DAWG BITES

- Wylie quarterback Jadin Karleskint throws for 246 yards, runs for 65 and hits three touchdown passes

- Cooper quarterback Jaden Carrillo throws for 86 yards,runs for 126 and accounts for three TDs

- Wylie scores on a pair of one-play drives - 81 and 21 yards

The third time wasn’t the charm for the Cooper Cougars.

After converting two fourth-down plays - one a scramble on a dropped punt snap - on a clocking-eating fourth quarter drive, Cooper was stopped on a 4th-and-7 play from its 23 when Wylie’s aptly named Cooper Hill made the key tackle of the game short of the first-down stick..

The Bulldogs, leading 29-22, ran out the final 6:25 of the game to take a crucial District 2-5A victory Friday at Hugh Sandifer Stadium.

The win puts Wylie - for the moment - atop the district standings at 2-0. The Bulldogs are ahead of two 1-0 teams - surprising Plainview, which was open, and Amarillo Palo Duro, which crushed Memorial in Wichita Falls 48-6.

Wylie meets 4-1 Palo Duro next in Amarillo.

The game was all fans could’ve wanted.

“No doubt. That’s the thing we talked about at halftime, how much fun this is to get to play in a game like this. It’s a privilege,” Wylie coach Clay Martin said. ‘“A lot of momentum-swinging plays, and we called some of them. We kept our composure. It was a very hard-fought football game.

“They played really well, and so did we.

TWO DRIVES, 15:37 OFF THE CLOCK

In a game that featured several beautifully executed big plays, it was Hill’s sideline tackle of Peyton Ewing that was monumental. Cooper quarterback Jaden Carrillo passed short to Ewing, who had 101 rushing yards, but Wylie’s Cooper wrapped up the receiver after a 3-yard gain.

“I read it perfectly. We were working on it all week in practice, when that goes out on the week side,” Hill said. “It was perfect.”

Martin credited his coaches for making adjustments at halftime. Wylie did so the week before against Wichita Falls Legacy.

“I thought coach (Matt) Kates and our defensive staff did a great job at halftime, coming up with a plan, but the kids have to go out there and execute it,” Martin said. “I thought we tackled better in the second half.

“I was really proud of how the guys responded to adversity throughout the night.”

Hill agreed.

“The coaches showed us what we need to adjust on,” he said. “And we did it.”

The game was far from over but after Cooper had just taken a whopping 9:12 off the clock, Wylie took the final 6:25.

Running back Julius Laine got the yard needed on third down, pushing the pile forward for a first down

Quarterback Jadin Karleskint got 7 yards and a first down on 3rd-and -5, stumbling ahead after being tripped

Karleskint rambled for 11 yards for a first down to the Cooper 22.

“The O-line came up huge in the second half helping us run. I was really proud of those guys,” said Karleskint, who passed only three times in the second half.

Ironically, his favorite run of the game might have been the 9-yard loss that took the final seconds of the game. That came after two kneels beginning at the Cooper 11 after a late hit was called.

Thus ended a game that was as entertaining as promised, and Wylie extended its winning streak to four games in the Southtown Showdown.

THUNDER CAME LAST

Football fan Charles Dickens would’ve called it “A Tale of Two Halves.”

The first half featured 44 points, two touchdowns of more than 50 yards and six possessions each for the Bulldogs and the Coogs.

The teams combined for six possessions in the second half, and only one touchdown.

Few could have imagined in this apparent shootout that Laine’s 12-yard, stiff-arming run with 6:40 left in the third quarter would be the difference-maker.

That touchdown came after Wylie stopped Cooper on its opening possession when Carrillo, who had 126 yards rushing on 20 carries and was driving his team again, was stripped of the football at the Wylie sideline. Jordan Lockett recovered at the Bulldogs 43.

The Bulldogs then went 57 yards the other way in six plays, with two Karleskint passes to hard-to-tackle Dylan Regala gaining 32 yards.

Wylie made that one score stand up, despite wasting a chance to put insurance points on the scoreboard.

