By Alex Nicoll
Editor-in-Chief
@NicollMac
Late in the third quarter of Friday night’s game junior wide receiver Obi Obialo caught the ball behind the line of scrimmage, took a step back and launched a 29 yard strike to fellow junior wide receiver Josh Fink, shocking the fans, the Hebron defense, and even Fink himself.
“We practiced it a little bit, just kind of throwing it in and getting a couple of trick plays but I mean I was a little surprised they called it,” Fink said.
Finding the end zone should not have come to a surprise for Fink, who found it for the fourth time on the night after that play.
Fink opened up the season on a score on the first kickoff, returning it for 82 yards.
“He is just a versatile player,” coach Mike DeWitt said. “He is a great kid.”
Hebron stayed in the game early, scoring 17 points in the first quarter off of a safety, kickoff return and a 62 yard run by senior running back Angelo Garbutt.
For Coppell, quarterback Skylar Bonneau and running back Charles West added a touchdown each, West on a 68 yard run and Bonneau on a six yard scamble.
With neither team scoring in the second quarter, Coppell went into the half with a 21-17 lead.
The third quarter became an aerial attack for Coppell. All 21 points in the quarter came off passing touchdowns and all were reeled in by Fink.
Senior fullback Parker Wilson added the last touchdown for Coppell halfway through the fourth quarter after bouncing off tacklers and turning a short gain into a 31 yard run.
Kicker Bernado Rodriguez Palacios chipped in a 39 yard field goal for the final score.
Coppell’s defense gave up an astonishing 399 yards rushing last night but was impeccable in stopping the pass, giving up zero yards.
This was more to the fact that Hebron’s quarterback Colton Chapin only threw two passes the whole night. Split between five rushers, Hebron ran the ball 60 times, continually attempting to pound the ball through the middle.
“We knew going into that [Hebron] had a lot of its offensive line returning and that they had a big running back,” DeWitt said. “It was no secret, they ran some of the smash-sweep last year and we watched that on film. [Hebron] was going to hang out on their offensive line.”
Garbutt led the way with 220 yards on 30 carries and a pair of touchdowns.
Despite giving up six yards per carry, the defense stopped Hebron where it counted. Twice on the night, Hebron failed to convert first and goal opportunities.
Coppell won the game 52-30 and had little difficulty in finding the end zone in the process.
“It feels great,” Fink said. “Our offensive line did amazing tonight I give them a lot of credit. The coaching staff really prepared well, we knew what to expect.”
