By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
Sometimes it’s not the game that matters most. Even a season- and career-ending one. Or a playoff home loss.
For Cooper’s Jaguars, it was the hugs and tears, the goodbyes and career “well-done’s” after having no answer for speedy Scott County’s well-executed wing-T throwback offense in a 55-34 playoff-ending home loss Friday.
Senior quarterback Cam O’Hara will leave Union, heading to Western Kentucky in January, as the third all-time touchdown thrower in Kentucky high school history, something he accomplished in the first half with the second of his four TD passes as he reached 146 for his career. He’d already surpassed the 11,000-yards-passing mark earlier and a Top-10 all-time KHSAA finish there.
“It’s crazy the way it goes by too fast as the saying goes,” Cam said before reflecting on the way it has gone for him and his senior class that had accomplished so much, had gone to two straight Class 5A state championship games, and now here they were, finished after Week 2 of the playoffs.
“It sucks,” O’Hara said.
He’d just hugged Coach Randy Borchers, with tears steaming down both of their cheeks. “This guy right here, he developed me, he trusted me,” O’Hara said. And gave him a chance to go down as the greatest passing quarterback in Northern Kentucky high school history with the most TD passes, the most yards passing (11,227) and the most completions (713).
But hardly by himself. There was senior running back Keagan Maher, who combined with O’Hara to become only the second duo in KHSAA history to surpass 10,000 passing yards and 4,000 rushing yards.
Then there’s senior defensive back/wide receiver Ryker Campbell, who has 16 career interceptions while switching over to catch a 61-yard TD pass from O’Hara Friday.
“I’ve got two girls,” Borchers said as he explained the tears. “I see these guys as my sons. When they hurt, you hurt for them.”
And this one hurt. And as much as Scott County came into this game as the ground-and-pound team with the quarterback under center and the fullback right on his heels pounding the ball inside with speedy wingbacks using all sorts of counter and crossing action, it was in the air that Scott crushed Cooper.
Averaging barely seven passes – with four completions – and just over 90 yards a game, Scott County lit it up against a Cooper defense coming up hard to stop the run – even on third and long. Even in obvious passing downs.
On the night, the Georgetown team completed nine of 10 passes – only one of those defended or contested with receivers open by as much as 25 yards on some play-action passes – for 294 yards and four TDs, the same number O’Hara threw for on his 18-of-28 night for 265 yards.
But not to make too much of the Scott County passing. The Cardinals also racked up 297 yards on the ground on a Cooper defense that had a really bad tackling night. Do the math. That’s 591 yards of total offense.
No way anybody can win allowing that much offense, even with 34 points and 331 yards of your own.
And as much as this game has been on the schedule the second week of the playoffs the last four years, Cooper may not want to see these Cardinals next season. Every running back (Timmy Emongo, Skyler Way and Jayden Garrett) was a junior as was the tight end Red Owens. Among them, they scored six TDs. And the slick ball-faking quarterback, Charlie Ellison, who threw for four TDs, and wide receiver Keller Furnish, who caught two of them, were sophomores.
“Team effort,” Coach Jim McKee told his Scott County team before reading them a poem he’d written that ended with his team moving on as “our destiny in (UK’s) Kroger Field awaits.”
Which is where the Jaguars finished the last two years. “We did really feel like whoever won this game would make it,” Borchers said. It had become a habit here.
“Obviously they set a high bar,” Borchers said of his departing seniors who had won a school record 34 games the past three seasons. “The expectations are high.”
Addressing the entire team, Borchers told them to “Keep your heads up . . . it should hurt.”
And then to his returning underclassmen, “Take a week off.” And then it’s back to work.
“We’ve got a lot of shoes to fill,” Borchers said, “a lot of work to do.”
One junior who can help lead the way is wide receiver Corey Freihofer, who caught a pair of TD passes from O’Hara.
SCOTT COUNTY 21 7 13 14—55
COOPER 7 7 7 13—34
SCORING SUMMARY:
Scott Co.: Emongo 60 rush (Elliott PAT kick good)
Cooper: Freihofer 10 pass from O’Hara (Tibbs PAT kick good)
Scott Co.: Emongo 35 rush (Elliott PAT kick good)
Scott Co.: Garrett 32 rush (Elliott PAT kick good)TD)
Scott Co.: Furnish 11 pass from Ellison (Elliott PAT kick good)
Cooper: Martin 14 pass from O’Hara (Tibbs PAT kick good)
Scott Co.: Furnish 60 pass from Ellison (PAT kick failed)
Cooper: Campbell 61 pass from O’Hara (Tibbs PAT kick good)
Scott Co.: Emongo 8 rush (Elliott PAT kick good)
Scott Co.: Owens 16 pass from Ellison (Elliott PAT kick good)
Cooper: O’Hara 2 rush (2-pt PAT run fails)
Scott Co.: Owens 51 pass from Ellison (Elliott PAT kick good)
Cooper: Freihofer 12 pass from O’Hara (Tibbs PAT kick good)
