Cooper football booked a ticket to the Section 5AAAAA championship game last week, beating Washburn 48-7 at home in the semifinals to improve to 8-1 on Oct. 26.
Cooper had recently broken into the top 10 ranked teams in Class 5A, holding ninth as of Oct. 25, grouped amongst Alexandria, Mankato West, and Bemidji.
Washburn entered sectional play with a strong 5-1 Northstar - Twin Cities Conference record, 6-2 overall, packing on big wins over Harding, Central, and Kennedy. Losses to Minneapolis North and Two Rivers, however, showed weak points in the team.
Cooper quickly neutralized Washburn’s opening drive with excellent work from Elisha Simmons, Jaylen Hayes, Emmanuel Karmo, and Jordan Dalotn. The Hawks quickly got their first possession with Beckham Van Voorst back as quarterback after time away from Cooper’s two-quarterback set up.
Some back and forth followed before Cooper finally found the first touchdown, set up by a 55-yard pick by Hayes. Randy Smythe then ran in the touchdown for eight yards before Chyanon Chearapasaworn hit the extra point to make it 7-0.
Van Voorst began to fire well in the second quarter. He found Kristopher Oates for two receptions for about 35 yards, before launching a pass to Dalon Gurley for about 40. Smythe was ready to run in another touchdown from there and Cooper led 14-0.
A clever fake by Washburn opened the doors for the visitor’s only touchdown of the night, but Cooper responded with a touchdown for senior running back and linebacker Anthony Kollie, set up by a 35-yard reception by Christian Lloyd. The extra point was blocked, but another touchdown, this time for Karmo on a drive made up of several of his own runs. Cooper led 27-7.
Kollie, a veteran in the Hawks locker room, told the Sun Post that he and the team are excited about where they are at as a full unit on both sides of the ball.
“I feel we have a great opportunity next week,” Kollie explained. “Our defense and offense have been connecting and I think it’s going to be a great game. It’s my last year and maybe Hawks come out on top. ... It’s been like a family here since the beginning, since freshman year. I just love being part of this team.”
The Hawks kept working in the second half, with Sema’j Young getting a touchdown on a 12-yard pass from Van Voorst before Tavorian Thompson came in to finish a drive, rushing it in as quarterback. Two extra points from Chearapasaworn left it at 41-7.
Cooper suffocated any remaining question out of the game in the fourth quarter with two picks. One was caught by Parish Jackson for five yards, while the other was a pick six by Simmons to extend the score to 48-7. The score remained there and the Hawks had their ticket to the section championship game.
Van Voorst had 210 total yards and two touchdowns from 15 attempts in his return to quarterback. Smythe had 71 yards and two touchdowns from 13 attempts, while Young had 49 yards and one touchdown on receptions plus 21 yards rushing. Dadjuah Karmo led on total tackles with 10, while Kollie had seven.
Cooper head coach Tony Patterson added that the team has work to do to be prepared for Armstrong next week, but that the message to the players has been clear.
“Armstrong are a really good football team,” Patterson said. “We’ve played them several teams in the past few years so we understand that. We’ve got to be physical upfront because they are too. I’ve been tell the guys, this is a new season now and we’ve got to turn it up a notch.”
Cooper will face Armstrong in the Battle of the Robbinsdale Birds in the Section 5AAAAA championship game, played at Armstrong Friday, Nov. 1.
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