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Wanted to know some more about Cooper and didnt know if anyone on this site has seen them play this year.
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Cooper lacks consistency. They run a lot of one back sets, then try to hit the perimeter then to the inside tackle run game 2nd.
They are balanced on offense though their defense has not been consistent, giving up points however last week their D shut out El Paso in the 2nd half. They have played very well at times then not well just as often so one could say overall they're inconsistent.
Abilene handled them pretty well at 56-37 though I believe 21 or so of Coopers points came in the 4th when Abilene had their subs in the game. I think they're a better team now than they were when we played them. The week after they played us they came close to upsetting South Grand Prairie, 36-30. -
I saw that. They also lost to Austin Vandegrift by 1 point. Vandy is still playing in the tournament. I was impressed with those results. But then they barely get by Caprock and that speaks to the inconsistent play.Comment
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I just cant believe that the Cooper coach wanted to flip for home. Now they have to come to Aledo and try to beat us. Tough task!Comment
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I'm not saying that the travel is the reason why I am shocked. I just think the risk reward is not in the Cooper favor. I think they would rather play at a neutral site than risk going to Aledo.Comment
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I was wondering the other day where that game would be played since there really isn't anything in-between. South you have Stephenville and Brownwood. Probably figured 50/50, just go ahead and flip. If not home this year, same scenario would put them home next year.
It will be a tough place to play. Obviously not as big as Shotwell but the stadium will be packed. There are a lot of Abilene folks who have been waiting for this game. I know there are a lot of Abilene High folks who are waiting for a game between us both.Comment
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Abilene Cooper (7-5):
Total Points For- 424
Total Points Against- 323
Point Differential- 101
Avg Points For- 35
Avg Points Against- 27
Home: 2-4
Away:3-1
Neutral: 2-0
Win Streak: 3
Aledo (11-1):
Points For- 632
Points Against- 115
Point Differential- 517
Avg Points For- 53
Avg Points Against- 10
Home: 5-0
Away: 4-0
Neutral: 2-1
Win Streak: 11
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Me thinks.
Aledo - 49
Cooper - 14Comment
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Some links for you.
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http://aledosportsdaily.com/ is the site for everything we have. I think your 49-14 prediction is in the ballpark!Comment
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From the Abilene Reporter News
COOPER (7-5) at Aledo (11-1)
6 p.m. Friday * Bearcat Stadium, Aledo * KWKC 1340 AM
What's riding on the game: The winner advances to play either Canyon Randall (11-1) or Burleson Centennial (9-3) in the Region I-5A Division I finals (aka the state quarterfinals) next week. Randall plays Centennial at 4 p.m. Saturday at Sweetwater's Mustang Bowl. Cooper is 5-8-1 all-time in third-round playoff games. The Cougars are 0-6 in third-round games since beating Coppell 28-27 in a third-round playoff game in 2000. This is Cooper's first third-round playoff game since 2013, when Cedar Hill beat the Coogs 28-23 in Stephenville en route to winning its first of two straight state titles. Aledo, ranked No. 4 in Class 5A, is the defending Class 5A Division I state champion, and the Bearcats have won two consecutive state titles and five of the last six. They have won six state titles overall (2014, 2013, 2011, 2010, 2009, 1998) and also played for a title in 1974. All have been in the second-largest UIL class, except 1998 (3A DI) and 1974 (1A). Denton Guyer is the last team to beat the Bearcats in the postseason, winning 42-30 in a Region I-4A Division I second-round playoff game in 2012. Guyer went on to win a state title. Before that, Everman beat Aledo 24-7 in a 4A DII second-round game in 2008 before losing to Sulphur Springs in the state semifinals. This is the first meeting between Cooper and Aledo.
Last week: Caleb Primera ran for 125 yards and three TDs, while Dillon Davis threw for 226 yards and two TDs as Aledo blasted Denton High 52-3. The Bearcats rolled up 505 yards (279 rushing), while holding the Broncos to 154 total yards and forcing two turnovers, including a fumble recovered for a TD. Denton averaged 40 points a game in the regular season. Austin Smith threw for a TD and ran for another as Cooper beat El Paso Del Valle 31-14. The Cougars, who outgained Del Valle 424 to 218 on offense, scored the final 17 points to keep the Conquistadores from playing Aledo in the third round for the second consecutive year.
