The first bowl game of the 2026 football season will be played Friday.

Oh, it’s not a college game.

It’s the El Paso Bowl, pitting Wylie against its Southtown rival Cooper at Sandifer Stadium.

The winner takes second place in District 2-5A and earns a bi-district home game.

The loser gases up the buses - have you seen the diesel price at the pump recently? - and drives 455 miles to El Paso. And 455 miles back. At an average price of $5.75 a gallon, Bulldogs coach Clay Martin and new Cooper coach Scott Steward had better have a credit card with lots of perks.

For only the second time, Wylie and Cooper are playing on the final Friday of the regular season.

“These games have always had great atmospheres since we started playing Cooper,” Martin said. “We have a huge amount of respect for them and their coaches do a great job. It will be a fun Friday night.”

Is this Wylie’s first playoff game?

Yes and no. The Bulldogs will play again, Martin noted.

Yet the atmosphere and the stakes are high.

“I believe it’s more the culmination to one more district game,” Martin said. “We’ve treated each one of them the same, with the same amount of intensity

“But this one is special. That’s a given. There’s a lot of pride, and there will be a lot of excitement. But we’re still worried about building the Wylie Bulldogs and putting the best product out there on the field that we can.”

Both teams are 6-3 overall and 4-1 in the district standing. Both teams lost handily to 2-5A champ Palo Duro, which closes its season against Lubbock-Cooper and should enter the playoffs at 9-1.

Cooper has won six of its last seven games, losing only to PD.

Wylie has won four of five, its only loss to the Dons.

In the series, which began in 2018 when Wylie moved up to Class 5A, no game has had higher stakes. The Bulldogs have a four-game winning streak in the series after Cooper won the first three games.

Martin doesn’t like looking at the past to find motivation and confidence advantages.

“These are two totally different teams. This is going to be a football game played between the 2026 Wylie Bulldogs and 2026 Cooper Cougars,” he said.

Last year’s Crosstown Showdown was played at Sandifer, where Wylie took a 29-22 win. The game was tied at 22 at halftime, with the Bulldogs scoring the only points of the second half midway through the third quarter. The defense allowed 404 total yards but no points in the second half.

Wylie comes into the game after giving up zero points in the second half to Legacy at Wichita Falls. For the season, the Bulldogs have totaled four games (Legacy, Lubbock Monterey, Lubbock-Cooper, and Wichita Falls Memorial) with no second-half points.

Continuing that trend this week would be welcome to those in purple and gold.

GOOD WIN IN WICHITA FALLS

For this week’s game to have the sparkle that it does, both teams had to win last week.

Cooper had the easiest assignment, taking on winless Coronado and posting a 48-7 victory.

Wylie, meanwhile, had to travel to play upstart Legacy. The Leopards, who play crosstown rival Memorial for the No. 4 playoff berth, gave Wylie a game in 2024 before the Bulldogs pulled away in the fourth quarter.

Wylie had to pull away again, scoring twice in the first minute of the second to turn a 21-16 halftime lead into an 18-point advantage. Most fans breathed a sigh of relief when Wylie scored once more against a team with great scoring potential.

“That was a big win for us,” Martin said. “I thought we’re getting better as a team, especially in assignment football. We’ve grown, and I thought that was a pretty good example of it.”

Wylie made it harder with more than 80 yards of penalties in the first half that helped Legacy keep drives going. The year before, it was three first-half turnovers that held Wylie to a 13-10 halftime lead.

“We played better in the second half,” Martin said. “We were coming off our cleanest game of the year but we were pretty sloppy in the first half. I think a lot of that was self-inflicted. We had a good plan coming in, and we made good adjustments at halftime. The kids came out and executed.”

The Bulldogs defensive line dominated in the second half, even when Wylie had more players in the secondary to prevent big plays. Also, Wylie put in the likes of athletic wide receiver Jackston Williams to match up against Legacy’s top receivers.

“We created pressure through blitzes and schemes, but one-on-one matches I thought we won repeatedly in the second half,” Martin said. “I thought we really did a good job of that.”