The Bulldogs forced a Cougars punt to take over at their 48. Karleskint, showing he could do what the talented Carrillo had done, took a keeper 48 yards to the Cooper 4.

“When the pocket collapses, you’ve got to make a play,” said Karleskint. “Get what we can and keep the sticks moving.”

He showed some speed on the long run.

“I try to be (fast),” he said, laughing. “Jaden’s a great player. “He’s been doing this for three years. Anytime you’re playing a great QB, it just motivates you more.”

Facing third down at the 1, Wylie was flagged for a pre-snap penalty. A pass fell incomplete, sending placekicker Noah Rehburg on the field. Instead of taking a 32-22 lead, however, the hold was fumbled and Rehburg never attempted the kick.

Starting at its 9, Cooper then launched the 9-minute-plus drive with 3:37 left in the third quarter. The Coogs got 15 yards on 3rd-and-13, a first down when punter A.J. Rico averted disaster, and a first down on a Carrillo scramble on fourth down.

But Hill made the tackle that flipped the game.

“That drive was so long. We were all out of breath but we were going as hard as we could every single play,” Hill said, adding Wylie faced perhaps the best group of runners, especially Carrillo, it will see this season.

“We knew coming into it,” he said. “He was a very versatile quarterback but we shut him down.”

Carrillo accounted for 215 of his team’s 404 yards.

Wylie rotated players on the defensive line, and its ends and linebackers came up big.

“We try to play a lot of guys up front,” Martin said. But with Cooper’s three-prong rushing attack accounting for 315 yards on 42 rushes, it was key Friday. Lineman Deandre Rodriguez also was banged up.

“(Carrillo) really gave us a lot of problems in the first half,”Martin said. Carrillo rushed 12 times for just 43 yards in the second half, a chunk of that (15 yards) on his first carry after halftime.

“We were able to keep him bottled up in the second half. I was proud of the heart they showed,” Martin said.

Junior lineman Jake Smart was one of the Wylie players who made plays when sent to the field.

“It was keeping everybody contained and everyone doing his job,” Smart said. “We talked about it all week in practice and everyone just put it all together. You have to keep playing, even when it doesn’t go your way.”

LIGHTNING CAME FIRST

The fiercely played second half overshadowed a highlight reel first half. It was the lightning before the thunder.

Cooper struck first with an 81-yard opening drive that took three plays and 46 seconds. Two plays netted two first downs before Carrillo kept it to his right and then up the field 55 yards.

One drive later, Wylie showed its quick-strike ability when Karleskint lofted a perfect pass deep down the middle to Blaze Ruffin. Catching the ball in strike, Ruffin slipped out of Chris Assir’s grasp and completed the 81-yard scoring play. One play, touchdown.

The two had teams for Wylie’s first touchdown the week before against Legacy.

As if to prove that was not a fluke, Wylie did it again.

Regala returned a Cooper punt 40 yards to the Cooper 21.

On the first play, Karleskint saw seldom-used tight end Michael Pena-Perez wide open in the middle of the field and lofted an easy scoring strike to the senior on the first play of the second quarter.

COOPER RESPONDED

The Coogs drove 64 yards in six plays, scoring on a Carrillo’s lob to Jace Johnson in the far corner of the Wylie end zone.

Cooper for the first turned disaster into something good. A bad snap left holder Maddox Caspell with the ball. He dashed to his right, stretched for the goal line and hit the pylon for the unplanned two-point conversion.

The Coogs led for the second time, and soon extended that lead.

After forcing a punt, Cooper went 84 yards in nine plays with a 22-yard burst by Ewing and a 24-yard run by Markquel Sims the big plays. At the Wylie 10, Carrillo took the snap, waited for his blocking to develop and then scooted up the middle for the touchdown.

Cooper led 22-14 with 3:03 to go in the half.

The pressure was on Wylie because the Coogs would get the second-half kickoff in the score-a-thon. The Bulldogs did not want to go down two touchdowns.

