By Dan Weber NKyTribune sports reporter
In this district battle for second place in Class 5A in Union, Homecoming host Cooper and Dixie Heights, two teams with similar seasons — except for their records – battled for a playoff home game.
Their two offenses were back-to-back in state scoring – with Cooper No. 19 at 39.4 points a game, Dixie Heights at No. 20 with 38.4.
Both had given up more than 50 points in losses to 5A kingpin Highlands, but lots of teams have done that.
And neither of these had beaten a Northern Kentucky team with a winning record.
They still haven’t. But you can bet that won’t bother Cooper after the Jaguars’ final quarter comeback to overcome the Colonels, 21-14, in a surprisingly defensive slugfest for these teams.
That leaves the Jags 8-2 as they overcame four – that’s right – four second-half turnovers thanks to – that’s right – their defense. Cooper held Dixie’s Colonels to less than 40 yards in the second half despite having the benefit of great field position thanks to all those turnovers.
And thanks to the quick feet of sophomore running back Keagan Maher, who gained 159 yards on 16 carries thanks to an 84-yard blast in the first quarter setting up the first touchdown and a 44-yarder in the final quarter leading to the final, and game-winning TD.
And he did that against a Dixie Heights’ defense that was allowing just 47 yards per game.
Not that Maher did it all by himself. His sophomore backfield mate, quick-armed Cam O’Hara, avoided the Dixie pass rush led by the state’s leading tackler, Brach Rice (also No. 9 in sacks), just enough to hit for 13 of 21 passes – mostly on the run — for 197 yards and two touchdowns.
But do not make this all about the offensive numbers. The Austin Alexander-led Cooper defense (he’s just a junior) made life difficult for the Dixie Heights duo of run-pass quarterback Armani Gregg and running back David Anderson all night despite their best efforts, which is what they gave.
As so often this season for the much-improved Colonel team of Pat Burke that faced Beechwood, Covington Catholic and Highlands all in September, it wasn’t quite enough as Dixie dropped to 4-5 and the No. 3 spot in the district. They’ll finish up next week at home against Class 6A district-winner Ryle.
Coach Randy Borchers
Randy Borchers’ Cooper team, meanwhile, earned a first-round home game in the playoffs and has a bye week off next week to end the regular season.
In a game with two fast-paced offenses, it took almost the entire first quarter to get a score on the board and then only thanks to a two-play, 89-yard drive by the Jags with Maher’s run the play that made it happen. O’Hara’s TD fade to junior Isiah Johnson, the state leader in receiving yards coming into the game with 1,078, grabbed a 6-yard toss over single coverage for the score with 1:09 left in the first.
It took Dixie Heights just three plays to match that with a 71-yard drive featuring a pair of Gregg completions to senior Tyson Beach – the first for 12 yards, the second for 60 and the TD after he ran through a tackler for the final 20 yards.
Cooper would retake the lead on an eight-play, 55-yard drive with Maher bouncing in from the one to make it 13-7 with the PAT kick blocked. But that’s when high snaps – and low ones – started to make it tough for both teams to drive the ball.
But Dixie would get the final shot, scoring on a 42-yard, eight-play drive with 43 seconds left in the half on a six-yard Gregg flip to Anderson. The PAT made it 14-13 Dixie at intermission.
Which is where – had you known that Cooper would come out and turn the ball over four times in the third quarter – you would have thought Dixie Heights would be in the catbird seat, as the legendary Reds Hall of Fame broadcaster Red Barber used to say.
You would be wrong. The quick, aggressive Jaguar defenders would not allow the Colonels to take advantage in a shutout second half.
Dixie would get as close as the Cooper 18 in the second half, but a bad snap-hold combo ruined a 35-yard field goal attempt and that was it.
That was until an eight-play, 65-yard scoring drive – including a 44-yard Maher run – that got Cooper on the board with a game-winning TD toss to Johnson to make it 19-14 followed by a two-point PAT pass to a somehow wide-open Alexander to make it a final of 21-14.
SCORING SUMMARY
DIXIE HEIGHTS (4-5) 0 14 0 0—14
COOPER (8-2) 7 6 0 8—21
COOPER: Johnson 6 pass from O’Hara (Taylor PAT)
DIXIE HEIGHTS: Beach 60 pass from Gregg (Kohls PAT)
COOPER: Maher 1 run (PAT kick blocked)
DIXIE HEIGHTS: Gregg 6-yard pass (Kohls PAT)
COOPER: Johnson 8 pass from O’Hara (2-pt PAT Alexander pass from O’Hara)
