LEWISVILLE – With four consecutive wins to open the season, Coppell football came into its game against Lewisville with confidence. However, an uneven matchup on the line of scrimmage doomed the Cowboys. 

The game began with a tone-setting tackle for loss by Coppell senior defensive end Gabe Warren. However, it proved to be for naught as Lewisville’s junior running back Viron Ellison finished off the first drive with a 9-yard touchdown run, forcing the Cowboys to play catch-up from the get-go.

From there the Farmers never looked back, scoring twice more by halftime, eventually defeating the Cowboys, 38-3, Friday night at Max Goldsmith Stadium.

“We missed too many tackles, blew too many assignments,” senior cornerback Braxton Myers said. “We just needed to execute and establish assignments, while being more aggressive upfront.”

Despite being accustomed to fast starts – Coppell (4-1, 1-1 in District 6-6A) had scored in the first quarter of every game this season – Lewisville controlled the game from the jump, scoring its second touchdown within 2:30 of getting the ball back following a failed Coppell drive. The Fighting Farmers established their dominance both through scoring with Ellison and limiting the Cowboys on the ground.

“I just think they were massive up front,” Coppell coach Antonio Wiley said. “They just got us off the ball and moved us upfront real well. When you have linebackers with big lineman pushing in and just causing all kinds of havoc, it just makes it tough to stop the run game. They imposed their will on us upfront, just mauled us.”

Without the run game, the Cowboys – unsuccessfully – turned to the air, but remained scoreless. With the game getting away, the Cowboys’ defense got one back through the air, a Myers interception ending an otherwise promising Lewisville drive. The only score of the second quarter was a Lewisville (4-1, 2-0) 36-yard field goal. 

Coming out of the half, the Cowboys attempted to get back into the game. Coppell seniors quarterback Jack Fishpaw, wide receiver Baron Tipton and kicker Nicolas Radicic combined to put the first Coppell points on the board: a 43-yard field goal to make it 17-3 halfway through the third.

“There is no 17 point play,” Wiley said. “Just do your job, one snap at a time and find a way to be successful each snap.”

However, it was only the Farmers who found success, with junior wide receiver Lamar Kirby putting the Cowboys down three scores in the third.

Despite Fishpaw’s response – a winding run through five defenders, taking the Cowboys across midfield – Lewisville quickly stifled any hope. Driving 60 yards on the ground, the Farmers scored once more through junior quarterback Ethan Terrell. On Lewisville’s first play of the fourth quarter, a 60 yard run by senior running back Xavier Lewis put the game out of reach.

Coppell had few chances to respond, with missed touchdowns and tackles proving too much to overcome against a state-ranked Farmers team. 

“Those are plays we usually make, we were just off our game a little bit,” Wiley said. “Against this football team, you have to show up and be on your game all the time, that’s what we’ll do better.”

Ahead of its next game, home against Flower Mound Marcus, Coppell is going to turn back to the film and work on executing its gameplan.

“Just keep watching film keep executing, and being more aggressive,” Myers said. “Marcus is going to see what we did on film, they’re gonna see how we want to execute and they’re going to try to run the ball on us. We just have to be prepared for it.”

Coppell returns on Friday to Buddy Echols Field against Marcus, with kickoff at 7 p.m.

Follow Sahith (@SahithMocharla) and @SidekickSports on Twitter.