saw the Cougar men play their toughest until the final seconds ran out 2) we sure could have used some timeouts at the end of the game!

Weatherford had the luxury of simply running out the clock at the end of the game. The Cougar defense came up big holding the Kangaroos and forcing a turnover on downs, but without any way to stop the clock the Coogs were helpless to watch the time run out on them. So how did the Cougars get to the end of the game with no time outs left? They were forced to burn them when the offense was running out of time getting the plays in from the sideline. This mistake will be remedied as the season goes on so I am not too worried about that. What did bother me was the indecisiveness on whether to kick the PAT or go for 2 after the Coogs scored to take a 22-21 lead with 2:52 to play in the third. At this point it should be noted that the Cougars had already burned their first two timeouts so they really needed to try and conserve the last one. But the bigger question is what was the indecisiveness in whether to kick or go for two? It seemed to me an easy choice that you should go for two in this situation. Every coach on every level of football knows that if you are ahead by one you would want to go for two especially in a close game like the one the Coogs were involved in. Here is the reasoning. If you kick and make the PAT, you get one point so your lead is two points. Well a two point lead is no better than a one point lead the reason being a FG will put your opponent ahead either way. However if you go for two and make it, then you are up by three points which is significant because your opponent can’t beat you with a FG. But what if they wouldn’t have made the two point conversion? Well then they would still be winning by one and like I just stated a one or two point lead makes no difference as your opponent takes the lead on a FG either way. So now it is established that the Coogs should have gone for two in the first place. HOWEVER… once the Coogs saw that the clock was running out I think they should have just kicked the PAT. What? I may seem like I am contradicting myself but follow along. The Coogs obviously agreed with me that the right decision was to go for the 2PC. That is why they called a time-out so that they wouldn’t have lost 5 yards on their attempt as obviously scoring from 7 yards out is much harder than 2 yards out. BUT, I think the one, last time-out was more valuable than the than one point. So how about letting the clock run out, taking the penalty, then just booting the PAT because the five yards wouldn’t have made nearly as much of a difference on the kick than on the 2PC attempt.
So here are some scenarios of what could have been just for the sake of argument…
The final score was 28-25. If the Coogs would have:
Made 2PC , final score - 28-27
Made PAT, final score – 28-26. Either way a FG would have won the game. The biggest difference wasn’t the missed 2PC but rather the burned timeout the Cougars could have surely used at the end of the game.


CHS vs Weatherford - How'd the Coogs do?

This is to report on what areas the Coogs looked good and what areas need some work.
First we’ll tackle offense, starting with the play of the quarterback. I think Zach Stewart overall played an excellent game. Stewart has a lot stronger arm that I had thought and I think he is capable on making all the throws asked of him. There were some deep balls were Stewart needed more touch on the ball but all of his crossing routes and passes in the flat looked to be right on the mark. Stewart also great moving in the pocket and throwing on the run. On many throws he looked like he may have held onto the ball a tad too long, but overall I liked what I saw in Stewart. He made good decisions in throwing away the ball instead of into coverage also.
Next the offensive line. The offensive line did an excellent job in protection all night long. The only time Stewart was pressured was on coverage sacks when no receiver was open and Stewart had to hold the ball far too long. The o-line also did a good job pulling on their counters and misdirection. However I would have liked to see more push up front on short yardage. This o-line appears to be groomed for the type of offense the Cougars are looking to run this year.
The wide receivers still had too many drops, but did a much better job than in the scrimmage. I liked how they got up the field on the quick hitters and got the tough yards. The receivers who didn’t get the ball were asked to block the DB’s on the line on the quick passes and they will need some work on that in the coming weeks. Getting the timing down with their quarterback is something that will come as the season moves on.
Finally the running backs also looked good toting the rock last night. The two headed monster of Jones and Pimpton continues the Cooper tradition of talented running backs. They backs hit the inside holes hard and kept their feet churning until the whistle. Also it may not seem like much but I noticed the backs covering up the ball well when they were about to get hit.
Overall I was pleased with offense. I think as they continue to put in new plays and if Stewart can connect on the deep ball this offense has potential to be scary.
Now onto the defense. The defensive line did a good job of re-establishing the line of scrimmage during the game. The biggest struggle was keeping containment on the edge.
The linebackers did a good job of plugging the middle and other than the 70 yard run that went up the gut, the defense did a pretty good job of shutting down the run. I would have liked to see the backers flow to the ball better, especially on the pitch out to the sideline. The secondary struggled especially in the second half. The Kangaroos on one drive picked on the dragon on three consecutive plays. The Coogs seemed to be in man to man coverage and later made an adjustment so that their defenders weren’t on an island alone with their receiver. On the Kangaroos last drive the defense shut down the pass and made the plays when they needed to. I would have liked to see more pressure on the quarterback but overall the Cougars kept the Kangaroo offense in check. The Cougar defense was killed by the big play but I am sure they will remedy that in their next two weeks of preparation.
Finally, the coaches/intangibles. I have to say in all my years of watching Cooper football it’s hard to think of a bigger rush of adrenaline than seeing the Coogs come out in red jerseys. And the way they not only surprised the fans but the players too was an excellent motivator. Does the offense not have any intermediate pass routes? It seemed every pass attempt was either the quick hitter in the flat or something deep. I don’t recall seeing a single curl route or comeback run all night. If the Coogs want to be successful in the passing game it is essential to add those routes to the repertoire. Comebacks will keep the DB’s on their heels and help out on the long ball. There is only one other questionable coaching decision and that was the clock management. I will cover that in the next post.

