Editors Note... you know, when you just look at the stats... we got killed! The only guy who had a decent game was our punter John T.
Globe News Article - Les Giles
Abilene Cooper's Gary Choate gave the cougars the spark they needed when he stole the football from Palo Duro’s Ralph Scott midway through the third period. Abilene Cooper, the states number one Class AAAA unit, went on to a 17-0 Bi-District victory over the mistake plague Don's before a crowd of over 15,000 in Dick Bivins Stadium.
The cougars held PD to just 100 yards rushing in the game and took full advantage of three fumble recoveries and one pass interception. The winners picked up 196 yards on the ground and added 63 through the air as Richard Mildren connected on 7 of 14 pass attempts.
By winning, Abilene Cooper moves on to the second round of
the Class AAAA playoffs and will meet El Paso Coronado next Friday night at
7:30 PM in the border city. Palo Duro ended its most successful season in
history with a 9-1 mark.
After a scoreless first quarter which saw Cooper dominate by
running 20 plays to PD’s 11, the cougars went ahead 3-0 with 4:04 left in the
half on John Villareal's 31 yard field goal. Cooper kept the Dons in pretty
much of a hole throughout
Early in the second quarter the Don’s Bill Loflin recovered a Longacre fumble at the cougar 34, but we’re unable to take advantage of that break. Following a 14 yard jaunt by Scott, PD proceeded to bog down at the 19, and Cooper took over on downs when Nowak’s fourth down pass to Charlie Haywood knitted only one yard.
The Don’s recovered another Abilene Cooper fumble with 2:10 remaining in the half when Dennis Cunningham pounced on Kelvin Caesar’s miscue, following an 8 yard gain. PD was unable to move, and John Taylor punted on fourth down as the half ended.
Cooper took the second half kickoff and marched down to the Palo Duro 20 on 10 plays, mostly on the running a fullback, Mike Mays and Longacre. The Dons however came up with a great defensive stand as they stopped Mildren short on a fourth and inches situation.
That seemed to pick up the Dons lackluster offense as they racked up a pair of quick first downs, and appeared to be headed goalward. On a second and five play Scott found a lack of running room around his left end. He tried to reverse his field, but Choate came from nowhere and grabbed the ball from his arms, racing all the way to the 18 before he was stopped.
A pass interference penalty against Ray Jones on first down gave the cougars a first and goal at the PD 4 yd line. Three plays later Longacre slammed over from the one and Villareal’s point after gave Cooper a 10-0 lead, with 4:00 left in the third quarter.
Midway through the final stanza, following a punt by Cooper, the Dons started from their 9 after a clipping penalty. Scott fumbled on the second play and Terry Springer recovered at the 11.
Longacre ripped off 8 yards to the 3, then two plays later found daylight around the left end for the score. Villareal’s kick, with 6:47 remaining to play made it 17-0.
It had to be the most frustrating afternoon of the season for George Kirk club, which had been averaging over 40 points per game. The nine victories in a single season match PDS previous high watermark, originally established back in 1961.
Longacre, a junior tailback who ran with great desire was the game’s leading ball carrier with 87 yards on 20 voyages. Mays, who had carried only twice in the first 2 quarters was next with 70 yards on nine carries.
Scott, as well as the rest of the Dons runners, was completely bottled up throughout the contest and ended up with 74 yards on 20 tries. The Cooper defense did such a good job that PD’s longest run from scrimmage was an 18 yard keeper by Nowak in the second half.
PD lived up to it's reputation of not throwing the ball much as they attempted just seven passes, five of those coming in the second half. In fact, even after falling behind 10-0, the Dons seemed hesitant about putting the ball in the air as they tried only one aerial until falling behind by the final difference,
Palo Duro appeared to have an advantage in size, but the Cooper defense line which was sparked by John Rhiddlehoover, Ken Jones, Finlay and Springer did a brilliant job of diagnosing PD’s offensive sets. In fact at times it looked as though Cooper had more players in PD‘s backfield than the Dons.
