1 hour ago, En Fuego Hombre said:

So which team's adjustments had the greatest effect on the outcome of the game? 

Not sure, the first game was 58-51 Highlands. It wasn’t a blowout. 

Cooper won this game. Highlands outscored Cooper 15-3 starting with the safety with around 6 minutes left in the 2nd quarter.

It was a 17-15 game. One teams players made more plays than the other teams players. 

2 hours ago, CoachMulvi said:

The old Highlands ego. 

Some things never change.

2 hours ago, En Fuego Hombre said:

And in the first game, Highlands had 424 yards rushing and 235 yards passing, so Cooper's defensive adjustments resulted in 409 fewer total combined yards for the Birds, Friday night. 

Or maybe Cooper improved and Highlands offensive line couldn't block them.

1 hour ago, barrel said:

Highlands staple run this year was GH counter. Cooper did a very good job limiting it in this game. Highlands QB and RB are very good at letting that scheme develop and finding the crease. Highlands had a hat for a hat in the run game. They adjusted by running a little iso which worked well and by going TE with a H which is when they got the run game going again. I’m not sure how much Cooper actually adjusted as much as they fit counter much better this time. Highlands also found success later on by going to their quick screens. 
 

Highlands this season ran almost no quick game. It handled that with GH screen and fast screens. They were going to pound you and take some shots. 
 

Cooper plays a 425 a majority of the time with the nickle to the field. With Alexander at the DE spot they’ll play a little 3 man front at times dropping him into the boundary. Alexander played a much better game in defense this time. 66 is one heck of a HS LB. Just an old school snot knocking kid. 
 

Unless you’re a base 3 man front like a 33/35/34 there is no reason to ever play Highlands this year in a 3 man front unless maybe it’s a 3rd and a mile. 
 

 

Great post. Also great job mentioning Jack Lonaker who is  an absolute stud at LB for Cooper and has been making plays for Cooper for 3 years now. 

Lonaker is a dude. He is the epitome of a great HS player. He won’t go to the NFL. He won’t go power 5. He won’t go D1. He’ll play smaller college ball. On the HS level he is a dude. His accomplishments are more about attitude and effort and I don’t mean that as a knock in anyway. He is the reason I love HS football. You can have kids that don’t necessarily have the measurables but play with great effort and attitude and it makes a big difference. 

23 minutes ago, barrel said:

Lonaker is a dude. He is the epitome of a great HS player. He won’t go to the NFL. He won’t go power 5. He won’t go D1. He’ll play smaller college ball. On the HS level he is a dude. His accomplishments are more about attitude and effort and I don’t mean that as a knock in anyway. He is the reason I love HS football. You can have kids that don’t necessarily have the measurables but play with great effort and attitude and it makes a big difference. 

He's a great leader and a great kid as well. One of those guys you will remember as a great teammate for the rest of your life and a the kind of kid you want all of your players to be. Plays with a motor, works his tail off, and will do anything for the team to make them better. 

 

22 hours ago, Finkle Ray said:

Other teams may return some talent here and there. But Cooper will have a battle tested and veteran squad returning. Not to mention their district looks again to be the toughest one to make it out of as the #1. I say whomever gets the #1 out of their district will be in the convo to win it all next season.

This tells me you really do not know what teams have coming back in ‘24. 

13 minutes ago, VF111 said:

This tells me you really do not know what teams have coming back in ‘24. 

Are you saying whoever finishes first in that district won’t be in the conversation to win a state title?

Having gone back a watching the 4th quarter I still love this game. The trick play for a TD for Highlands to take the lead, a dropped pass by Cooper that would’ve been a TD, then the same guy comes right back to get the first down while getting smoked (credit to the HHS defender) and the young man to make such a high pressure, no chip shot FG to retake the lead. Then Highlands getting the running game going only for the RB to be held up by the defense and have the ball stripped for a turnover on the 12. That was extremely close to forward progress being stopped. Then a topic of conversation no one has brought up, why are you running shotgun on your own 12 if you’re going to just run up the middle? It led them to almost getting a safety on 3rd Down, insane!!! Someone said bc they don’t go under center ever. I don’t know or care, you almost lost the game because of that. Then the shanked punt, Highlands almost getting a catch that would’ve moved the sticks with around 12 seconds to go. The last pass had to either go to the end zone or sideline and Cooper guessed correct. What a great game and nothing to hang your head about. 

16 minutes ago, barrel said:

Are you saying whoever finishes first in that district won’t be in the conversation to win a state title?

No, I am saying that whoever finishes first in that district will not be the outright favorite which was originally insinuated. I think that 5A will be a monster next year with 3-6 REALLY good teams. 

24 minutes ago, Breds82 said:

Having gone back a watching the 4th quarter I still love this game. The trick play for a TD for Highlands to take the lead, a dropped pass by Cooper that would’ve been a TD, then the same guy comes right back to get the first down while getting smoked (credit to the HHS defender) and the young man to make such a high pressure, no chip shot FG to retake the lead. Then Highlands getting the running game going only for the RB to be held up by the defense and have the ball stripped for a turnover on the 12. That was extremely close to forward progress being stopped. Then a topic of conversation no one has brought up, why are you running shotgun on your own 12 if you’re going to just run up the middle? It led them to almost getting a safety on 3rd Down, insane!!! Someone said bc they don’t go under center ever. I don’t know or care, you almost lost the game because of that. Then the shanked punt, Highlands almost getting a catch that would’ve moved the sticks with around 12 seconds to go. The last pass had to either go to the end zone or sideline and Cooper guessed correct. What a great game and nothing to hang your head about. 

