Hawks homecoming ends in victory

Cooper football improved to 5-1 on Oct. 4 with a 19-0 conference win against Jefferson at the Hawks homecoming. The victory also makes the Hawks favorites to win the Northstar East-Gold Conference (3-0 with one game to play).

Jefferson, who provided Cooper with strong competition last year in conference play, has had a mixed run in 2024. The team’s talent has been shown in wins over New Prague and Tartan, but losses to St. Cloud Tech, Hastings, and St. Louis Park leave questions to be answered.

The night started slow as both teams prodded for points that would not come. The Hawks only broke the deadlock in the final minute of the second quarter with a 32-yard reception from Dalon Gurley, deputizing as quarterback, to Christian Lloyd. The extra point was unsuccessful and Cooper led 6-0 going into halftime.

The third quarter also proved troubling for both teams, each held to a fourth down. Jefferson faked a punt on their fourth down but did not reach the first down, turning the ball over and ending a drive plagued with big plays by Abel Nason. Parish Jackson, Hector Queah, and Trenten Allen also featured in a big way for the Hawks defensively in the third quarter.

Cooper’s drive included good rushing from Sema’J Young and Amari Davison, but could not reach deep into Jefferson's territory. Cooper still led 6-0 going into the fourth quarter.

Head coach Tony Patterson noted after the game that he was happy to get a homecoming win over Jefferson, but that he was well aware of the work that needed to be done after a game with its share of frustrations.

“Jefferson are tough football team and they’re well coached,” he said. “They got us last year and they were senior heavy. It was great to get the win tonight, a lot of fans here. I’m always pleased with a win, but it’s always sweeter when you win great and it didn’t look like that tonight.”

The action finally picked up for Cooper in the fourth quarter. Jefferson, however, almost wrote a very different story. The Jaguars intercepted a pass early in the quarter and got to the Cooper 24 yard line. Emmanuel Karmo, Ashton Harris, Young, and Jeramiah Hoskins all came up with big tackles to hold the drive, which resulted in a turnover on downs after a sack by Ray Heiland and Hoskins.

Harris and Davison picked up some yards for Cooper in the resulting drive but Jefferson held the Hawks to a fourth down, at which point Emmanuel Karmo used a fake punt to run the ball for 15 yards. This set up an 18-yard touchdown run for Randy Smythe, at which point Richard Baysah hit the extra point to make it 13-0.

Jefferson had no luck in the next drive, suffering another turnover on downs and another sack from Heiland and Hoskins. Karmo brought the ball up-field with a 20-yard reception before rushing it in for six yards. A missed extra point aside, Cooper could celebrate a 19-0 homecoming win.

Patterson told the Sun Post that Friday’s game was not the Hawks at their best despite an overall good result.

“It was a sloppy game, a lot of penalties on us. Took us awhile to get going,” Patterson explained. “The goal is always to go 1-0, happy about that tonight, but not pleased with the effort. You can’t really coach effort and it felt like we took some plays off. A lot to work on come Monday.”

Cooper football will travel to Tartan High School the following week to play their final conference game of the season on Thursday, Oct. 10.