Sophomore star leads sub-.500 squad to playoff victory on the road
Its record isn’t what it wanted it to be in the regular season, but Cooper High School is 1-0 in the “second season.”
The Jaguars defeated Clark County, 48-21 on the road, in their playoff opener in the Class 6A KHSAA Commonwealth Gridiron Bowl. They’ll meet rival Conner — a 28-7 winner over Lafayette — in the second round next week.
Sophomore Jeremiah Lee was involved in every touchdown for Cooper. He threw two TD passes — both to Mikey Armour — and rushed for four scores. He also had an interception return for a TD.
Lee finished with 147 rushing yards and 130 yards on 4-for-8 passing; Armour reeled in three of those receptions for 121 yards.
“Coach just told us that we needed to execute on offense and our line did a hell of a job,” Lee said. “We listened to coach in practice all week and we just came out here and did it on the field.”
Cooper jumped out to a 14-0 advantage with 4:44 left in the first quarter following Lee’s first TD run and his pick-six. Azariah Israel got Clark County on the board with a 14-yard TD run with 7:48 left in the second period.
The Jaguars’ 14-6 halftime edge widened to 21-6 a minute and a half into the second half on Armour first TD grab — a bobbled ball that he reined in for a score. Clark County responded 38 seconds later with another Israel TD to pull within 21-13, but Cooper scored the game’s next 21 points to take command in the third quarter.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mike Armour with what might be the play of the postseason (it’s early, I know). Bobbles and walks in for six off the Jeremiah Lee toss. Josh Fischer enjoyed it a lot.<br><br>Cooper up 21-6, 10:27 left 3Q. <a href="https://t.co/jQcwmZaa08">pic.twitter.com/jQcwmZaa08</a></p>— Josh Moore (@HLpreps) <a href="https://twitter.com/HLpreps/status/1058520814302175232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 3, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Cooper (5-6) entered the game right below Clark County (7-4) in the Cantrall Ratings, but the Jaguars now have won three of their last four games.
“Our record didn’t show how we thought we could play,” Cooper Coach Randy Borchers said. “We put together a pretty tough schedule during the regular season. I keep telling these guys it really doesn’t matter, we just need to be playing our best football at the end of the year.
Cooper defeated Henry Clay, 23-7, to close the regular season. It provided a momentous confidence boost to the Jaguars, who hadn’t beaten a top-10 team all year.
“They hit a couple of big plays on us early and earlier in the year our kids would’ve put their heads down and we would’ve probably lost this game,” Borches said. “They responded well tonight.”
Lee — who before this game had rushed for six TDs in eight games — “is still learning” but has the tools to be a name Kentucky high school football fans will hear a lot in the coming years.
“I can tell ya, he’s given me some panic attacks this year,” Borchers said with a grin. “He’s a sophomore and he’s used to being the best athlete on the field, and once you get to this level you’re not always going to be the best athlete or there’s gonna be nine other athletes just as good as you. So something he’s been able to do in the past he’s not able to do, but he’s starting to be patient a bit and believing in what we’re trying to do. He’s getting better every game.”
This story was originally published November 3, 2018 at 12:13 AM.