By John Loop
Sports Writer
In what could be called a “battle of the backs”, Coppell senior Luke Jenner and junior Gavin McDaniel bruised and rammed their way through the Hebron Hawks defense en route to a runaway 29-3 Cowboy win, the team’s first as a part of District 5-5A .
Senior quarterback Colby Mahon struggled to find his receivers in the first half, finishing just 6 of 14 for 99 yards and one touchdown.
Hebron’s run-first offense would be without star running back Dezmond Wortham for the duration of the game. Wortham tweaked his knee during last week’s game versus the Plano Wildcats.
“We had an idea that he wasn’t going to play tonight,” safeties coach Karl Pointer said. “It didn’t really change [our game plan] because they have a bunch of great backs.”
To accommodate for the loss, the Hawk coaching staff moved junior cornerback Braelen Evans to running back.
The Coppell offense, however, would not be shaken by a stout Hawk defense.
All 11 plays called on the first series were run-oriented. Both Jenner and McDaniel pounded the ball between the hash marks to drive the Cowboys down the field.
“We were going into the wind,” head coach Joe McBride said. “We did not want to do anything high risk, throwing the ball in the wind. We just tried to get downhill, move the chains and use the clock while we had the ball against the wind.”
The drive ended with an acrobatic leap by senior Jacob Logan over the pile from two yards out to put the first points on the board.
Both teams traded punts throughout the first quarter. But the most significant of these was Mahon’s 48-yarder that rolled all the way to the Hebron 1-yard line.
On the next play, Hebron junior quarterback Carson Proffitt fumbled the snap and fell on it in the end zone, where he was touched down by a horde of Coppell defenders, resulting in a safety for the Cowboys and a 9-0 lead.
After receiving the ball off of the safety punt by Hebron, Coppell marched down the field once more behind the legs of sophomore Charles West, who finished with 92 yards on 13 carries for the night.
Luke Jenner capped the drive with a seven-yard scamper, to push the lead to 16-0.
The Cowboy defense held the Hebron running backs to 64 yards on the ground, and didn’t let any Hawks into the endzone.
The lone points for the Hebron side came on a Joel Carlos 36-yard boot late in the third quarter. Coppell also allowed the lowest total yards in its season so far (75).
The Cowboy defense played stingy and relentless, sacking Hebron’s Proffitt a season-high five times. The Hawk offense looked like the team that had been routed by Allen in the fourth week of the season, 42-17.
Although senior quarterback Mahon threw for just under 100 yards, 25 of those came on a 25-yard pass to his brother, Blake, a junior tight end, who coincidentally wears number 25. This reception was the first between the brothers since beginning the sport.
“It is a pretty special moment to roll out and see your brother’s number flash across, knowing that you are about to throw your first pass to him,” Colby said. “It is a pretty awesome feeling.”
The Cowboys will gear up next week for Flower Mound’s homecoming game next Friday at 7:30 at Flower Mound High School.
