There’s a lot of similarities between Cooper and Bowling Green.
The two will meet on Saturday night for the Class 5A state championship. It’s a rematch 11 years in the making when the two met for the 2012 state championship, a 34-20 Purples victory.
Jaguars coach Randy Borchers can recall a lot from that game.
“We came out the first two offensive plays and turned the ball over,” Borchers said. “Got the ball first and threw an interception and then we ran a kickoff back and fumbled the next play on the eight-yard line. We were able to tie it up before we went down seven at half. They got the ball coming out of half. First play of the third quarter, we had them bottled up and they broke one open and scored and we didn’t recover from that.”
Borchers is hoping this time around will be fonder memories. After all, Cooper has definitely earned the right to be here. After opening up the postseason with a home victory over Collins, they went on the road for three straight games and knocked off three district champs at Scott County, Southwestern and then at Highlands.
“I told our players this week, if there’s any team left in the state finals that’s really deserved it, it’s us,” Borchers said. “We played three of the top five or six teams in 5A and had to go on road for all three to play. Not many gave us a chance to win. In my opinion, when you can travel and play different parts of the state, it brings your team together. We went to a new level as we started traveling as a team.”
As far as the similarities, maybe not with their playoff paths as Bowling Green didn’t have to leave their own city, but how the two started the season. The Purples fell to 1-2 after a 38-35 loss to Bryan Station, yielding 122 points in their first three contests. They’ve allowed 111 points since in 11 games.
“On top of that, I think we gave up over 700 yards of offense against LCA in the season opener and we’ve been grinding and working ever since,” Purples coach Mark Spader said. “We got into this latter part of the season and they came into their own. Even in some bad games earlier, we had some pick 6’s and flying around. We talk about a jungle defense and flying around and that will be so important for us in this game.”
Cooper dropped to 4-2 after a 58-51 loss to Highlands, they’ve allowed 93 points since in their last eight contests of the season.
Both struggled to run the ball and stop the run out of the gate, but the two have cleaned that up and are now much more balanced.
“They really do mirror us,” Spader said. “We couldn’t stop the run and we couldn’t run it. We had some starters to replace up front and they did too. In order to be here, you have to be able to run it and stop the run. Both made improvements on it.”
Here’s a breakdown of Saturday night’s matchup that is the last of the six state championship games over the weekend:
OFFENSE
No doubt the two can put points up and put them up in a hurry. Cooper averages 36.3 points per game and averages 337 yards per contest. They get 225 yards through the air and 112 on the ground. Bowling Green averages 44.8 points per game and churns out 353 yards per game, 257 through the air and 96 in the ground game.
Both feature dynamic quarterbacks that have been starting since they were freshman. Purples junior Duece Bailey has 3,316 passing yards to go with 40 touchdowns.
“He’s smooth and very collective, doesn’t make bad decisions,” Borchers said. “He takes what the defense gives him and they have a lot of playmakers. He commands that offense and not afraid to tuck it and take off running. We haven’t faced a QB of his caliber the entire season. He’s the most natural quarterback we’ve faced.”
Jaguars sophomore Cam O’Hara has 3,141 passing yards and 45 touchdowns.
Both have done a solid job of not throwing to the opponent, Bailey with four interceptions on 323 pass attempts, O’Hara with six interceptions on 320 passing attempts.
The Purples standout receiver is Trevy Barber with 75 receptions for 1,075 yards and 15 touchdowns. Matthew Klein (28 receptions, 529 yards, 5 touchdowns) and Christopher Sweeney (38 receptions, 419 yards, 5 touchdowns) also get their fair share of targets. Twelve different Purples have caught a touchdown pass this season.
The Jaguars have a pair of receivers over 1,000 yards on the season that have to be accounted for at all times. Isaiah Johnson has 71 receptions for 1,304 yards and 20 touchdowns. Austin Alexander has 59 receptions for 1,045 yards and 18 touchdowns. Keagan Maher (26 receptions, 307 yards, 4 touchdowns) and Malachi Ewell (30 receptions, 218 yards) also make things happen in the passing game.
Maher has taken the bull by the horns and really taken off in the Jaguars running game. He has 175 carries for 1,181 yards and 18 touchdowns.
