5A #1 Highlands @ Cooper Predictions

[Hellbird]

At what point is a prediction considered a blowout? Obviously a shutout is when one team doesn't score, but how big does the gap have to be? I'm curious because I would only consider a gap of more than 4 TDs a blowout, and relatively few people predicted a score like that (UK#1fan aside because, frankly he'd predict a blowout against Cooper if they were playing a 1A team).

I'm with you. I would say 5 or more TD's is a blowout. A running clock is a blowout.

[Qryche11]

Can someone tell me a little about Cooper's personnel and key players?

[Eagle2013]

I really believe Cooper would easily be a top 10 5A school if they were in that class again this year.

[75center]

I really believe Cooper would easily be a top 10 5A school if they were in that class again this year.

 

I agree.

[Hellbird]

Can someone tell me a little about Cooper's personnel and key players?

I will do my best.

Cooper returns basically it's entire starting offense and defense from last years State Semi Finalist team. As far as skill positions go the only position lost (although it si a big one to lose) was the QB position. But as was the case the previous 2 seasons, Cooper will have a 1st time varsity starter behind center this year. With Coach Borchers, that never seemed to be too big of a problem. By half way through the season the QB's always seem to have the system down and have been more than adequate. The first game however can be a bit challenging which makes this weeks matchup so intriguing.

 

The team hit a road block last year when they lost more than half their defensive starters week 3. They went into the SK game with missing 6 starters on the defensive side of the ball as well as a couple on offensive side of the ball. Unfortunately for them that is what some poeple remember the most about last regular season, the SK game. They lost pretty good to SK and some forget about what they went into that game with as well as just trying to get out of the game without any other big losses. Their star skill players for instance didn't play more than the first couple series, their RB for instance only had 4 carries and then was taken out to prevent injury due to the line being banged up.

 

They did get almost everyone back by the first game of the playoffs in which they won another regional title on their way to another State Semi Final game only to lose to the eventual State Champions.

 

As far as the players to look for. 2 of the linemen are among the area's best in Elliot Smith and Marcus Watson, Watson plays on both sides of the ball and is one of the better pass rushers in the area. He also has a knack for blocking punts, I know he had several last year including 2 in their first playoff game.

 

The defense will be their strong suit. They are loaded with ball hawks starting with the Keller Twins. They may be small in stature but they are as vicious as they come when tracking down the ball. They just have a nose for it. They play a hybrid LB type of position in this defense and as LB's they will still find a way to break up many passes as both have sefveral int's last year including 3 pick 6's....one of the twins alone had 2 pick 6's in the first playoff game last year. They will also be returning a DB who was one of the injured last year and missed the rest of the season after getting hurt after the 2nd game of the year. This kid however only in 2 games last year led the etnire NKY area with 3 int's at the time he went out with season ending injury. As far as the defense this year....I know much isn't put into 7 on 7's but I can tell you that I did watch them in a couple 7 on 7's and out of the 6 other teams they played that I saw, only a couple teams actually scored on them during the 7 on 7's. Their scrimmage last week was a scrimmage against 3 teams in Oldham county. It was against Oldham Co. Dunbar and another team (escapes my mind who the 3rd was) and what they did was play each team for a quarter. They shut out all 3 teams. Their defense if healthy should be the bright spot of this team.

 

Now about their offense. As I said the big question mark is the QB. In 7 on 7's he looked very accurate but the one downside I saw was he would tend to hang on to the ball a little long. that is eomthing hard to judge though in 7 on 7's because there is no pass rush etc. I didn't see their scrimmage Friday but was told he looked pretty good hitting on a couple TD's etc. as well as scrambled really good including a 30+ yard TD run. But the heart and soul of the offense comes from their RB. Torrey Cordell-Armstrong has been playing Varsity since his freshman season ended and he was moved up to Varsity for Coopers 2012 state championship run where he got his feet wet a little bit. By his sophomore year he took over the starting RB position around half way through the season until it ended with a broken leg in the Dixie game. He recovered by the beginning of the 2014 season where he came back healthy and hungrier than ever. He came back strong enough to lead the NKY area as the leading rusher. This over the great RB's at Ryle and SK to name just a couple. Not too shabby for a kid many say was undersized. He is a smaller quick type of back but I heard he put on some good weight this off season and is stronger than ever.

