By Alex Nicoll
Staff Writer
Coaches and players dream of amassing 500 total yards of offense under the lights on Friday nights.
So, when 300 of those precious yards come from one player in particular, the game tends be very one-sided.
Such was the case in the Coppell Cowboys’ defeat of the Rockwall Yellow Jackets, 68-20.
Coppell opened the game similar to last week’s win over McKinney Boyd. Within the first fifteen seconds of the game, junior running back Charles West broke away for a seventy-five yard touchdown run to put the Cowboys up 7-0 over Rockwall.
“We just wanted to come in here and take another big step forward,” head football coach Joe McBride said. “We knew they were scary with [Chris Warren] and we did not necessarily play as well as we wanted too defensively, but we did answer the call and responded in the second half.”
The Yellow Jackets responded with a lengthy drive that ended with sophomore quarterback Will Reed completing a pass to senior wide receiver Xavier Castille on a fade route. Halfway through the first the score was tied at 7-7 apiece.
One of the major improvements Coppell showed was its blocking. The offensive line, kickoff return, and punt return teams allowed the running backs and returners to make plays on the ball.
“We told the lineman our goal to get over 400 yards rushing because we cannot do anything if they do not block up front,” senior running back Gavin McDaniel said. “I have to give them all the credit.”
On one of kickoff returns, McDaniel found open space and returned it past Rockwall’s side of the fifty yard line. After a fifteen yard penalty on the Yellow Jackets, Coppell capped off the twenty-five yard drive with junior quarterback Skyler Bonneau pounding the ball across the pylon on a 1-yard plunge.
The next drive for Rockwall ended in disaster, when a high snap on a Yellow Jackets punt rolled through the back of the end zone, resulting in a safety and two points for the Cowboys. Bonneau and the offense took advantage of the safety by driving down the field and scoring a twenty-two yard field goal from Under Armour All-American kicker Adam Centers.
At the end of the first Coppell was up 19-7 over the Yellow Jackets.
Rockwall junior star running back Chris Warren rumbled forward for a thirty-eight yard score that cut the lead to 19-13 after a missed extra point opportunity. Warren had one more touchdown run and the last score for the Yellow Jackets in the second quarter as well.
Warren, a threat against every defense, had already rushed for eight touchdowns and 525 yards before entering the game. Coppell held him to only 105 yards and only two scores.
“The kid is talented, tremendously talented,” McBride said. “He is a load and I am just glad, offensively, we really got after it. I am proud of the defensive too for responding after we had some hiccups.”
After that score, it was Coppell’s game. The second quarter saw McDaniel score off an eleven yard scramble and West blowing by the defense on his way to a fifty yard score. Most impressive of the night was, West’s sixty-two yard run to close out the half with only six seconds left on the clock.
Coppell was up 40-20 at the end of the second quarter, but the large amount of points was just a foreshadowing for coming events.
Senior captain and safety Chris Adkins and the secondary unit for the Cowboys continued its ball-hawking defense that started at Boyd, with an interception returned for a touchdown on the third play of the half from Adkins. This was Coppell’s second interception of the day with the first coming in the second quarter.
West then ran for his fourth touchdown of the night and his fourth run of more than fifty yards, on a fifty-one yard sprint. In a dominating form on both side of the ball, the Cowboys increased its lead to 54-20 over Rockwall.
The back-ups for Coppell came in by the third quarter and Rockwall took out its big players as well, signaling how the game was and would go. Senior defensive back James McCrae and senior fullback Omar Rosales each had a rushing touchdown to put the final score at 68-20.
Rockwall ended the game with four straight incompletions that ended a nine-minute drive in the fourth. Coppell now is focusing its attention on its opponent next week, the Garland Owls.
“First we are just looking towards preparing [for the game],” McDaniel said. “We play on Thursday so we have one less day to prepare for it. We just have to focus on those first two days of practice. Then it’s the same thing, put up as many points as we can and rely on our defense to make stops.”