Cooper vs Weatherford - Good News and Bad News

I have good news and bad news regarding the Cougars heartbreaking loss to Weatherford last night. First, the bad news. That was not a good Weatherford team that the Cougars lost to last night. I know people would like to argue that with me, and actually I look forward to hearing some good arguments as to why you disagree. However, I am not basing my case on what other websites or publications have ranked the Kangaroos. I maintain that the Cougars faced a sub par football team last night based solely on the game that I watched. Here is why I maintain that Weatherford is not a good football team, at least the team I saw Friday evening. First, Weatherford did not display a consistent offense. The Cougars had their backs broken by the big play. The Kangaroos first score was on a 70 yard run and then they relied on blown coverages by the Cougars and several “trick” plays to move the ball. I guess it can be maintained that you do whatever it takes to win, but Weatherford’s halfback passes won’t work deep into the season when opponents have scouted them. Also the Kangaroo’s shot themselves in the foot several times, whether it was pass interference to give the Coogs another shot right before half or a foolish off-sides penalty on fourth down to give the Coogs a free first down. The Coogs can be sure that as the season wears on they will see more disciplined defenses who will not give them free yardage. So the bad news is Weatherford was not a great football team. The Coogs lost to a fairly good football team, who will probably make the playoffs but the Cougars can be sure that 3 to 4 of the teams that they face in district play will be much tougher than the Kangaroos.
Now for the good news. The good news is that this is high school football not college football. Let me explain. In college football, one single loss, regardless of what week it occurs in or to what opponent, pretty much assures a team of being out of contention for the championship. Every game counts in college but in high school not so much. As much as it stings to lose the ball game last night, the truth is that last nights game didn’t count for much as far as the Coogs chances for a successful season go. Personally, I would like to see the Cougars get back to the playoffs this year. I think that is a reasonable goal and it would do much to put Cooper football back on the right track to being a force to be reckoned with. So with the goal of playoffs in mind, a team could technically lose every non-district game and still be in the playoffs. Actually with four teams from each district making the playoffs, a team could have a losing record for the season and still make the playoffs. Do I want the Cougars to roll over for non-district opponents and back into the playoffs with a losing record? Of course not, but my point is that this game does not set the Cougars back nearly as much as it feels like it does. With a brand new head coach and new offensive and defensive systems being implemented, the Coogs can chalk this one up to a learning experience. They need to go back to practice next week, and work on continuing to put in Spradlin’s spread offense. The Coogs can spend some time breaking down film and correcting the little things that make good teams great. I look forward to seeing the Coogs peaking at just the right time, specifically about week 7 when the Cougars open district play.

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