The offense also has an "Athlete" who can do it all in Dante Hendrix. HJe is the younger brother of Aaron Morgan for those that remember Aaron when he helped lead Cooper to the state title game in 2012. Dante plays WR and has the best hands I've seen in the area last year and that is saying a lot seeing how I thought Winkler going into the season was the best going into last season. Dante has the speed and hands to keep all the defenses honest so they can't stack the box against the run. He also can play QB and RB as well as their #1 kick returner. If needed he can play some great defense as a DB but hopefully the defense will stay healthy enough that he won't be asked to stretch himself that this this year.

 

Well that about does it. I feel if they were in 5A this year, they and Highlands may be the best in the area and this game will be a great test to see where each team stands and what they need to improve on going forward.

 

Hope that helps Qryche11

Edited August 17, 2015 by Hellbird

[KingOfClutch33]

Well HB, if Highlands didn't have a Scouting Report yet you might have just given them all they need to know!!

[Hellbird]

Well HB, if Highlands didn't have a Scouting Report yet you might have just given them all they need to know!!

If Highlands needs me to do their scouting for them and they don't have film on Cooper from last year then they may be in worst shape than we thought lol.

[psychicscubadiver]

I feel if they were in 5A this year, they and Highlands may be the best in the area and this game will be a great test to see where each team stands and what they need to improve on going forward.

 

Better than CovCath? Interesting. I could see Cooper being stronger than Dixie Heights, especially with all they return this year, but I'd like to see a game between Cooper and CovCath to determine that question. It's a shame they didn't schedule each other. Oh well. I do agree that Cooper would be definitely be in the top ten of 5A this year.

Edited August 17, 2015 by psychicscubadiver
Grammar

[Bird Bath]

I sat through a little more than half the scrimmage, a few observations. St. X is strong, balanced and big. It was also nice to see big TE on the field making some YAC. HHS on defense needs boys to step up way to many tackles by Beal and Dougherty in the safety spots, again that might be do to the size and strength of St. X. I saw a few pancakes go against us.

 

On offense HHS needs to run N to S. 5 yard losses on Jet sets up 3 and long. Boys get past grudges Cain needs to get the ball. I did not see one pass thrown his way. It was not lost on me.

[Hellbird]

Better than CovCath? Interesting. I could see Cooper being stronger than Dixie Heights, especially with all they return this year, but I'd like to see a game between Cooper and CovCath to determine that question. It's a shame they didn't schedule each other. Oh well. I do agree that Cooper would be definitely be in the top ten of 5A this year.

That would be a fun game also. I may be a bit bias but I actually do think they are a better than Cov Cath this year. with that said it wouldn't be a huge shock though if Cov Cath would win that game between the two. It really is hard to say unless they face eachother. Either way, that would be one competitive district this year if Cooper was still 5A

[BubbyKY]

I'm not trying to nit-pick Cooper, but in the past several years, many players have played both sides of the ball.

 

How many athletes will be playing both O/D for Cooper?

 

Will this be a factor against the fresh legs of the platooning Birds?

[doubledeuce]

Here is my predictions:

 

End of 1q

7-7

 

Halftime

21-7 HHS

 

End of 3q

35-7

 

Final

42-7 HHS

 

HHS to much upfront and will probably play about 8 offensive lineman in the first quarter alone.

Cooper does have talented skill players but I think HHS has a little better and a lot more. HHS will probably have 8-10 Wr/Rb/Te play in the first quarter. The unrelenting wave of players is difficult to handle mentally and the speed in which the offense runs plays exhaust about every opponent they face. With this being Cooper's first time playing them they will be shocked at not only how fast HHS is at almost every position but shocked at how fast they operate. About the only way to practice against it would be to have two complete scout team offenses, but the offense coming in from the sideline comes in with the play called already. The whole HHS offense is usually waiting for the ref to spot the ball because they already have the play and are ready to go! Watching them on film you cannot tell how fast they line up and run the next play.

 

What Cooper is great at on defense is not giving up big plays. Very disciplined, simple, sound approach, they are not going to try and out guess you with a bunch of blitzes. They just line up and do their jobs and they do it at a high level. This is why I think the game will start out close but the waves of blue become too much.

 

I hope I am wrong and Cooper pulls of the upset. I would love to see it within two scores!

[doubledeuce]

I'm not trying to nit-pick Cooper, but in the past several years, many players have played both sides of the ball.

 

How many athletes will be playing both O/D for Cooper?

 

Will this be a factor against the fresh legs of the platooning Birds?

HHS offense platoons within itself, I would not be surprised if over 20 players play offense for HHS in the first half.