The Purples rushing attack is more by committee, four different players with at least 46 rushing attempts. Jaxen Smith (62 rushes, 451 yards, 9 touchdowns), Montravion Graham (56 rushes, 371 yards, 9 touchdowns, Javen Huddleston (64 rushes, 317 yards, 5 touchdowns) and Bailey (46 rushes, 134 yards, 8 touchdowns) are the ones who get the brunt of the carries. Huddleston had been battling injuries earlier on in the season, but has come on as the season has gone on.
“Javen has healed up and has given us a gift. The last few weeks he looks like his old self,” Spader said. “When he was out, Graham and Smith started splitting the load and they grew up really quick.”
DEFENSE
“Slow them down” were words uttered by both coaches. Bowling Green allows 271 yards per game, 123 through the air and 148 on the ground. Cooper yields 245 yards per game, 117 through the air and 128 on the ground.
The Purples are an opportunistic defense that’s forced 31 turnovers and turned seven of those turnovers into scores. Cooper has forced 27 turnovers, 10 of them in the postseason.
“Looking at the last three games we’ve been plus in the turnover battle. Plus eight. That’s huge,” Borchers said. “We get two huge turnovers late in the second half last week. We don’t win if that doesn’t happen.”
The Purples leading tackler is Grayson Newman with 93. Jordan Green leads with six sacks, Newman with three fumble recoveries, two returned for touchdowns. Newman and Edward Warder have three interceptions each to lead in that category. The Purples have 90 tackles for loss and 32 sacks.
Cooper hasn’t allowed more than 21 points since the 58 allowed to Highlands. After allowing the 58 to the Bluebirds on Sept. 22, a little over two months later they allowed 15 to Highlands. It’s night and day from two months ago on how far they’ve come. They’ve switched people around in spots and it’s paid off.
“Just a well coached team,” Spader said. “A lot of people are shocked, we felt like Cooper was fully capable of going on the run they have. Them winning at Scott County, Highlands. Well coached, tough and have talent. There’s a reason why they’re here.”
Two constants on the defensive side, Jack Lonaker tackling and Austin Alexander getting after the quarterback. Lonaker leads the team with 156 tackles, Alexander leading the way with 18 sacks. Lucas Hughes, Mason Stanton, Mason Baesel, Ryker Campbell, Isaac Brown and Mike Mulvihill have all made key plays in the postseason to help the Jaguars win the turnover battle. Baesel leads the team in fumble recoveries with four, Campbell and Brown leading the way with four interceptions apiece.
SPECIAL TEAMS
If it weren’t for special teams, Cooper might not be here. Jaidan Combs punt return into the Southwestern red zone early in the fourth quarter sparked a rally while Carson Taylor’s 33-yard field goal with a little over four minutes left against Highlands gave them the game-winning score.
Taylor has gone 65-for-68 on PATs and hit on all five of his field goal attempts. Bowling Green’s Braden Widener and Evan Tuck have combined to go 77-for-79 on PATs, Widener hitting on all 67 attempts while going 8-for-10 on field goals.
The Purples have three special teams touchdowns, one on a punt return, two via kickoff returns.
MISCELLANEOUS
This is just the second meeting ever between the two. Borchers recently won his 100th career game as a coach and is 96-89 in his tenure with the Jaguars, 15-12 in the playoffs. Spader is 57-21 with the Purples and 18-4 in the playoffs. He won a state championship in 2020 with the program and they were runner-up last season.
BIG KEY
In closing the interviews with both coaches, I asked them what the biggest key was to winning the game Saturday night:
Spader: “It’s coach speak, but taking care of the ball. We preach taking care of the ball and if we do that we feel we give ourselves a really good chance.”
Borchers: “Biggest thing is we’re not going to shut them down, but we have to contain them. They have a lot of athletes on that side of the ball. We have to tackle out in space, this is a team if we miss a tackle or our kid’s not in right place, they can take a five-yard play and turn into a 60-yard touchdown. We have to play good assignment football and tackle really well. Get six, seven guys to the ball and finish.”
COOL TIDBIT
While Borchers was the head coach for Cooper in the 2012 state title game, Spader was on Bowling Green’s staff. Spader has been coaching down in Bowling Green for a while. He was the head coach at Warren East from 1999-2003 and an assistant at Warren Central from 2003-06. He’s been on staff at Bowling Green since 1992 outside of those stints elsewhere.