They were celebrating Senior Night at Cooper Thursday. Although it might have been better to call it Quarterback Night. And not just for unbeaten Cooper’s Cam O’Hara, a precocious junior who just keeps chucking it for touchdowns.
Only O’Hara wasn’t alone – along with his deep posse of talented receivers – there was the quarterback on the other side of the field – Conner’s Wyatt Hatfield. Both were spectacular in their own way.
O’Hara, of course, has more support as the final 42-17 victory for the Jaguars in this Cass 5A district – and Boone County rivalry — reflected. But Hatfield, a senior who’s been a little bit under the radar this season, could hardly have done much more.
O’Hara set the tone in this one, hitting on 12 of 13 passes in the first half for 155 yards and three touchdowns as the homestanding Jaguars jumped out to a 28-10 lead by halftime. No big deal, however. He hit on 18 of 18 last year against Boone County. And on this night, finished with 18 of 21 for 261 yards and four TDs.
Leading the way for O’Hara’s “supporting” cast was, as usual, 6-foot-3 senior Isaiah Johnson, who caught a pair of first-half TD passes from 43 yards and 10 yards.
But not until more than 10 minutes into the game did Cooper even target Johnson despite that fact that with his two TD catches in this game, he becomes the all-time leading career touchdown pass-catcher in Conner history with 41, passing Jaguar Dante Hendrix’s 40. And he’s on the cusp of entering the Top 10 all-time in Kentucky history at No. 11 with five regular season games left and as many as four playoff games to move up the list.
Just don’t ask him – or his head coach, Randy Borchers, the only head man Cooper has had in its 17 years of football. In separate postgame interviews, they had the exact same answer: “I have no idea,” each said, when asked how many TD catches Johnson had.
Borchers says he’s not much of a stat guy. “The only stat I pay attention to is wins.”
As for Johnson, who is sneaky fast with his 4.6 speed in the 40 but “a long stride that lets him run by people,” his coach says, “he just finds a way to get open.”
As for the records, “I’m just playing ball,” Johnson says, “and I knew Cam was going to get me the ball.” Now if he can just get more colleges to discover him although the likes of Eastern Kentucky, Indiana State and West Point have been recruiting him.
As was noted in his Senior Night introduction, his “ultimate goal is playing in the NFL,” and he’s not backing down from that.
His passing partner makes it an easier task with O’Hara’s ability to pull the trigger on the 43-yard first TD pass that hit Johnson perfectly in stride or the 10-yard comeback ball in the front corner of the end zone that was timed up against a secondary set to not let Johnson beat it deep.
But those were just half of O’Hara’s TD passes with an opening one of 20 yards to Malachi Ewell and a closing one from 13 to Austin Alexander, the 6-3, 240-pound edge rusher/outside linebacker/defensive end who will be playing for North Carolina next season.
But with hands developed from his years of basketball, Alexander how has six TD catches, half of Johnson’s second-best-in-the-state 12 this season. “I’ve been blessed with good hands – and blessed with a fantastic quarterback,” Alexander says.
Exactly, Borchers says of his quarterback who has 25 TD tosses against just one interception this season. “Here’s the thing with Cam,” his coach says, “when he’s in a groove, he’s in a groove. And he was locked in from the first play.”
On the ground, junior Cooper tailback Keagan Maher had a terrific night with a pair of TDs and 123 yards on 13 carries with his quickness beating the Conner defenders to the edge time and again.
Locked in from the other side on offense was the 6-foot, 185-pound Hatfield, As for under the radar, Conner Coach David Trosper begs to differ. “He had 258 yards against Simon Kenton,” Trosper said after the game. “You should come see him play more often . . . he’s not going D-1 because he’s not 6-4 but he’s a football player . . . he’s tough.”
“He’s a great athlete,” O’Hara said of his Conner counterpart. “He definitely gave our defense some problems.” But with his legs, not so much his arm although he did throw a 41-yard TD pass to Chase Bailey in the final minute to finish off the scoring and a 263-yard night running and passing with 189 yards on 26 carries and another 74 on his five completions.
“I take the loss,” Trosper told his Cougars after the game, “but you never quit, that’s what I love about you guys. Get back on track next week . . . don’t walk out of here with your heads down.”
With wins over Ryle, Highlands and now Conner in the last month, Cooper certainly isn’t downbeat a bit. “They’re a great football team,” Trosper said of the Jags.
And as good as Johnson is, and as many records as he might set, “the good thing we’ve got going is we have four/five receivers,” Borchers says – and a quarterback who can get the ball to all of them.
Cooper (6-0) will move on to face Scott next Friday while Conner (5-2) plays Dixie Heights Friday in 5A district games for both.
SCORING SUMMARY
CONNER 3 0 7 7—17
COOPER 14 14 7 7—42
COOPER: Ewell 20 pass from O’Hara (PAT) Tibbs kick good
CONNER: Herron 38 FG
COOPER: Johnson 43 pass from O’Hara (PAT) Tibbs kick good
COOPER: Johnson 10 pass from O’Hara (PAT) Tibbs kick good
COOPER: Maher 19 run (PAT) Tibbs kick good
CONNER: Hatfield 1 run (PAT) Herron kick good
COOPER: Alexander 13 pass from O’Hara (PAT) Tibbs kick good
COOPER: Maher 1 run (PAT) Tibbs kick good
CONNER: Bailey 27 pass from Hatfield (PAT) Herron kick good
