In the faceoff between two undefeated teams in District 6-6A, Coppell was ahead only once – a lead which lasted 42 seconds of playing time. From then on out, it was a struggle to get even close to matching Flower Mound Marcus.

Last night, the Cowboys lost to Marcus, 38-24, at Buddy Echols Field. 

Troubles began early on for the Cowboys’ defense, as Coppell senior defensive back Zach Stricker went out of the game with an injury early in the first quarter. With four-star quarterback and LSU commit Garrett Nussmeier leading the Marcus offense, the first half saw the Marauders capitalize on multiple scoring opportunities which left Coppell (4-2 overall, 2-1 in District 6-6A) with too large a deficit to overcome.

“Losing Stricker in the secondary really hurt us, and we’re already pretty thin back there,” Coppell coach Michael DeWitt said. “Him getting injured, it really hurt. We have to find some guys to fill in for him and hope that he’ll get healthy soon.” 

The first points came on a 23-yard field goal by Coppell sophomore kicker Nic Radicic with 7:08 in the first quarter, which was followed by a dominating offensive Marcus performance. With 6:26 in the first quarter, Nussmeier threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Marcus senior wide receiver Tyler Schott and an 18-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver J. Michael Sturdivant with 23.1 seconds in the first quarter. Marcus junior kicker John Wegendt kicked a 19-yard field goal with 3:32 in the second quarter, bringing the halftime score, 17-3. 

“On defense, they were staying in a soft Cover 2 and saying ‘run the ball,’ so we were, but we got behind the chains a couple times,” DeWitt said. “Defensively, their quarterback [Nussmeier] is going to LSU and 7 [Sturdivant] is going to Cal, they’re slinging it around, and we’re susceptible in the secondary in some spots. We need to find some guys who can help us back there and keep getting better.”

The second half brought a stronger Coppell offense, with an 8-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Ryan Walker to junior wide receiver Anthony Black with 4:28 in the third quarter and two touchdown passes to senior wide receiver KJ Liggins: a 9-yard pass with 8:10 in the fourth quarter and 30-yard pass with 4:50 in the fourth quarter.

“It was obvious we had to put points on the board,” Walker said. “There wasn’t a whole lot of complaining or anything like that [during halftime], it was all business trying to find ways to put points on the board, and we did a lot better with that the second half of the game.”

However, Marcus put up points as well, scoring three more touchdowns, the first two coming from a 7-yard pass from Nussmeier to junior wide receiver Dallas Dudley with 7:45 in the third quarter and a 9-yard pass to junior wide receiver Connor Vaughn with 11:11 in the fourth quarter. The third came from a 2-yard run from junior running back Gabe Espinoza with 6:10 in the game – the only rushing touchdown of the night.

“We battled, we just couldn’t finish, we came up short at the end,” Liggins said.

While Marcus remains at the top of District 6-6A standings, Coppell is in a four-way tie for second place with Hebron, Lewisville and Plano West.

“Every team is going to watch film on this game, and they’re going to see what Marcus did and try to mimic it, and we’re going to just try to find a way to overcome that,” Walker said. “Not many teams are as talented as that, and we’ll be able to hit our playmakers a lot more from here on out. I’m going to trust those guys, and they’re going to go make plays like they always do.”

Coppell faces Hebron on Friday at Hawk Stadium at 7 p.m.

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