Palo Duro’s offensive line blocking left a great deal to be desired, especially in the first half when the Don’s were able to rush for only 35 yards. Abilene‘s pursuit was nothing short of sensational, especially on the wide running plays. The Dons did little better in the final two periods, netting 65 yards overland, compared to 128 for the Cougars
This marked the second year in a row for a local 4-AAAA team to loose in bi-district playoffs. Tascosa dropped a heartbreaking 13-6 decision to Odessa Permian a year ago with the Panthers going all the way to the finals.
Globe News Article - Jerry Waggoner
Midway through the third period, with Cooper in a
not too comfortable 3-0 lead, Palo Duro's vaunted running game was beginning to
dent the Cooper defense with regularity. Ralph Scott, the Don's “Mr. Big” tried
to scoot around left end but the Cooper pursuit cut him off near the sideline.
Scott tried to put a move on a defender spinning to his
left, holding the ball in front of him with both hands but Choate zipped past
him and simply snatch the ball from Scott's grasp. Ball in hand, he ran from his own 49 to the Don's 19 yd line before being pulled down. Soon, Abilene had a 10-0 lead.
I don't know if I ever broke stride or not Choate said
humbly as the sun reflecting black charcoal ran down his cheeks like a woman's
mascara. I had too many things on my mind to remember.
Yes sir it's the first time I ever did anything like that. PD
definitely had the best backs we've faced all year. That number 23 Ralph Scott
was something else. We worked a lot this week on containment of their outside
and trap plays.
Choate's second big play was interrupting a PD half back pass that Jonathan Douglas attempted to 6’ 5” 219 lb Richard Mason. He batted it away with Mason behind him.
“Man that was some play on that 7 or 8 foot PD end” teammate
Richie Lessing said as he smiled to Choate. Choate took all the praise in stride
and seemed to be lost in thought about next week's game.
Coach Murrell Green talked to his group before showers and before
aid was administered to their tired and bruised bodies. “Men it was a great win for
you. PD was not be as big as Dallas, but they were sure as big as Fort Worth.
You played a hard nosed game and you had to. It was the only way you could have
won. I hate to tell you this, but you've got the same kind of game to
look forward to next week”.
Coach Green... "You men just lined up and got right after Palo Duro. Congratulations on a fine game. This was a game of breaks, that’s the thing that stands out in my mind. Each team had it's share of breaks. It was a great defensive game. not spectacular, but if you fight hard and know some football, it was a good game to watch. We felt Palo Duro would be passing. We looked for it all afternoon. They threw only when they had to on third down and we were looking for it. Our boys were doing a good job rushing the passer. I don’t want to sound like I’m second-guessing the Palo Duro coach, but I think they felt that the running game that had carried them so well all season would again and one of their fast backs would break it open. Frankly, I did too. It’s almost a miracle they didn’t score". He agreed that the big break and the tide change was the steal by Choate. "I don’t think he ever broke stride".
At the end of his talk to his players Green told them that the media will want to talk to them. I don’t think I have to tell you that only good things should be said about Palo Duro. In fact, I’ve already heard several of you comment on how good they were. Be the winner you are.
Globe News Article - Putt Powell
Hardest Defeat for Kirk
"This was the hardest game I ever lost. No other loss compares to this one. Every time we would get something going we would fumble or something would go wrong" said the despondent PD Head Coach George Kirk as his Palo Duro Don's had lost 17-0 to the Abilene Cougars in the Class AAAA Bi-District football game Saturday afternoon at Dick Biven Stadium.
Kirk said Cooper has a great defensive team. The cougar guards and tackles were in our backfield more than our backs were. Richard Mildren was just tremendous at quarterback for them. Tailback Roy Longacre was great too. He really ripped us at times. I just don't know who played well for us. I want to look at the films first.
Kirk said he was wasn't ready to say Cooper was the best team his Dons had played this season. I want to look at the films before I say that. The Cougars didn't do anything we didn't expect. I just didn't expect us to fumble so much.
There wasn't a word said in the locker room for 20 minutes after the game as the Dons sat with their heads down and with many of them crying.
Sidebar...
Jack Mildren - Quarterback of Abilene Cooper
Notice Mr. Mildren's Wikipedia graduation date.
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