By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
Seventeen years ago, Cooper High School was the other school in Union. The new “wedge school,” says Randy Borchers, the only football coach for a program that inhabits what were once cornfields in rural Boone County, drawing students from three towns — Union, Burlington and Florence.
Now, the Jaguars are coming off two straight state championship game appearances — three total in those 17 years — and are “a source of pride for the local community,” Borchers says. “The Jaguars’ Maroon and Gold Faithful,” he says, make “Friday Night Lights on Longbranch Road definitely an event.”
And this season should be no different as the Jaguars, 14-1 last year with that lone loss to Bowling Green in the state title game, return 13 starters (seven on offense, six on defense) led by a Top 50 national quarterback Cam O’Hara, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound four-year starter headed to Western Kentucky.
O’Hara enters his senior season with career passing totals of 8,996 yards and 120 touchdowns, both Northern Kentucky records. He has thrown TD passes in 32 straight games. The Kentucky high school record is 41.
But the offensive numbers don’t end there. “Cooper may be the only team in Kentucky to have returning a 100-plus career TD passer and a 40-plus career TD running back in Keagan Maher” who has 40 rushing TD and seven receiving, coach Borchers says.
With 2,637 career yards rushing, the 5-9, 170-pound Maher, with his 4.5 speed in the 40 — “breakaway” speed, Borchers calls it, that makes Maher “capable of scoring anytime he touches the ball.”
Making O’Hara’s and Maher’s prospects even brighter, Borchers says, is the fact that the Jags return their entire offensive line, led by seniors Christian Brown (6-0, 288) and Noah Reichel 6-5, 235), both of whom are getting college recruiting attention.
The big challenge for Cooper, and the place where newcomers will have to carry the load, is at receiver, where top veteran talents, accounting for 148 receptions for 2,968 yards and 46 TD, have all graduated.
Basketball guys Isaiah Johnson (64 receptions for 1,298 yards, 24 TD), Jaiden Combs (49 catches, 964 yards, nine TD) and Austin Alexander (45 catches, 706 yards, 13 TD) will be tough to replace.
“That’s our biggest adjustment this year,” Borchers says. “Instead of throwing to three 6-3 guys, we’ll be throwing it to regular-sized 5-11 high school kids. We’ll be a little different looking.”
Topping the list of new receivers is three-year starter and defensive star Ryker Campbell (5-9, 156), a second-team all-state DB with a second-in-the-state eight interceptions. Five seniors and a junior will join Campbell here.
On defense, start with Campbell in the secondary. Linebacker Max Wethington (6-0, 195) returns as a two-way starter and the Jags “expect big things from him,” Borchers says, while Colton Graham (6-2, 191) gives Cooper an edge defender “with excellent speed.”
Dax Bolen (6-2, 182) will step in at linebacker while there’s decent size and experience up front from Max Artiushkevic (6-3, 222), Brown, Scott Lozier (5-10, 233) – another two-way starter, along with athletic DE Carson Clark (6-2, 235). Then there’s Corey Freihofer (6-0, 169), the Ninth Region champion pole-vaulter “with a nose for the football,” according to Borchers.
A front-loaded out-of-district schedule against Cincinnati Anderson, Louisville DuPont Manual, Highlands and crosstown Ryle should prepare the Jags for another state finals shot in a district with Conner, Dixie Heights, Scott and Boone County.
“Another run at the Class 5A championship,” Borchers says of the Cooper goal for 2025.
And, he says, there “are plenty of reasons to expect another deep run” that give his Jags “many reasons to be optimistic about their Friday nights in 2025.”
COOPER JAGUARS
2024 SEASON: 14-1 record, lost in Class 5A championship game.
STARTERS RETURNING: 7 offense, 6 defense.
DISTRICT: Class 5A, District 5 with Boone County, Conner, Dixie Heights, Scott.
HEAD COACH: Randy Borchers (110-91 in 17 seasons at Cooper, 117-105 in 19 seasons overall).
2025 SCHEDULE
Aug. 22 – at Cincinnati Anderson, 7 p.m.
Aug. 29 – HIGHLANDS, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 5 – at Ryle, 7 p.m.
Sept. 12 – CAMPBELL COUNTY, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 19 – LOUISVILLE MANUAL, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 26 – CONNER, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 3 – at Dixie Heights, 7 p.m.
Oct. 17 – at Scott, 7 p.m.
Oct. 24 – BOONE COUNTY, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 31 – at Simon Kenton, 7 p.m.