By Marcus Krum
Sports Editor
@marcuskrum
With the student section roaring under the stadium lights in football’s return to Buddy Echols field. Last year’s last-second loss to the McKinney Boyd Broncos (1-1) was long gone, but not forgotten by the Cowboys (2-0).
With the offense hitting their stride early and the defense shutting down the Broncos until late in the game, the Cowboys were able to dominate in almost every aspect of the game in their 34-14 romp.
After Boyd forced the Cowboys to punt on their first possession of the game, the Broncos were driving steadily. After senior cornerback Kyran Jamison knocked down a pass in the end zone on third and 3 at the six, a fumbled handoff on fourth down was recovered by junior outside linebacker Cody Masters.
The Cowboys took over, and two personal foul penalties on the Broncos kept their drive rolling. On first and goal, sophomore quarterback Brady McBride threw a perfect pass to senior wide receiver Josh Fink on a fade route to put Coppell up 6-0 in the first quarter.
“I’m a young quarterback, it’s just my second start,” McBride said. “It’s good knowing I can rely on these guys.”
After the defense forced a three and out from Boyd, the Cowboys looked to be driving again, but were stuffed at the line of scrimmage on third down and one, then missed a 32 yard field goal. The defense continued their stellar play, forcing another punt.
McBride and the offense then put together a 10 play, 80 yard drive that ended with another touchdown pass to Fink, again on a fade route.
Having a quarterback-receiver duo like that, “It’s huge,” head coach Mike DeWitt said. “I’m glad we’re playing with them, not against them.”
At the start of the third quarter, senior defensive lineman Solomon Wise punched the ball out of the arms of the Boyd ball-carrier. The fumble was picked up by Masters, who ran it eight yards for the Coppell touchdown, extending the lead to 20-0 early in the second half.
“I just did the easy part,” Masters said. He finished with two fumble recoveries and a sack. “I just picked up the fumble. Solomon was the one who caused the fumble, I’d like to give the credit to him.”
Boyd continued to be plagued by penalties and sacks in their next possession, leading to a 4th down and 37 situation and another punt. The Cowboys kept their offense up-tempo, and several more penalties from the Broncos aided in giving them the ball on the seven yard line, where McBride hit Fink in stride for their third touchdown connection of the day.
Later in the third and early in the fourth, the starters on both sides of the ball for the Cowboys got some rest. However, after the Broncos scored on a 70 yard touchdown pass and a one yard run, Coppell needed one more score to put the game away for good. This came in the form of a one yard run from junior running back Joe Fex, who finished the game with 47 rushing yards and one score, finishing it at 34-14.
With revenge on their minds, the Cowboys controlled the entire game. The defense stepped up even bigger than in last week’s win over Hebron, proving that this year, this team is nothing to be looked down upon.
“We’re going to try and keep [our opponent’s score at zero] every game,” Masters said. “Today it didn’t end up being that way. But every day, we’re going to come to practice, we got a chip on our shoulder. Nobody thinks we’re going to be great, and they’re in for a rude awakening.”