The final pass should have been thrown away and then try the field goal again.  May have been no good but you at least have that chance.

16 hours ago, Builder1214 said:

Not sure, the first game was 58-51 Highlands. It wasn’t a blowout. 

Cooper won this game. Highlands outscored Cooper 15-3 starting with the safety with around 6 minutes left in the 2nd quarter.

It was a 17-15 game. One teams players made more plays than the other teams players. 

This loss is not on the players for failing to make plays.

In the first game, Cooper's Offense passed the ball 88% of their plays, 50 passes to only 7 running plays.  In the Friday game, Highlands defense adjusted to limit the pass game, so Cooper had a much more balanced approach on offense, passing 45% and running 55%, 20 pass plays and 24 running plays.  

In the first game, Highlands ran the ball 79% of the time, 66 runs to 18 passes.  In the game Friday, despite a defensive adjustment by Cooper that was designed to limit the run game, Highlands still had a 72% pass to run ratio, 44 running plays to only 17 passes.  Highlands passed fewer times, despite facing a defense that was softer against the pass because it was designed to stop the run.

Both teams made good defensive adjustments in game 2.  But only Cooper made the adjustments to their offense and that translated into putting more points on the board and a victory, Friday night.

So again, this loss is not on the players for failing to make plays. It is on the staff, for failing to adjust enough to  put those players in a position to make plays.

54 minutes ago, En Fuego Hombre said:

This loss is not on the players for failing to make plays.

In the first game, Cooper's Offense passed the ball 88% of their plays, 50 passes to only 7 running plays.  In the Friday game, Highlands defense adjusted to limit the pass game, so Cooper had a much more balanced approach on offense, passing 45% and running 55%, 20 pass plays and 24 running plays.  

In the first game, Highlands ran the ball 79% of the time, 66 runs to 18 passes.  In the game Friday, despite a defensive adjustment by Cooper that was designed to limit the run game, Highlands still had a 72% pass to run ratio, 44 running plays to only 17 passes.  Highlands passed fewer times, despite facing a defense that was softer against the pass because it was designed to stop the run.

Both teams made good defensive adjustments in game 2.  But only Cooper made the adjustments to their offense and that translated into putting more points on the board and a victory, Friday night.

So again, this loss is not on the players for failing to make plays. It is on the staff, for failing to adjust enough to  put those players in a position to make plays.

As these coaching openings show up on this site you need to apply. You are into analytics apparently. Looked to me like Cooper was in their 4-2-5 scheme quite a bit, but they WON the line of scrimmage which was supposedly the Birds strong point. I thought that the first play called after the roughing the kicker ( can't happen if the ball is tipped....by rule)was a good call. The Cooper kids made a good play. The QB is an excellent player......but how many times had he ever been in THAT situation? Cooper's kids had prepared for that play and read it perfectly. You can blame the coaching staff all you want, but HS kids just can't make in game adjustments like college or NFL guys. The game could have gone either way. It was one of those either team could have won games.

1 hour ago, En Fuego Hombre said:

This loss is not on the players for failing to make plays.

In the first game, Cooper's Offense passed the ball 88% of their plays, 50 passes to only 7 running plays.  In the Friday game, Highlands defense adjusted to limit the pass game, so Cooper had a much more balanced approach on offense, passing 45% and running 55%, 20 pass plays and 24 running plays.  

In the first game, Highlands ran the ball 79% of the time, 66 runs to 18 passes.  In the game Friday, despite a defensive adjustment by Cooper that was designed to limit the run game, Highlands still had a 72% pass to run ratio, 44 running plays to only 17 passes.  Highlands passed fewer times, despite facing a defense that was softer against the pass because it was designed to stop the run.

Both teams made good defensive adjustments in game 2.  But only Cooper made the adjustments to their offense and that translated into putting more points on the board and a victory, Friday night.

So again, this loss is not on the players for failing to make plays. It is on the staff, for failing to adjust enough to  put those players in a position to make plays.

Great post and analysis!

Coach Frank

35 minutes ago, En Fuego Hombre said:

This loss is not on the players for failing to make plays.

In the first game, Cooper's Offense passed the ball 88% of their plays, 50 passes to only 7 running plays.  In the Friday game, Highlands defense adjusted to limit the pass game, so Cooper had a much more balanced approach on offense, passing 45% and running 55%, 20 pass plays and 24 running plays.  

In the first game, Highlands ran the ball 79% of the time, 66 runs to 18 passes.  In the game Friday, despite a defensive adjustment by Cooper that was designed to limit the run game, Highlands still had a 72% pass to run ratio, 44 running plays to only 17 passes.  Highlands passed fewer times, despite facing a defense that was softer against the pass because it was designed to stop the run.

Both teams made good defensive adjustments in game 2.  But only Cooper made the adjustments to their offense and that translated into putting more points on the board and a victory, Friday night.

So again, this loss is not on the players for failing to make plays. It is on the staff, for failing to adjust enough to  put those players in a position to make plays.

At the end of the day, a loss by Highlands was going to have some people complaining no matter what. If Highlands passes the ball more and still lose. Then people complain saying they were dumb to try to pass the ball, when they ran for over 400 yards the first time. So either way there was going to be someone complaining that they did something wrong if they lost.