The NKyTribune will be providing focused coverage of NKY high school football throughout the season, thanks to support from St. Elizabeth Healthcare Sports Medicine. See all of our pre-season features on each of NKY’s 21 high school football teams and follow our coverage, including roundups each week at Northern Kentucky High School Football.
By Evan Merrill
NKy Tribune contributor
LEXINGTON — “Win and survive.” Cooper football coach Randy Borchers reiterated that to his players after they cruised to a 35-7 victory over Bryan Station in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs on Friday.
The Jaguars trailed, 7-0, after the home team went on a methodical six-minute drive that was capped off by sophomore quarterback Jalen Burbage’s 19-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Kendrick Curry. From that point on, however, it was all Cooper.
Cooper senior quarterback Jarod Lonaker
The Jaguars scored 35 unanswered points behind the play of senior quarterback Jarod Lonaker and a stifling defense that held Burbage to 150 passing yards and intercepted him once.
“I think the big thing is our kids are starting to play together,” coach Borchers said. “Early on you had a lot of playing for themselves, but they’re starting to play as a team. We made some changes defensively and we’ve been able to slow down the run a little, which helps us.”
Lonaker expanded his single-season team record passing numbers by throwing for 246 yards and three touchdowns. He tacked on two rushing touchdowns as well. But the team’s leading receiver was not senior Dante Hendrix.
“When teams are going to double cover Dante, I believe in my guys,” Lonaker said. “We have the whole offense to work with, we just did a great job (Friday) spreading the ball around.”
With Hendrix double teamed and limited most of the night, alternate weapons emerged from the Jaguar offense. Sophomore wide receiver Mikey Armour caught two touchdown passes and totaled 94 receiving yards.
“We saw it last game we played them,” coach Borchers said. “Early on, Dante had some big catches. They were just playing cover-four against him early on and then tried to shut him down by running cover-three and rolling a safety over. We thought we were going to get that (Friday) so we talked all week about that and needing another receiver to step up. Mikey Armour had a tremendous game for us (Friday).”
Cooper’s offensive line played a key role as well, allowing Lonaker sufficient time to throw. That’s something Borchers addressed in practice during the team’s bye week before the playoffs started.
“I thought offensively, earlier in the year, we played really well up front,” Borchers said. “The last three or four weeks we’ve gotten lazy. We had a bye week last week and we really challenged the offensive linemen about being more physical and going to the whistle. I think they did a much better job (Friday). So hopefully we can carry that momentum, stay physical and have a shot next week.”
Next week, the Jaguars face undefeated district rival Ryle (11-0). The Raiders defeated Henry Clay, 47-3, Friday to set up the rematch. When the two teams met on Oct. 7, Ryle defeated Cooper, 49-42, in a game that went down to the wire.
“We felt we played pretty well (last time),” Borchers said. “We had a few special teams breakdowns last time and we got into a shootout. We don’t want to get into a shootout with them. You can’t ask for a better setting. We’re playing our biggest rival in round two of the playoffs to go to the regional finals. We’re under the radar and we’re the only ones giving ourselves a shot to win. Our guys believe they can win, and if you go into a game believing you can win, anything can happen.”
BRYAN STATION 7 0 0 0 — 7
COOPER 7 14 7 7 — 35
BS – Curry 19 pass from Burbage (Owens kick)
C – Armour 15 pass from Lonaker (Hollifield kick)
C – Armour 1 pass from Lonaker (Hollifield kick)
C – Lonaker 1 rush (Hollifield kick)
C – Hendrix 33 pass from Lonaker (Hollifield kick)
C – Lonaker 5 rush (Hollifield kick)
RECORDS: Cooper 7-4, Bryan Station 4-7.
