UNION, Ky. – Austin Alexander has the name brand, but he's one of several younger players who have been growing into varsity roles for the Cooper football team.
Alexander, a Cooper sophomore and nephew of all-time football great and Boone County High School graduate Shaun Alexander, made three game-changing plays early in Cooper’s 41-7 rout of county rival Conner Friday night at Cooper.
Several Jaguars made big plays in the first half, as they scored six touchdowns in the first 14 minutes of the game, causing the rest of the contest to run quickly under the running-clock mercy rule.
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“It’s a great win for the team,” Alexander said. “We’ve been looking for that energy to pick up and I felt that we just displayed what we could do on the field tonight.”
Cooper improved to 4-3 and 1-1 in Class 5A, District 5 play, while Conner dropped to 2-6, 1-1.
Conner came into the game with an 11-6 lead in the series. Before a 43-7 win by Cooper last year, nine of the previous 10 meetings had been decided by a touchdown or less.
Cooper made sure this one would be an exception, setting the tone from the opening kickoff. Junior Cole Henry took the ball at his own 13 and sprinted up the right sideline without being touched. Cooper led 7-0 only 14 seconds into the game.
“It was huge,” said Cooper head coach Randy Borchers. “This game is all momentum. The whole series has always been about momentum. We talked to the kids all week and in the locker room tonight, and we told them we had to come out and start fast. Try to get up on these guys early. We felt if we could get a couple of scores early, we would be rolling, and we were able to do that.”
Conner quarterback Brennan Kahle punted the ball, which was downed at the Cooper 11.
That didn’t slow down Cooper. On the third play of the drive, Cooper put four receivers out to the left side. Alexander caught a quick screen pass from O’Hara, and with blockers ahead, he ran untouched for an 81-yard touchdown.
“I catch it and see the open field,” Alexander said. “Normally I would cut it back left, but I saw all my linemen hustling down the field. I saw them out in front of me, and I thought let’s ride. I just got behind them and took it down the field. Excellent job by them.”
On Conner’s next drive, Alexander sprinted to bring down Kahle for a big sack near his goal line, and Conner was forced to punt. Alexander broke through the line and blocked the punt. Mason Stanton picked up the ball near the left sideline at the Conner 3-yard line and stepped into the end zone. Cooper led 21-0 less than seven minutes into the game.
Cooper kept Conner without a first down on its next drive and took over at the Cougars’ 48. On the first play of the drive, Eli White, Cooper’s speedy senior running back, took a handoff and ran down the left side for a 48-yard TD. Cooper led 28-0 with 3:26 to go in the first quarter.
“We’ve been so close to getting that kick return,” Alexander said. “Tonight we broke it and that momentum will carry on to next week and the rest of the season. It was a huge boost for us. We know what we can do but we haven’t shown it yet. Once we got that kick return, things just started clicking."
Cooper partially blocked the next Conner punt and took over at its own 45. The Jaguars scored again, this time on a more methodical march.
O’Hara found Alexander for a 20-yard gain. White ran 11 yards to the Conner 11. After O’Hara threw a seven-yard pass to sophomore Isaiah Johnson to the 4, White took it in on the next play. Cooper led 35-0 with 10:27 to go in the second period.
Cooper scored again right away after Conner fumbled the ensuing kickoff. The Jaguars took over at the Cougars 23 and scored on the first play, with O’Hara finding Johnson for a 23-yard TD.
That put the KHSAA running clock in motion for the rest of the game. Conner took up the rest of the second quarter with a sustained drive, but Stanton ended the threat with an interception at the goal line in the final seconds.
Conner broke up the shutout on a drive that took up a lot of the third quarter. Brennan Kahle completed a 44-yard pass to speedster Terry Phillips to the Cooper 25. Kahle finished the drive on the first play of the fourth quarter, firing a TD pass to Ben Fay.
O’Hara threw for 142 yards in the first half, 101 to Alexander. Johnson, just a sophomore, collected his fifth TD reception in two weeks after getting four last week against Madison (Ind.) White rushed for 72 yards in the half.
O’Hara, just a freshman, leads a young group.
“Confidence in young guys is extremely important,” Borchers said. “We’ve got a lot of young players playing. We’re starting to get healthy. We’re playing a lot of young guys, and those young guys are starting to step up and make plays for us. Early in the year, we weren’t making those plays and now we are, and we’re starting to play a little bit better.”
Alexander is someone Borchers relies on to make plays. Alexander is a Division I prospect and recently went to a Notre Dame game on a recruiting visit.
“He’s only a sophomore,” Borchers said. “He’s a great ball player. We can put him in different positions. He’s a matchup nightmare for a lot of teams. He’s such a great kid, so humble. I love to see that kid have success on the field.”
Alexander wants to follow in the footsteps of his uncle, who was a record-setting running back at Boone County and the University of Alabama before having a great NFL career, leading the Seattle Seahawks to the Super Bowl.
“He talks to me about keeping my faith up,” Austin said. “The stuff on the football field is all good but if you don’t have a strong connection with God, it doesn’t really matter. He always tries to keep me settled with the success that I have, keep me leveled and humble.”
Conner has its bye week next Friday, while Cooper plays at Boone County to continue district play.
Conner High School football vs. Cooper High School football
Conner 0 0 0 7-0
Cooper 28 13 0 0-41
COOPER – Henry 87 kickoff return (Taylor kick)
COOPER – Alexander 81 pass from O’Hara (Taylor kick)
COOPER – Stanton 3 blocked punt return (Taylor kick)
COOPER – White 48 run (Taylor kick)
COOPER – White 4 run (Taylor kick)
COOPER – Johnson 23 pass from O’Hara (kick failed)
CONNER – Fay 3 pass from Kahle (Herron kick)
Records: Cooper 4-3, 1-1 5A D5; Conner 2-6, 0-2.
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