Mr. Sixer

The difference in those penalties is the Dixie player held the ball up in the air PRIOR to crossing the end zone. That will get you a penalty every time I have seen.

Best post of the entire thread. Never seen so many people so bent out of shape regarding a poll that has nothing to do with what gets played on the field. Did I miss something or is there actually an award for being ranked #1 in week 10 of the season? As Aaron Rogers once said...R-E-L-A-X ?

That’s fair. Guess there should have been more discussion about Keagan Mayer and Ryker Campbell last year. I think the point that’s being made is NKY is fortunate to have a ton of talent at multiple schools at the freshman level year in and year out of late and we should all celebrate the positivity of that situation for our area.

Pump the brakes? Uh, ok ???

Alexander “struggled mightly”?? For the record, he had 9 tackles with 2 of them being tackles for loss after many times being double-teamed or ran away from. If that’s your definition of struggling you clearly have incredible expectations of how many tackles he was suppose to have. There’s not a coach who wouldn’t take those defensive stats against that offense. Additionally, I see you cleverly failed to mention the damage he did on offense with 13 receptions for 169 yards. Guess he struggled on that side of the ball too by your standards. As I’ve said previously, it may be a matter of opinion who people think the best player is and that is ok, but if you’re going identify a player as “struggling mightly”, be accurate and report ALL of the facts.

Guess it just depends on what your definition of “Best” is. Benke is extremely good at what he does and is an exceptional player on a very good team. However, IMO Austin Alexander is the best player in NKY. What he does on BOTH sides of the ball speaks for itself and judging by the high level FBS offers he has and continues to receive, college coaches agree. Again, absolutely no disrespect to Benke as he is a serious problem for every team and as I’ve stated earlier in the year, he certainly deserves even more attention than he’s getting but Alexander is #1 in NKY and probably in the top 3-4 in the State. Everyone has their opinion and that is certainly ok…..

Excellent assessment. Dixie matches up in the trenches much more than Cooper did and they kept it close. Dixie will also have a run game to go along with very good QB who can run as well as throw it. I like Dixie by a score.

Both teams were exposed tremendously last night. Cooper certaly could not stop the run game and Highlands certainly could not stop the Cooper passing game. Highlands was the better team last night and should be commended for the win. Both teams I’m sure will learn from it and get better. While Benke certainly is an exceptional player and definitely deserves more credit and exposure for what he does for the Highlands offense, Austin Alexander is the best player in NKY and IMO top 5 in the State for what he does on both sides of the ball. Again, Benke is definitely a force and should be getting way more exposure for what he brings to the table. Good luck two both teams and the playoffs could and should be very interesting for all the teams coming out of this district.

Exactly. Not to mention Cooper was winning that game 10-7 with about 8 minutes to go in the game before the wheels came off. All good, two teams will show up, play and the better team will win.

Austin’s hard work has just landed him an offer from Notre Dame. Wishing him continued success!!

Yes they do but they also have open enrollment correct?

Best post of the thread. Take out the first 3 years from when the school was first founded and all in all the teams hav when competitive.

You are flying solo here and sounds like you may have an ax to grind and not sure why but ok. The program is in good shape and the middle school program seems to have good numbers as well so I am sure the Cooper staff will continue to coach the players as best they can and put them in the best position to be as successful as they can be.

Not to mention the school was a start-up school in 2008 where freshman were playing varsity in 6A (babies playing grown men analogy). The first three years the school was 8-22 and the team didn't realize a winning record until 2011 (6-5). The next year they were playing in the state finals after having to play every playoff game on the road! So in 5 years Coach Borchers had a start-up school playing in the state finals. I'll take the stats above and some lean years. As @BigRob stated, his opinion is unpopular and there are several coaches not just in NKY but around the state that would welcome the Cooper coach's accolades. And as @BillNyestated, winning is hard and Cooper will be just fine.

Well you got the last part right at least ?

What Newport was missing last year was depth and if the young man can play, he can play and it could provide some depth that Coach Snapp didn't have. Don't know the young man but being a baller doesn't have minimum age requirement and Newport clearly has shown they are not afraid to put young men on the floor.

LOL! I know exactly what you mean. I actually played on that field in their innagural season and it was so blue that birds that it was water! Needless to say there were a lot of dead birds on it that year. Ludlow's field looks absolutely great in my opinion and wish them the best of luck this season!

I stand corrected on Schilling. I won’t go back and forth but I will correct you on a couple of points. Shawn Pouncy’s rehab is just fine so I assure he will be ready for the season. Sure, you can discount the limited time the group of sophomores and the incoming freshman, who wasn’t on the team, had last year on varsity but they can play. Not really sure of the reference of 1 JV game that they won regardless of the other teams make up but ok. Additionally, you seem to make the assumption that those other teams didn’t lose any players. CCH had 8 seniors including the POY but I guess that has no impact at all? HHS returns nearly everyone. Team's make up change every year and it’s what you do with said players and Cooper has a coach that gets what he needs out of his team, regardless of who’s in the roster and this year's roster at Cooper will be better whether you want to believe it or not. As I stated in my first post, they beat two the three teams last year with less, guess that was a fluke, idk. Cooper goes through this rhetoric nearly every year, especially last year, yet somehow they just find a way to be in the hunt and I expect this season to be no different.

5 of the top 7?? I will give you Lutz and Ollier, 2 starters and seniors that were intergral to Cooper's success last year. Ajaezu was a key defensive player that came on at the end of season and in the tournament but was not consistently in the rotation night in and night out all season long. Brooks missed virtually the entire season to injury in December so I am not sure you even count those 2 in the top 5 but your definiton of "top" may be different than mine. What Cooper will have returning is a fully healthy Shawn Pouncy who was virtually unstoppable in the two varsity games he played in before suffering his injury. Additonally, the youngest Pouncy will be a MAJOR problem that will have to be acounted for every night. Lastly, Schilling, Isaac Brown, Jordan Hampton, Jakare Pouncy will provide more than enough depth along with probably 2 football players. What Cooper does have is a darn good coach who gets the absolute best out of his players especially on the defensive end. They beat 2 of the 3 teams you listed as "Top 3" last year with less and lost to Newport twice by 2 points each. I believe they'll be better this coming season and definitely will be more than the "2 horses" you described.

Looks like it was a nice scrimmage. Newport will be a solid favorite with a few others very close in the 9th next season.

Congratulations to Austin Alexander on picking up an offer from UNC today. His June is off to a hot start!

Cam just picked up his 2nd offer from Miami of Ohio. Could be a huge sophomore season for Cam with some of the weapons he will have at Cooper.

Add Illinois to the growing list for Austin. Congrats!

Austin Alexander was just offered by UK today!! Congratulations to the Junior to be!!

An absolute first class player and an even better person! Huge kudos to his parents for raising a fine young man who will go on to do great things on and off the field! I have a feeling that his Junior season will be his best yet and he is going to be a huge problem on both sides of the ball.