Scouting Aledo: The Bearcats have won 11 straight games since losing to Cedar Park — a 5A DII state finalist last year — 31-13 in the season opener at Baylor's McLane Stadium. Aledo got the streak going with a 10-7 win at home against Noxubee County, a 10-4 team from Macon, Mississippi still in the playoffs. Cedar Park, the No. 1-ranked team in Class 5A (and still playing), outrushed Aledo 203-33, holding the Bearcats to just a 1-yard per carry average and outgained them 355-186 overall. Aledo is averaging 461.9 yards (294.1 rushing/167.7 passing) and 52.6 points per game. The Bearcats are giving up 184.7 yards (97.5 rushing/87.2 passing) and 9.5 points per game. The Bearcats have outscored its two playoff opponents by a combined score of 128-3, while outgaing them 1,182-151 (779-103 rushing). Junior QB Dillon Davis has thrown 1,921 yards and 22 TDs this season. He's thrown two interceptions. Caleb Primera, a 5-8, 165-pound senior, has run for 1,588 yards and 27 TDs on 150 carries, while sophomore Donnie Evans has 1,150 yards and 16 TDs on 82 carries. Hunter Rosson (33-558, 5 TDs), Ryan Mullins (14-393, 6 TDs), Garrett Hyles (21-281, 2 TDs) and Carter Windes (20-223, 1 TD) are the top receivers.
Cougars update: Austin Smith, Cooper's first-year quarterback, threw for 180 yards and a TD last week, surpassing Chris Hall for the 10th-best passing season for a Cougar quarterback. Smith, a junior, has thrown for 2,187 yards and 20 TDs this season. Hall threw for 2,143 yardsin 2004. Smith has a shot at eclipsing Zac Allen at No. 6 (2,315 in 1993) this week. Clayton Nicholas' 2,956 yards in 2011 is No. 5 on the all-time list. Still, it was Smith's running game that provided a lift for the Coogs last week. His 24-yard TD run with 6:24 left in the game gave Cooper a 24-14 lead and all but sealed the win. It was his first rushing TD this season. Smith ran for 45 yards on six carries in the game. He went into the game with only 27 yards on 23 carries for the whole season.
What the Cougars need to do to win: Cooper will have to play its best game of the season, in all three phases, to knock off the Bearcats. The Cougars must get big production from RB's Devin Johnson and Tyrees Whitfield, while containing Aledo's potent ground game. That's how Cedar Park beat the Bearcats. Aledo's No. 1 rusher, Caleb Primera, had just 60 yards rushing against Cedar Park. That's not to say Cooper can't get the job done passing. The Coogs will have to throw the ball with success, too, and sometimes the pass game does open it up for the running game. Cooper can't get caught up in Aledo's rich tradition or a hostile environment at Bearcat Stadium. It's still just a game. The team that handles the big stage the best — or bounces back from adverse situations — will win this game. One play — offensively, defensively or on special teams — might be the turning point in the game or the season.
Joey D. Richards' prediction: Aledo 45, Cooper 31
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By Joey Richards of the Abilene Reporter News
The Aledo Bearcats have been one of the most successful football programs in the state the last seven years. They've won five state titles since 2009, including two straight.
In that time, Aledo has lost a total of six games, and the only team to beat the Bearcats in the postseason since 2009 is Denton Guyer, which beat them 42-30 in the second round of the Class 4A Division I playoffs in 2012. Guyer went on to win its first of two straight titles that year.
Now a 7-5 Cooper team that has two state title game appearances, the last in 1996, and has never won a state championship, will try to knock off the Bearcats (11-1) at 6 p.m. Friday in a Region I-5A Division I semifinal game at Bearcat Stadium.
The Coogs find themselves not only battling a state power, but a tradition as well. It's hard to beat a team that's been to the top, knows what if feels like to win it all and expects to win week in and week out. Teams like Aledo always believe they'll win, regardless of the situation. It's one of the perks of being a state power.
