Cooper’s strategy Friday against Dixie Heights was as basic as first-grade arithmetic.
“Game plan was to take what they gave us,” Jaguars coach Adam Begley said.
It was a scheme that worked – the 25-13 Homecoming win had a little of a lot.
There was diversity on offense. Jaguars quarterback Zack Kostopoulos threw for 205 yards and three touchdowns – one each to Carson Clark, Kaiden Savage and Lincoln Maxey.
There was Savage’s how-in-the-name-of-Ja’Marr Chase-did-he-catch-that-touchdown, a 33-yarder late in the second quarter – a tip to himself while parallel to the ground grab.
The Colonels’ (2-5, 1-1 in Class 5A, District 5) offense, meanwhile, was mostly one-dimensional. Dixie ran 46 plays for 204 yards – an average of 4.4 per snap – but if you take away senior Levi Gilliland’s 30 carries for 146 yards and two touchdowns, Dixie gained only 58 more.
Dixie coach Pat Burke said his team was “a little bit” run-heavy.
“We tried to get our quarterback out of the pocket a little bit to get some high-percentage throws there, and, you know, came up short,” Burke said.
Cooper (5-2, 2-0), meanwhile, had no such problem. The Jaguars ran 56 plays for 335 yards, an average of just under six per carry.
Burke called Gilliland “a hard runner” who “will get the hard yards.” It’s what he did in Dixie’s 67-yard opening scoring drive – six carries for 35 yards – plus Cooper’s pass interference penalty and Brycen Schatzman’s 25-yard pass to Henry Waters.
Cooper’s Corey Freihofer ran for 121 yards and a touchdown, but it was a fake to him that set up the Jaguars’ opening score from Kostopoulos to Clark for six yards.
You could say Cooper’s next touchdown was an all-Savage drive – he had three catches for 68 yards. Begley offered a slightly coarse analysis of the touchdown.
“What’s my saying? Catch the damn ball,” Begley said as he turned toward Savage.
Savage called the play “Go get a touchdown.”
“I saw it in the air,” Savage said. “I’ve just gotta go make a play on the ball. That’s my job as a receiver – just go get it done.”
Kostopoulos worried not even a little.
“I trusted my receiver to be there,” he said. “I knew he’d be there, and he came up and he made the play.”
Before Friday, Maxey usually ran short, 5-yard routes. Not so Friday – his six catches for 50 yards included catches of 14, 12, 14 and the 12-yard touchdown.
“Most games, I’ve already had three, four receptions,” Maxey said. “But this game, I got the ball in some deeper routes.”
Gilliland pretty much set up his second touchdown – 11 carries for 49 yards, including the 1-yard plunge late in the third quarter.
Freihofer’s two-yard score with 1:59 left in the fourth quarter was the last of his four carries for 56 yards.
Cooper has next week off, while Dixie meets Conner Thursday in Hebron.
JAGUARS 25, COLONELS 13
DIXIE HEIGHTS — 6-0-7-0 — 13
COOPER — 0-18-0-7 — 25
First quarter
DH-Levi Gilliland 1 run (pass failed), 8:38
Second quarter
C-Carson Clark 6 pass from Zack Kostopoulos (kick failed), 8:17
C-Kaiden Savage 33 pass from Kostopoulos (run failed), 3:13
C-Lincoln Maxey 12 pass from Kostopoulos (kick blocked), 0:30
Third quarter
DH-Gilliland 1 run (Cole Proffitt kick), 3:42
Fourth quarter
C-Corey Freihofer 2 run (Cole Ewing kick), 1:59
Game Stats
Passing Yards: DH 44 (Schatzman 4-12-44-0 TD-1 INT), C 205 (Kostopoulos 20-29-205-3 TD)
Rushing Yards: 160 (Gilliland 30-146, Henson 3-3, Waters 1-5, Schatzman 1-16, Roaden 1-6); C 135 (Freihofer 23-121, Kostopoulos 4-14)
Receiving: DH 44 (Vonderhaar 1-12, Waters 2-33, Perkins 1-(minus 1), C 205 (Freihofer 3-21, Woodyard 3-29, Maxey, 6-50, Savage 5-80, Calhoun 1-8, Long 1-11, Clark 1-6)
Turnovers: DH 1, C 1
Penalties: DH 5-40, C 4-38
Records: Dixie Heights 2-5 (1-1 in Class 5A, District 5), Cooper 5-2 (2-0)
