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Cooper shocks Highlands

UNION, Ky. — For 48 minutes, Cooper was the better team mentally, physically, and emotionally.

Torrey-Cordell-Armstrong-Cooper

That led the Jaguars to a 37-13 victory over the visiting Highlands Bluebirds at Cooper High School on Friday night.

Cooper (1-0) averaged 5.4 yards per carry on the night and totaled 247 yards on the ground while racking up 433 total yards.

Senior running back Torey Cordell-Armstrong was a huge key to the Jaguars’ victory, finishing with three touchdowns and 184 yards rushing on 29 carries, but the dominating play on both sides of the line of scrimmage was perhaps the biggest reason for the win with all the guys up front contributing on both sides of the ball.

“That’s the strength of our team and those guys did a great job but they got gassed, I was worried about them wearing out but our kids battled through it.” Cooper coach Randy Borchers said.

At halftime Cooper led, 20-7 and the only Highlands (0-1) score came on a 45-yard punt return by senior Austin Beal. The Bluebirds’ offense totaled just 159 yards through the first 24 minutes and trailed 2-0 in the turnover battle.

“As a unit we’ve got to be one of the strongest, we return 10 of 11 from starters from last year and we play as one,” Jaguars senior linebacker Seth Keller said.

Keller led the Jaguars in tackles with nine, and he had seven of those at the half while his twin brother Aiden had one of the team’s four interceptions.

“Having someone there that is physically the exact same as you is the bomb, we’ve played together since four years old and we know exactly what each other loves to do and that’s play football,” Seth Keller said.

Highlands had the ball first to start the game but Cooper forced a quick punt that pinned the Jaguars at their own 18-yard line. On the first offensive play of the year for the Jaguars, senior quarterback Nathan Brown hit junior wide receiver Dante Hendrix on a deep pass for an 82-yard touchdown strike.

“I’ve always had a lot of faith in him (Brown) and I think he could have been starting for a while, I just really tried to get through to him that he can run this team and today you saw that he obviously can,” said Cooper senior offensive and defensive lineman Marcus Watson.

Watson was not only one of the front five, leading the way for the offense’s big night, he also finished second on the team with seven tackles plus five assists and rarely sat out a play the entire game.

When the Jaguars took the field before kickoff they were wearing new uniforms, different than the uniforms they had warmed up in, and it was just one of the many things Randy Borchers did right to guide his team to the big victory.

“We tried to do something to get them fired up and we told them they were stuck in Honduras and I think they believed it, while they were out here we put the new uniforms in their lockers,” Borchers said.

Up next for Cooper is a trip to NewCath (0-1), Borchers’ alma mater, and he knows he needs to keep his team focused after the big win.

“If we sit here and enjoy this too much New Cath’s going to sneak up on us and that’s my al ma mater and there’s no way I want to lose to those guys next week,” Borchers said.

Highlands will look to rebound next week when Campbell County (0-1) travels to David Cecil Memorial Stadium.

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