The Bulldogs responded with a five-play, 56-yard drive. Facing 3rd-and-17 after two plays lost yardage, Karleskint hit Ruffin on a slant. The receiver slipped Assir again and turned the play into a 32-yard gain to the Cooper 30. One play later, Karleskint ran the play to the left before turning back to his right. The screen was set up and Laine rumbled 35 yards for the touchdown.

He boosted his season TD total to 11.

Regala burrowed his way into the end zone for two points to tie the game at 22.

Cooper got enough yardage in the final 1:46 to set up a Hail Mary pass to the end zone that fell incomplete at the goal line.

With fans expecting more offensive fireworks in the second half, the teams strapped it up on defense.

Wylie ended up with 29 points, the same total the Bulldogs put up last fall in a 29-7 win at Shotwell Stadium. And that’s OK.

“We had a chance to separate ourselves from (Cooper),” Martin said.

LONGEST. PLAY. EVER.

At the Wylie 44 and without a Brandon Aubrey to kick a field, Cooper tried a Hail Mary pass on the last play of the first half. Wylie did not rush the quarterback, choosing to guard the line of scrimmage against speedy Cougars quarterback Jaden Carrillo and cover the pass. Without a rush, Carrillo stood in the pocket, looking for a receiver. And stood. And stood. And stood. The stadium clock was at 0:00 and the Cooper band was ready to perform. Still, Carrillo did not throw the ball. Finally, as the sun was rising in the east, it seemed, he launched a pass that reached the goal line. Wylie defender Blaze Ruffin, who caught a touchdown on offense, knocked the ball away. A memorable first half at last had ended in a 22-22 tie.

“We talked about keeping him corralled back there … but maybe not quite like that,” Wylie coach Clay Martin said. “Yeah, maybe the longest play ever in high school football history.”

YARDSTICK

Wylie Cooper
First downs 16 15
Rushing 32-111 42-315
A-C-Int 12-16-0 9-17-0
Passing 246 89
Total offense 357 404
Punting 1-32.0 2-36
Fumbles/lost 2-0 3-1
Penalties 2-15 5-31

SCORING
Cooper 7 15 0 0 - 22
Wylie 7 15 7 0 - 29

First quarter
CHS - Jaden Carrillo 55 run (Daniel Asumani kick), 7:20
Wylie - Blaze Ruffin 81 pass from Jadin Karleskint (Noah Rehburg kick), 1:04
Second quarter
Wylie - Michael Pena-Perez 21 pass from Karleskint (Rehburg kick), 11:55
CHS - Jace Johnson 11 pass from Carrillo (Maddox Caspell run), 8:49
CHS - Carrillo 10 run (Asumani kick), 3:09
Wylie - Julius Laine 25 pass from Karleskint (Dylan Regala run), 1:46
Third quarter
Wylie - Laine 12 run (Rehburg kick), 6:40

WYLIE INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing - Julius Laine, 17-75-1; Jadin Karleskint, 9-65; Dylan Regala, 2-5, Rodrigo Jones, 1-2; Team 3-minus 36
Passing - Karleskint, 12-16-246-0-3
Receiving - Regala, 4-48; Blaze Ruffin, 3-119; Laine, 2-36; Wyatt Kidman, 2-22; Michael Pena-Perez, 1-21

DISTRICT 2-5A STANDINGS
Wylie 2 0 74 46 4 2 203 136
Am. Palo Duro 1 0 48 6 4 1 166 37
Plainview 1 0 37 22 2 2 203 211
Lub-Cooper 1 1 71 63 4 2 250 200
Ab. Cooper 1 1 65 56 2 4 220 155
WF Memorial 0 2 33 90 4 2 200 178
WF Legacy 0 2 50 94 1 5 95 257

WEEK 6
Wylie 29, Abilene Cooper 22
Lubbock-Cooper 49, Wichita Falls Legacy 26
Palo Duro 48, Wichita Falls Memorial 6
Plainview open

WEEK 7
Wylie at Amarillo Palo Duro
Lubbock-Cooper at Abilene Cooper
Plainview at WF Legacy
WF Memorial open