CARROLLTON – The bench became deathly quiet and a hush fell momentarily over the folks in the stands. Trailing by a point, Hebron lined up for a potential game-winning field goal.

After two timeouts and only 24 seconds left on the clock, the Hebron kicker lines up from 16 yards out. The ball is snapped, set and kicked. But right before the ball passes overhead of the Coppell line, senior defensive lineman Corbin Hicks leaps with arms extended in a final and desperate attempt.

The visiting stands erupt. Hicks’ block secured the victory for the Cowboys within the very final moments of the fourth quarter.

“[The block] was definitely crazy for me because I feel as if I didn’t do very good the whole game,” Hicks said. “But to have something like that happen, it was totally unexpected. [I] sort of redeemed myself, I hope.”

Anchoring the offensive front was senior Rasheed Noel, who, before last night, had not played for Coppell as a quarterback.

Noel, who transferred to CHS from Marcus High School, played as a quarterback for the three years he had attended Marcus. But when Noel came to Coppell, he began to play as a wide receiver and linebacker.

“I’d been [playing as quarterback] for the past three years but when I came here, they kind of moved me around a bit,” Noel said. “It felt good to be back as a QB though.”

The Hawks took the lead early in the first quarter on a six yard run. Coppell remained scoreless for that time but scored two second quarter touchdowns.

Defensively in the second quarter, the Cowboys did not let up. Coppell led, 13-7, going into halftime.

After having converted a fourth down and bringing the offense within 14 yards of the end zone, Noel, without any other options, snuck through Hebron’s defensive line and landed in the endzone, putting Coppell’s first six on the board.

Later in the quarter, senior tailback Ryan Hirt, who was coming back from minor injuries sustained in last week’s game against Irving MacArthur, ran the ball in from 57 yards out, making it 13-7 Cowboys.

In the third quarter, Coppell did not score any additional touchdowns but advanced the lead with a field goal kicked by senior Caden Davis from 25 yards out. Within the last minute of the quarter, the Hawks earned a safety on Noel, making the game 16-9 going into the final quarter.

The Cowboys did not score in the fourth but allowed Hebron to only once. The extra point was blocked by Coppell linemen, making it 16-15. Had Hicks not blocked the field goal attempt in the last minute, the Cowboys would have been left with only 20 seconds to counterattack.

“It was two great football teams, both with great passion and physical ability,” Coppell head coach Mike DeWitt said. “They played really hard and it was a great game.”

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of last night’s game was Noel’s unexpected – but not unappreciated – appearance and performance as Coppell’s quarterback.

“I was alright,” Noel said. “I gotta make better passes and better reads. But the defense made a crazy stop here. They played hard all game and got the job done.”

Hicks, however, said it was all thanks to the offensive effort.

“We run the ball really well all the time,” Hicks said. “I have to give it to our offensive. We’d been having trouble on both sides but I’m gonna have to give it to Ryan [Hirt] and all of those guys. I always see Ryan just bursting through and making those long runs. There may be a flag and we gotta call it back but we’ll just do it again because that’s how our offense plays.”

The Cowboys play this Friday against Lewisville at Goldsmith Stadium at 7 p.m.