By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Getting the ball in Jeremiah Lee’s hands is an important part of Cooper’s offensive game plan this season. The junior showed why Friday when he scored touchdowns playing two different positions in a 13-7 win over Newport Central Catholic.
“He’s a special ball player,” said Cooper coach Randy Borchers. “We’ve got to find a way to get him the ball. If it’s at quarterback or receiver, we’ve got to get him the ball and let him make plays for us.”
Lee started out at wide receiver on Friday and scored the game’s first touchdown on a 14-yard pass from first-year quarterback Drew Warth early in the third quarter.
After the Jaguars had offensive breakdowns on their next two possessions, Lee switched to quarterback and carried the ball on five of six plays during a 74-yard scoring drive.
He got his second touchdown on a slashing 30-yard run and Warth kicked the extra point to give Cooper a 13-0 lead with 6:45 left in the fourth quarter.
“We couldn’t figure out how to get a drive in (the end zone), so we had to change it up,” Lee said. “Putting me at quarterback helped us move the ball better.”
But NewCath kept battling and had a chance to win the game in the final seconds.
An 80-yard touchdown run by NewCath junior Joey Runyon and extra-point kick by Sam Levin made it 13-7 with 4:06 left in the fourth quarter.
After Cooper turned the ball over on downs with 2:07 remaining, NewCath advanced to the 20-yard line. On a fourth-down play with 36 seconds left, quarterback Paul Kremer threw a pass into the end zone that wide receiver Caleb Jefferson wasn’t able to bring down.
“We could’ve bowed our heads at six minutes left and said we’re not going to win, but our kids fought back,” said NewCath coach Stephen Lickert. “In the end, we just made way too many mistakes to win the football game.”
NewCath turned the ball over three times during the game. The last one came when Runyon lost the ball trying to get to the end zone and the Jaguars recovered it at the 8-yard line.
The Thoroughbreds finished with 249 total yards after getting only 55 yards on six possessions in the first half. Runyon rushed for 113 yards on nine carries. Kremer completed just 7 of 20 passes for 74 yards with two interceptions.
Cooper had 317 total yards and Lee provided the bulk of it. He rushed for 110 yards on 14 carries and caught four passes for 77 yards. He also intercepted a pass on defense and returned the second-half kickoff 60 yards.
Warth completed 7 of 16 passes for 99 yards before Lee took over at quarterback. It will be interesting to see how much they share the position as the season unfolds.
“We have two good quarterbacks,” Lee said. “I can do more on the ground and Drew is a better passer. It throws a lot of defenses off when we have two different types of quarterbacks and that helps out our game plan.”
Cooper is off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 2015, but coach Borchers said the defense has played much better than the offense in the first two games.
“The best thing is we don’t feel good about the way we played the last two weeks and we’re 2-0,” Borchers said. “As I told the kids, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. We’ve just got to keep getting better and learning from our mistakes, which we made a lot of (Friday), and we’ll be all right.”
COOPER 0 0 6 7 — 13
NEWCATH 0 0 0 7 — 7
C — Lee 14 pass from Warth (kick failed)
C — Lee 30 run (Warth kick)
NC — Runyon 80 run (Levin kick)
RECORDS — Cooper 2-0, NewCath 1-1
High school football scores
Friday’s games
Paintsville 19, Beechwood 14
Walton-Verona 17, Holy Cross 0
Newport 38, Brossart 6
Boone County 34, Lexington Dunbar 28
Covington Catholic 49, Campbell County 0
Ryle 34, Conner 10
Cooper 13, Newport Central Catholic 7
Dixie Heights 35, George Rogers Clark 12
Holmes 34, Grant County 18
Scott 17, Lloyd 0
Ludlow 36, Bracken County 0
Anderson (Ohio) 44, Simon Kenton 16
Saturday’s game
Highlands vs. Knoxville Catholic (Tenn.) at Corbin, 5:30 p.m.
Lee’s a Junior
He’s a junior