Wylie was plus-4 in turnovers, recording four interceptions by four different players and a fumble recovery. The Bulldogs had a first-half interception.

SIZING UP COOPER

Martin said the Cougars run the football well on offense and tackle well on defense.

Wylie recently has played teams that leaned on their passing games. The three teams Wylie has faced that ran the ball effectively against the Bulldogs won. Brownwood, Stephenville, and Palo Duro each had a 100-yard rusher - Stephenville had a 200-yard back - and totaled 657 yards.

Martin said his team will need to slow the Cougars’ run game but not risk giving up the big play on defense.

“We have,” he said of his run defense overall. “We’ll have to play well defensively to have a chance to win this ballgame.”

“The things that really matter, blocking and tackling, they do the best,” Martin said of the Coogs.

Cooper came from behind to beat Legacy, and earlier in the season did the same to beat San Angelo Central.

Martin sees the game being close start to finish.

“I think it will be a competitive game throughout. The team that is able to win up front, the team that can make explosive plays, and turnovers probably will be the difference,” Martin said.

Cooper last year scored on a 55-yard run for the first touchdown of the game. Wylie answered with an 81-yard scoring strike from Jadin Karleskint to Blaze Ruffin.

Karleskint is closing in on 2,000 yards passing, hitting 65 percent of his throws. He has 24 touchdown tosses.

Ruffin has caught 35 passes for just over 700 yards while Williams has 29 catches for 569 yards and 8 TDs. Ruffin is No. 5 in receiving in the district and Williams No. 8.

Cooper Jones has 420 yards rushing while Jett Wilson, a sophomore, has 353. Wilson has the only 100-yard game of the year. Both running backs have missed time with injuries, leading Wylie to bring in sophomore Landry Hammond and to employ its box formation.

Now seniors, the two have teamed 12 times for touchdowns this season. Williams, a sophomore, had come on to be a complimentary target, hauling in eight scoring throws.

For Cooper, senior Mason Cole (6 TD passes) and junior Joel Soto (5 TD passes) have logged time at quarterback. Soto has hit 62 percent of his passes and Cole 53 percent.

Zay Johnson is the top receiver, averaging 52 yards a game with 5 touchdowns. He has 24 catches for the year for 363 yards.

On the ground, Markquiel Sims gets right at 100 yards a game, with Miles Garcia and Soto adding yardage. Sims is right at 900 yards for the season. Soto has 258 yards.

Cooper leads the district in rushing yards, just ahead of Palo Duro.

Dot Dunston has nine total touchdowns.

Against Legacy, Soto threw for 183 yards and two scores while Sims had 181 yards rushing and three touchdowns, showing Cooper can balance its attack.

Cooper has the No. 4 offense in the district, with Wylie at No. 5. Both teams get about 350 yards a game.

SERIES HISTORY
The Bulldogs lead the short series, 4-3.
2018 - Cooper 48, Wylie 0
2019 - Cooper 30, Wylie 0
2020 - DNP
2021 - Cooper 30, Wylie 24
2022 - Wylie 20, Cooper 10
2023 - Wylie 17, Cooper 7
2024 - Wylie 29, Cooper 7
2025 - Wylie 29, Cooper 22

2026 DISTRICT 2-5A STANDINGS
Team District Season
W L Pts. Def. W L Pts. Def.
Am. Palo Duro 5 0 228 47 8 1 346 106
Wylie 4 1 176 105 6 3 283 184
Ab. Cooper 4 1 172 111 6 3 264 188
WF Legacy 2 3 160 155 5 4 324 249
WF Memorial 2 3 157 132 4 5 361 317
Lub-Cooper 1 4 85 148 1 8 148 320
Lub. Coronado 0 6 49 329 1 9 153 446

LAST WEEK'S GAMES
Wylie 41, Legacy 16
Abilene Cooper 48, Coronado 7
Memorial 36, Lubbock-Cooper 14
Palo Duro open

THIS WEEK'S GAMES
Lubbock-Cooper at Palo Duro (Thursday)
Abilene Cooper at Wylie
Memorial vs. Legacy
Coronado season complete