Homecoming night belonged to the Cowboys.
Buddy Echols Field roared as the Coppell football team closed out a night defined by explosive plays and relentless energy. Even when Arlington Bowie fought back with a third quarter touchdown and a fumble recovery, Coppell’s early stack of long runs, forced turnovers and six touchdowns left no doubt, sealing a 47–26 victory under the Friday night lights on Friday.
“It was some game,” Coppell coach Antonio Wiley said. “We will clean up our game and look forward to the next one.”
The Cowboys wasted no time striking, capitalizing on an early interception by junior cornerback Jaden Bibbs that set up senior running back Dylan Mcafee for an 18-yard touchdown with 4:26 left in the first quarter.
With 10:10 remaining in the first half, sophomore quarterback Carter Zingelmann threw a deep ball to sophomore wide receiver Jacob Anene in stride before tumbling into the end zone for a 43-yard touchdown. Just minutes later, junior running back Jayden George was left open, allowing him to go 14-yards untouched straight into the end zone, extending Coppell’s lead to 21-7 with 7:35 left before halftime.
Arlington Bowie’s first touchdown was scored by Volunteer senior wide receiver Princeton Campbell who cut through the Coppell coverage team for a 97-yard kickoff return, leading Coppell to place its remaining kickoffs near the sidelines for the rest of the night.
Coppell, however, never broke momentum. With 2:32 left in the first half, Zingelmann lowered his shoulder and broke past senior outside linebacker Bryson Castile and sophomore linebacker AJ Oluwajomiloju for a 57–yard rushing touchdown to give Coppell a 27-7 advantage. By halftime, Coppell had poured on six touchdowns and carried a 40-7 lead.
The Volunteers were able to capitalize off three second half Coppell turnovers.
“I feel like we still haven’t played a complete football game,” Wiley said. “We played a pretty good first half, but in the second half we decided to come out and get sloppy. We’ve got to put together four solid quarters of football.”
Even as the Volunteers were able to make long passes and short running plays to the end zone, Wiley said Coppell’s mistakes made the difference.
“It was us. It wasn’t anything they did, it was all us,” Wiley said. “We decided to not come out and stay focused and we let them make a game out of it, and we have to clean that up.”
Still, Coppell’s offense proved useful. Mcafee and George each powered in two touchdowns to keep Bowie at arm’s length.
The Cowboys’ defense also held strong in the first half, but faltered at times, allowing Bowie to make its way down the field in the second half.
“The defensive line did really well today, but there’s definitely a lot of things that we need to work on,” senior defensive lineman Tiam Ansari said. “We need to stay outside and make sure we don’t let the quarterback run outside so much, but we did really well seeing where the ball was going.”
As the Cowboys prepare for the District 5-6A opener on Sept. 26 at Hebron, Wiley’s focus remains on growth.
“Our kids continue to get better and better every week,” Wiley said. “We are going to continue to find ways to improve as a coaching staff, and our kids are going to continue to get better as players.”
As homecoming night came to an end on Friday, the adrenaline of the night still lingered.
“Energy was high,” Wiley said. “The sky’s definitely the limit for us.”
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