[psychicscubadiver]

That would be a fun game also. I may be a bit bias but I actually do think they are a better than Cov Cath this year. with that said it wouldn't be a huge shock though if Cov Cath would win that game between the two. It really is hard to say unless they face eachother. Either way, that would be one competitive district this year if Cooper was still 5A

 

Indeed. I would not be surprised whichever one of them won. And yes, that would be one heck of a district.

[Content1]

I will do my best.

Cooper returns basically it's entire starting offense and defense from last years State Semi Finalist team. As far as skill positions go the only position lost (although it si a big one to lose) was the QB position. But as was the case the previous 2 seasons, Cooper will have a 1st time varsity starter behind center this year. With Coach Borchers, that never seemed to be too big of a problem. By half way through the season the QB's always seem to have the system down and have been more than adequate. The first game however can be a bit challenging which makes this weeks matchup so intriguing.

 

The team hit a road block last year when they lost more than half their defensive starters week 3. They went into the SK game with missing 6 starters on the defensive side of the ball as well as a couple on offensive side of the ball. Unfortunately for them that is what some poeple remember the most about last regular season, the SK game. They lost pretty good to SK and some forget about what they went into that game with as well as just trying to get out of the game without any other big losses. Their star skill players for instance didn't play more than the first couple series, their RB for instance only had 4 carries and then was taken out to prevent injury due to the line being banged up.

 

They did get almost everyone back by the first game of the playoffs in which they won another regional title on their way to another State Semi Final game only to lose to the eventual State Champions.

 

As far as the players to look for. 2 of the linemen are among the area's best in Elliot Smith and Marcus Watson, Watson plays on both sides of the ball and is one of the better pass rushers in the area. He also has a knack for blocking punts, I know he had several last year including 2 in their first playoff game.

 

The defense will be their strong suit. They are loaded with ball hawks starting with the Keller Twins. They may be small in stature but they are as vicious as they come when tracking down the ball. They just have a nose for it. They play a hybrid LB type of position in this defense and as LB's they will still find a way to break up many passes as both have sefveral int's last year including 3 pick 6's....one of the twins alone had 2 pick 6's in the first playoff game last year. They will also be returning a DB who was one of the injured last year and missed the rest of the season after getting hurt after the 2nd game of the year. This kid however only in 2 games last year led the etnire NKY area with 3 int's at the time he went out with season ending injury. As far as the defense this year....I know much isn't put into 7 on 7's but I can tell you that I did watch them in a couple 7 on 7's and out of the 6 other teams they played that I saw, only a couple teams actually scored on them during the 7 on 7's. Their scrimmage last week was a scrimmage against 3 teams in Oldham county. It was against Oldham Co. Dunbar and another team (escapes my mind who the 3rd was) and what they did was play each team for a quarter. They shut out all 3 teams. Their defense if healthy should be the bright spot of this team.

 

Now about their offense. As I said the big question mark is the QB. In 7 on 7's he looked very accurate but the one downside I saw was he would tend to hang on to the ball a little long. that is eomthing hard to judge though in 7 on 7's because there is no pass rush etc. I didn't see their scrimmage Friday but was told he looked pretty good hitting on a couple TD's etc. as well as scrambled really good including a 30+ yard TD run. But the heart and soul of the offense comes from their RB. Torrey Cordell-Armstrong has been playing Varsity since his freshman season ended and he was moved up to Varsity for Coopers 2012 state championship run where he got his feet wet a little bit. By his sophomore year he took over the starting RB position around half way through the season until it ended with a broken leg in the Dixie game. He recovered by the beginning of the 2014 season where he came back healthy and hungrier than ever. He came back strong enough to lead the NKY area as the leading rusher. This over the great RB's at Ryle and SK to name just a couple. Not too shabby for a kid many say was undersized. He is a smaller quick type of back but I heard he put on some good weight this off season and is stronger than ever.

The offense also has an "Athlete" who can do it all in Dante Hendrix. HJe is the younger brother of Aaron Morgan for those that remember Aaron when he helped lead Cooper to the state title game in 2012. Dante plays WR and has the best hands I've seen in the area last year and that is saying a lot seeing how I thought Winkler going into the season was the best going into last season. Dante has the speed and hands to keep all the defenses honest so they can't stack the box against the run. He also can play QB and RB as well as their #1 kick returner. If needed he can play some great defense as a DB but hopefully the defense will stay healthy enough that he won't be asked to stretch himself that this this year.

 

Well that about does it. I feel if they were in 5A this year, they and Highlands may be the best in the area and this game will be a great test to see where each team stands and what they need to improve on going forward.

 

Hope that helps Qryche11

 

HB....in honor of you having no issues with "clearing your throat!"

 

Keep up the good work! :thumb: