In this county football rivalry, things may have gone the way of the Black, Silver and Orange.
But even during the winning streak that extended to eight wins in a row for the Ryle Raiders over the Cooper Jaguars with a 13-10 win at Ryle’s Clifford R. Borland Sr. Stadium, Ryle has had to earn the wins. Three of the past four games in the series have come by seven or fewer points.
“The offense stepped up and made plays when they had to,” said Mike Engler, Ryle head coach. “That’s the mark of a good football team. Hats off to Cooper for a good game plan. They are going to cause some good havoc in their district. They’re going to have a good season.”
The difference in this one came on the legs of junior kicker Josh Line, who booted two field goals from 24 and 41 yards respectively and an extra-point attempt to lead the Raiders to the victory.
“The team got me in field-goal position,” Line said. “I missed one from 44 (yards). We do repetition in practice every day. I just come because I play both soccer and football so I got to soccer right after.”
The offenses put up nice games. Ryle had 334 yards on 58 plays for an average of just under six yards per play and Cooper had 289 on 51 plays for between five and six yards per play. Ryle had 16 first downs to 12 for Cooper and neither team had any turnovers.
“I told our kids after the game we have to focus on two words – consistency and finishing,” said Randy Borchers, Cooper head coach. “If we can do those two things, we’ll be in good shape. We did some good things. We got them in third-and-longs. We just didn’t finish. We gave them some big plays on third and fourth-and-long. That’s kind of been our Achilles’ heel all year. We just have to keep buying in, improving and I think we can be a pretty good team by the end of the year. I have complete faith in this football team. We have great kids that are coachable.”
But the defenses buckled down on third and fourth downs, especially when the offenses drove beyond the 30 allowing one touchdown each. Cooper converted on 6 of 14 on third down for 43 percent and neither of the fourth-down tries. Ryle converted just 4 of 13 on third down for 31 percent and 2 of 4 on fourth down.
Junior quarterback Logan Verax completed 16 of 26 passes for 249 yards to lead the Raiders. Sophomore wide receiver Landon Lorms had five catches for 101 yards for Ryle with senior Kaden Gardner hauling in five catches for 74 yards. Senior running back Jayce Harden led Ryle with 15 carries for 67 yards and a touchdown.
Cooper gave the ball to senior running back Eli White a good bit and he finished with 120 yards on 23 carries and a touchdown. Freshman quarterback Cam O’Hara completed 7 of 12 passes for 120 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore wide receiver Isaiah Johnson had three catches for 57 yards. Sophomore tight end Austin Alexander had a 33-yard reception.
“(Cooper) has a young quarterback so early on, they tried to take it out of his hands,” Engler said. “We typically put a lot of pressure on the quarterback. They did a great job of doing that to where we didn’t get a lot of hits on him, which can be devastating to a young quarterback. They have some good football players over there.”
Ryle had seven tackles for a loss defensively to three for Cooper. Freshmen linebacker Gavin Lyons and Jacob Savage led the Raiders with six tackles each and Savage had a tackle for a loss. Ryle senior defensive back Lukas Colemire returned to the field this week and had five tackles.
Junior linebacker Jack Lonaker led the Jaguars with nine solo and one assisted tackle to go with one for a loss. Sophomore safety Mason Stanton had six solo and one assisted tackle with senior defensive back Jayce Hotchkiss recording six tackles.
Ryle drove into Cooper territory on its first possession but stalled at the Cooper 8 so Line came in and booted a 24-yard field goal to put the Raiders up 3-0 with just more than seven minutes left in the first quarter.
The Raiders drove to the Cooper 20 on the next drive. But Alexander sacked Verax on 3rd-and-4 and the Raiders could not connect on a pass on fourth down giving the ball back to Cooper.
The Jaguars took the ball down the field to the Ryle 3 and tied the game when junior kicker Carson Taylor booted a 21-yard field goal with around eight minutes left in the first half. Alexander had his 33-yard reception on the drive.
On a 3rd-and-goal, Ryle senior defensive back Luke Lown tackled Cooper junior wide receiver Cole Henry on a sweep left near the sideline for a one-yard loss to the Jaguar 4. Lown fell on his back in pain and had to be attended to. But he came back into the game and made a difference.
“We knew it was a big rivalry game,” Lown said. “We don’t have a lot of depth on our defense right now. I knew we had to come back out and play through (the pain) bottom line. (Speed) helps a lot especially when you have a big (opponent) out there for sure.”
But Ryle responded with its own drive. Line booted a 41-yard field goal to put the Raiders up for good at 6-3 with around five minutes left in the half.
Cooper drove to the Ryle 37 and went for it on 4th-and-1 but Ryle senior defensive lineman Ameron Vinson stopped White for a two-yard loss giving the ball back to Ryle.
“All we have to do is stay disciplined and watch that ball,” Vinson said. “That’s how we start a play and do what we do in practice. That’s how we play the game and get stuff done. When we come together as a team, we pick each other up when we fall down.”
Ryle drove to the Cooper 28 on the opening possession of the first half but Line’s field goal try came up short.
But after the Jaguars punted and Gardner returned the ball to the Cooper 41, Harden broke free on the left side breaking a few Cooper tackles on his way for a 16-yard touchdown run. Line’s PAT gave the Raiders a 13-3 advantage with 5:40 left in the third quarter.
“We practiced that all week,” Harden said. “We had the line open up the cutback. Once it was there, I took advantage of it and got in the end zone. It felt good, especially since it was a close game.”
Cooper drove to the Ryle 27 on the following possession. But the long drive turned up no points as the Raiders sacked O’Hara on fourth down taking over at their own 33.
But after a Ryle four-and-out, Cooper found the end zone. It started when Henry ran for 33 yards on a reverse. White broke free for a 35-yard score and Taylor’s PAT made the final score with 8:27 left in the game.
“Things weren’t exactly going well for us and our heads kind of hung a little bit,” Borchers said. “They were playing with a bit more energy than us. Then we hit that reverse and a big gain, it kind of got our kids rolling again. Then we get the ball back and can’t finish the next drive.”
The Raiders did drive to the Cooper 20 on the next play. But on a 4th-and-1, Cooper junior Lucas Hughes stopped Verax for a two-yard loss and the Jaguars took over at their 22 with 5:21 left in the game.
Cooper had a 3rd-and-7 on its 25. O’Hara threw a pass to the left side to a wide-open Lonaker. But the catch did not happen forcing the Jaguars to punt. Ryle ran out the clock after Verax completed a 15-yard pass to Gardner on a 4th-and-5 to the Cooper 10.
Ryle plays host to Daviess County (2-1) on Friday at 7 p.m. Cooper travels to Campbell County (1-2) on Friday for a 7 p.m. game.
BOX SCORE
Cooper 0 3 0 7 10
Ryle 3 3 7 0 13
First Quarter
R: Josh Line 24 Field Goal
Second Quarter
C: Carson Taylor 21 Field Goal
R: Line 41 Field Goal
Third Quarter
R: Jayce Harden 16 run (Line kick)
Fourth Quarter
C: Eli White 35 run (Taylor kick).