It's something Cooper coach Todd Moebes knows well. He played and coached at Katy, a program that has won six state titles since 1997 and eight overall, while playing in 13 title games overall. Moebes, a 1997 Katy graduate, was an assistant with the Tigers for five years, including 2003 when they won their fourth state title.
"It was a pleasure to be a part of that program," Moebes said. "It is tradition. It's expectation. You can certainly use fear as a motivating factor, because you didn't want to be the first group to let it down. That was something that was always said."
Moebes believes it's no different in Aledo.
"I'm sure in their community — they've won five of the last six — it's the same exact way and motivates them," he said. "They want to remain consistent and win state championships and find a way to be able to raise the bar, understand the bar can be raised higher. You can't get complacent."
Tradition doesn't just lift up a team, it also can weigh down an opponent. When things get tough, teams like Aledo and Katy believe they'll find a way to win. They usually do. Their opponent, meanwhile, also finds itself wondering how an Aledo or Katy will win this time. Sometimes, an opponent believes it's already lost the game before it's started.
"You see teams that can get out of their game even before the game starts or after one touchdown and it's only 7-0," Moebes said. "In my mind there's a lot of football left."
And in Moebes' mind, the Coogs not only can play with the Bearcats, but beat them.
"It's a great opportunity," he said. "They're a great football team, and they have great expectations and a great program. But you don't win the game in pregame warm-up or the first kickoff. You play each play as hard as you can and you do your best and you execute at a high level. You put all those things together and see what the outcome is going to be."
Beating tradition
It often takes a state power to take down a state power. Aledo's only loss this season came against Cedar Park in the season opener. The Wolves won the game 31-13 at Baylor's McLane Stadium. Cedar Park won a 4A Division II title in 2012 and played in the 5A Division II title game last year. The Wolves (12-0) are the No. 1-ranked team in Class 5A, and they're still alive in the 5A Division II bracket. Cooper, incidentally, is 2-0 all-time against Cedar Park. The Coogs even beat them during the regular season in 2012.
Another team that's had success beating Aledo the last few years is Stephenville, which has won five state titles since 1993 — it's last in 2012.
Still, even state powers slip up from time to time, even in the postseason. And every great program had to start somewhere. After all, even Aledo had played in only one title game (and lost) before winning its first in 1998.
Sometimes a program needs a big win to turn the corner. Abilene High had lost twice to Southlake Carroll (35-30 in 2004; 52-0 in 2005) in the third round before finally beating the Dragons 22-21 in a third-round playoff game in 2007. The Eagles lost the following week to Lewisville Hebron, but a team that had lost four consecutive third-playoff games suddenly found a way to beat a state power.
Then in 2009, the Eagles took down Cedar Hill 41-17 in the third round, before beating Katy 28-17 to win their first state title since 1956.
"I think that was the turning point from a mental standpoint," former Eagles coach Steve Warren said. "Our kids felt like they could win it all. Those guys had that tradition. They'd been there, done that and were ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 2 in the nation. We just wanted to be the best Abilene Eagles we could be that day, and, lo and behold, look what happened?"
So what did Warren tell his team before playing the likes of Carroll, Cedar Hill and Katy?
"We spent more time talking about us and the opportunity we had than anything else," Warren said. "Everybody knew the history of Southlake and Katy. Everybody knows how good Aledo's been. We never needed to spend time worrying about that. It was out there. It was going to be there.
"But we spent more time trying to get our mindset right, because we can control that. When we talked about the other team, it was, 'Golly, what a shot heard around the world when we beat Aledo or Katy? Or what it's going to feel like when we play our best and walk off the field with a win over Southlake?'
"That was really the credence we gave to that. Obviously, there's respect for those programs, without a doubt. But we really spent a lot of time talking about the opportunity we had, because now we're in the arena with them. We have that opportunity now, we have a chance to put our name at the top of the list. What we've done has been good enough to get here, so let's make sure we do as good as we can out there."
