Palo Duro hangs tough before falling to Lubbock-Cooper in district clash

The Palo Duro Dons have zero room for error in district play after Thursday night’s game against Lubbock-Cooper at Dick Bivins Stadium.

After a promising start to the season which saw them beat all three Amarillo ISD rivals, the Dons are barely hanging on in their quest for a District 2-5A Division II playoff berth. Palo Duro remained winless in 2-5A DII play after falling to district leader Cooper 31-20 for a third straight loss to open district play.

Palo Duro (3-4, 0-3 in district) didn’t get much offense going for most of the first half, but the defense kept the Dons in the game long enough for the offense to get on the board and make it competitive, as they trailed 14-6 at halftime.

After Palo Duro took the opening kickoff and was held to a three-and-out, Cooper (7-1, 4-0) took over at the PD 48-yard line following a shoer punt into the wind. The Pirates wasted to time, as Ryan Rodriguez hit Michael Dever for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

Palo Duro put together one good drive in the first half, moving the ball inside the Cooper 15. But the Dons couldn’t tie it up, as Julian Reese II threw an interception to Malik Epps-Keller in the end zone to end the drive.

Cooper went up 14-0 on Deuce Johnson’s 17-yard run with 2:54 left in the first half. However, the Dons came back with some trickery, as Aushaun Wilson took a backward pass from Darien Lewis on the ensuing kickoff and returned the ball all the way to the Cooper 25.

A face mask penalty moved the ball to the Cooper 12, where Reese hit Lewis on a scoring pass on the next play to cut it to 14-6 before halftime.

Both offenses looked more confident in the second half as neither team had to punt. They traded scores, but that gave Cooper the advantage since the Pirates already had the lead.
Cooper mainly ran the ball in the second half, throwing only two passes.

Johnson did most of the work for the Pirates running the ball, as he finished with 175 yards on 34 carries, including 113 in the second half.

Although Johnson was the running star, Cooper’s two touchdowns in the second half came on a pair of 2-yard runs by Caden Brown.

Reese, meanwhile, finished with 224 yards passing and three touchdowns. One of those scores was the most exciting play of the night, as Reese threw a screen to fellow sophomore Raymond Johnson IV, who took it for a 62-yard touchdown on Palo Duro’s first possession of the second half.

Johnson finished with a game-high seven catches for 122 yards.

With 8:41 left in the game, Reese hit freshman Keimaure Rayford for a 10-yard scoring pass to cut it to 28-20. However, Cooper kept the ball for almost seven minutes on the ensuing possession, capped by a 29-yard field goal by Cub Patton to clinch it.