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Football: Cowboys clinch District 5-5A Championship
By Justin Thomas, jthomas@starlocalnews.com
DENTON - One of the area's stingiest units put together another strong showing Thursday as Coppell limited Denton Ryan to 205 total yards in a 21-3 victory at the C.H. Collins Athletic Complex.
The win secures the District 5-5A Championship for the Cowboys, who also lock up a No. 1 seed in the Class 5A Division I Playoffs.
"I expected Ryan to be dang good and they came out on their Senior Night playing their butts off," said Joe McBride, Coppell head coach. "They were physical and have good athletes. I felt like our kids, obviously there are things we can do better, but I felt like we battled and played with a lot of pride. I'm just glad we won."
Wearing No. 21 in honor of fallen teammate Jacob Logan, defensive back Troy Parker provided a key interception in the closing minutes of the second quarter when he picked off Ryan's Kevin Ray Jr. deep in Coppell territory to stop a potential scoring drive. Colin Peterson also had an interception for the Cowboys.
"Troy played well and did the 21 shirt good," McBride said. "Jacob would be proud of him."
Coppell's special teams also came up with a big play, forcing a fumble on the opening kickoff and recovering it at the Ryan 16-yard line where consecutive completions from Colby Mahon set up a Mahon 1-yard touchdown run. The Raiders' special teams continued to struggle early as Ryan responded to Coppell's opening touchdown with a 63-yard drive only to miss a 29-yard field goal attempt. Ryan did convert an onside kick to open the second half, but Coppell promptly forced a three-and-out.
"Ryan did a good job of getting their scheme going, but defensively we played hard and responded to what they were doing," McBride said.
In addition to his touchdown run on the opening possession, Mahon was efficient through the air, completing 15-of-21 passes for 197 yards and two touchdowns.
Both of the scoring throws went the way of Cameron Smith, who finished with a team-high nine catches for 114 yards. Smith caught a 20-yard scoring reception in the second quarter to put Coppell in front, 14-3, and increased the margin to 21-3 early in the fourth when a 3-yard touchdown catch capped a 92-yard drive.
"I felt pretty good about the offense," McBride said. "They do a lot of things up front; a lot of pressure blitzes and plays designed to make it tough on you in the run game. They piled a lot of people up in the box and I think that's one of the reasons why we threw it well. We come in wanting to be balanced and be explosive in the passing game. I felt like we were, even though we left a few out there."
On Ryan's ensuing possessions, Ray was intercepted by Peterson and the Cowboys then forced a turnover on downs to seal the game.
Gavin McDaniel led the Cowboys with 43 yards on the ground, while Luke Jenner totaled 69 yards.
Coppell closes the regular season at 7:30 p.m. Friday when it hosts Lewisville. A win will give Coppell a second undefeated regular season in the past three years.
"You want to win them all and we're 9-0," McBride said. "But this is a marathon and we're getting ready for next week. When we get through with it all, we'll look at our body of work, but right now we have to get some kids healthy and continue grinding."
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