Warren said the most important thing was not the history of a program and its tradition, but the idea that you can make history and you've played well enough to this point to do just that. It could come down to one play, and Warren wanted his players to believe they could do it.
"We just wanted those kids to be so confident, if they were given the opportunity to make that play, they did it," he said. "It didn't make any difference who it was against. We talked about that all the time. When the opportunity presents itself, are you going to be ready to make that play? Somebody's going to have to. It might as well be you."
So why not Cooper?
That's the message Moebes has been giving his team this week: It might as well be the Coogs. Cooper hasn't had much success in the third round the last few years. The Coogs are 0-6 in third-round playoff games since beating Coppell 28-27 in the third round in 2000. State powers Guyer (2008, '09, '10) and Cedar Hill (2013) have stopped the Coogs, while Mansfield Timberview got a late TD to beat them in the third round at Shotwell Stadium in 2011. Cedar Hill was lucky to escape with a 28-23 win in 2013 en route to winning its first of two state titles.
Still, all that history, all that tradition teams like Katy, Carroll, Guyer, Cedar Hill and even Aledo have, it all still comes down to football. The team that executes the best, maybe gets a lucky break, will win. It all comes down to the basics — and doing them well.
"It's about the team that executes," Moebes said. "I try to be as consistent as I can. I don't change anything in our preparation or what we do. It's all about execution. I said that since the day I stepped on the campus nine years ago. It's all about execution. It always will be.
"You've got to let the emotions go and execute that one play for six seconds as hard as you can and do what you need to do. If there's adjustments you need to make, make them. But you've got to be even keeled. Play the game with passion and be excited, but once that moment's over, focus on what has to happen next."
And so history will be written Friday at Bearcat Stadium. It might be Aledo, notching another win en route to its seventh state title in program history. It might be Cooper that finally turns the corner.
Moebes would like nothing more than to cradle one more gold football — and play into December.
"I think it's a pivotal step," Moebes said. "Being able to play in December, it's been 20 years since this program has done that. These kids weren't even alive the last time the Cooper football team played in December. Yeah, it would raise the bar for what's been done here the last 20 years. It would be a huge accomplishment for us."Last edited by Eagle82; 11-26-2015, 11:46 PM.Comment
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Regarding the article above. Written like a true Cooper fan (Joey Richards)
He says "The Eagles lost the following week to Lewisville Hebron"
Actually no, the Eagles beat Hebron the following week winning R1/D2 and on to the State Semi's.Comment
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In the first article the writer predicted 45-31. I'll tell yall right now it will be difficult to score more than 14 on us.
For anyone interested here is another thread on this game. http://texas4asports.proboards.com/t...per-7-aledo-11
Aledo radio call http://www.921hankfm.com/Comment
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Well tonight was just weird. Two plays in and we had a 30 min lightning delay. So what do I do? I went to Whataburger and had dinner lol. Came back and finished eating right as the game started again. IT RAINED THE ENTIRE GAME!!!!! Not at any point tonight did it stop raining. In the first half Cooper just dared us to throw the ball by stacking 9 in the box. The coaches were content with 3 yards at a time and it was a grind. Really reminded me of the Noxubee County game earlier in the year. It was 13-0 at the half. The Cooper QB had a rough night trying to get the snap. At or within their own 20 there was a bad snap 3 different times. I think it happened 4 or 5 times total during the game. They had maybe 2 plays 15+ but couldnt keep the ball moving. They threw 2 pick 6's and that was the game changer. The rain absolutely effect both teams and it was a impressive show of character from our guys. They just kept running into 9 guys in the box and eventually hit a 41 yard td run. We did pass the ball in the second half a little and was so so. Great win tonight! Next Saturday @ 5:30 AT&T!!
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Final
Aledo 33
Abilene Cooper 0Comment
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Thanks for the update. What miserable weather to play in!
Sounds like Cooper was just outplayed, coached and beaten on both sides of the line.
Good luck the remainder of the season and this fan will be rooting for you all to win it all, again!
Don't be a stranger, get those 5A boys over here posting! We have live chat, one on one or group along with the ability to broadcast videos live one on one or via group chat. Comes in handy while at games, just download our App!!Comment
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