By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
Unbeaten Cooper got off to a first-round playoff start that Coach Randy Borchers perfectly described to his Jaguars in this single postgame sentence: “Guys, we did a lot of good things, but . . .”
But in trading scores after jumping out to a 14-0 lead in chilly Union Friday, they found themselves holding on to a 35-28 lead with 9:07 left in the game as South Oldham out of Crestwood in exurban Louisville just would not go away. Until Cooper finally put the Dragons away with a 28-point fourth-quarter burst for a 56-28 win that – as the cliché says — was much closer than that final score.
Not that that South Oldham’s challenge should have been a surprise. Coming into the Class 5A playoffs, “We thought this was the best 1-4 matchup in the state,” Borchers said of his 10-0 top-ranked Cooper team going against a 7-3 South Oldham team “that could easily have been a No. 1,” Borchers said. “We didn’t get a great draw.”
Next week in a 7:30 Friday game, Cooper (11-0) will host a 6-5 Scott County team that beat Conner, 47-40, in Friday’s first round. Last year, on their playoff run to the state championship game, Cooper beat Scott County, 49-21.
Scoring lots of points with the high-powered quartet of Cooper’s offensive stars is no surprise as the Jaguars – with quick-armed junior quarterback Cam O’Hara throwing the ball to big wide receivers Isaiah Johnson and Jaiden Combs with quick-footed Keagan Maher doing the damage on the ground — Cooper just does what it does.
And as much as O’Hara did his thing with 316 yards passing on 12 of 18 for four touchdowns while Johnson and Combs combined for 267 yards receiving and three TDs on just six catches, this was the 5-foot-8, 170-pound Maher’s night.
Although maybe not his best all-around game, he said, despite his four touchdowns (three rushing, one receiving) with 162 total yards on 15 carries (for 149 yards with a 53-yard TD and one TD on a 13-yard reception. He had 322 total yards against Dixie Heights although never before did he record four TDs.
“Sometimes, yeah,” he knows he can get lost among the 6-2 O’Hara and Combs and the 6-3 Johnson. “but I love being part of this team. They do their thing, I do mine.”
Actually, Maher, with that 13-yard TD catch, did their thing as well. But his TD runs from 53 yards out was all speed and his 20-yarder up the gut was about shiftiness as he ran right through the Dragon defenders almost untouched.
So now you know what Borchers was talking about with his “we did a lot of good things” comment. And did them from way out and in a hurry.
In one 31-second burst from 9:21 to 8:50 in the fourth quarter, the two teams scored three TDs – 21 points – on three straight plays – not counting one of two kickoffs — that totaled 219 yards. The first came on a 94-yard O’Hara to Combs TD pass from out of the end zone followed immediately by a Julian Miles’ 82-yard kickoff return for South Oldham followed by an O’Hara 55-yard TD toss to Johnson.
A 28-21 game had suddenly become 42-28. And so well did the Jaguars like getting back into the scoring flow, they added Maher’s fourth TD from the 1 and an Isaac Brown 60-yard interception for the final score with 1:07 left.
As many as those big plays were, there were still the breakdowns in coverage and ill-timed penalties. “Great football teams,” Borchers reminded his guys, “when they get somebody down, they put their foot on their throats . . . We gotta’ get that killer instinct.”
And not allow a team that still runs the classic triple option to rack up 308 yards of offense with a pair of TD passes off ball fakes that saw defenders wide open in the end zone. The way the Jaguars answered was simple: Pile up 485 yards on offense themselves.
They’ve also got to get something else next week in addition to that killer instinct, Borchers reminded them: “Next week, what do we want to be? Borchers asked his team.
Without hesitation, the Jaguars answered: “1-0”
That’s how you do it. How Cooper did it last year. For four straight weeks, you go 1-0. And we’ll see you at UK’s Kroger Field for the championship game.
“They always say, if you’ve been there before, you know how to do it,” Borchers said. Friday, Cooper’s Jaguars showed they know how to do it – at least some of the time.
SCORING SUMMARY
SOUTH OLDHAM 0 14 0 14—28
COOPER 14 7 7 28—56
Cooper: Maher 13 pass from O’Hara (PAT) Tibbs kick good
Cooper: Johnson 26 pass from O’Hara (PAT) Freihofer kick good
South Oldham: Miles 22 pass from Arnold (PAT) Oerther kick good
Cooper: Maher 20 run (PAT) Tibbs kick good
South Oldham: Arnold 2 run (PAT) Oerther kick good
Cooper: Maher 53 run (PAT) Tibbs kick good
South Oldham: Miles 10 pass from Arnold (PAT) Oerther kick good
Cooper: J. Combs 94 pass from O’Hara (PAT) Tibbs kick good
South Oldham: Miles 82 kickoff Return (PAT) Oerther kick good
Cooper: Johnson 55 pass from O’Hara (PAT) Tibbs kick good
Cooper: Maher 1 run (PAT) Tibbs kick good
Cooper: Isaac Brown 60 interception return (PAT) Tibbs kick good
