By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Winning the first three games of the season happened twice in the first 15 years of the Cooper football program and both of those teams went on to make deep runs in the Class 5A state playoffs.
The Jaguars need a victory on Friday to match the 3-0 starts by the 2012 and 2014 teams. But they’ll be facing Ryle, an opponent that won the last eight games in the series that’s become known as the “Battle of Union” since both high schools are located in that city.
Ryle opened the season with 37-22 loss at Covington Catholic and evened its record with a 28-7 win over Conner. Cooper won its first two games against Bardstown, 35-14, and Lexington Henry Clay, 42-2.
Each team is averaging more than 340 yards per game with most of it coming through the air. Cooper sophomore Cam O’Hara has completed 27 of 32 passes for 496 yards and eight touchdowns. Ryle senior Logan Verax has connected on 40 of 53 for 431 yards and three TDs.
Verax is also the Raiders’ leading rusher with 92 yards on 22 carries and one touchdown. The Jaguars’ top ball carrier is sophomore Keegan Maher, who has 179 yards on 17 carries and two TDs in his first two games as a varsity starter.
Ryle also has a surprising sophomore in the lineup. Jacob Savage is a running back and linebacker who has team-high totals of 18 points and 26 tackles. Cooper’s defensive unit has a pair of top-notch linebackers in senior Jack Lonaker and junior Austin Alexander, who have combined totals of 33 tackles and six quarterback sacks in two games.
Randy Borchers enter’s Friday’s game with an 86-87 record in 16 seasons as Cooper’s first head coach. His first team that got off to a 3-0 start was runner-up in the 2012 Class 5A state playoffs and finished with a 13-2 record. Two years later, the Jaguars won their first three games and made it to the 2014 Class 5A semifinals.
Cooper and Ryle were Class 6A district rivals from 2015 to 2018. The Jaguars won their first district game in 2015, but the Raiders took the next four. After Cooper returned to Class 5A in 2019, the neighboring schools continued the series and Ryle won each of the last four years.
The final scores in the last two games were 14-7 in 2021 and 13-10 in 2022. The leading scorer last year was Ryle place kicker Josh Line, who converted two field goals and an extra-point kick for seven points.
High school football schedule
FRIDAY GAMES
Cooper at Ryle, 7 p.m.
Covington Catholic at Simon Kenton, 7 p.m.
Beechwood at Dixie Heights, 7 p.m.
Campbell County at Highlands, 7 p.m.
Holmes at Lloyd, 7 p.m.
Conner at Lexington Lafayette, 7:30 p.m.
Lexington Sayre at Ludlow, 7:30 p.m.
Scott vs. Newport Central Catholic at CovCath, 7 p.m.
Dayton at Owen County, 7:30 p.m.
Holy Cross at Grant County, 7 p.m.
Newport at Pendleton County, 7:30 p.m.
Riverview East (Ohio) at Bellevue, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY GAME
Brossart at Pineville, 6 p.m.