Cooper takes big lead, holds on against Southwest in football

Minneapolis Southwest's TK Marshall put up numbers that earned him headlines among Minnesota high school running backs all season.

For one half of a Class 5A, Section 5 semifinal between Marshall's Lakers and Cooper, it was Hawks senior running back Sherrod Russell grabbing the spotlight.

Russell rushed for two touchdowns as the Hawks (7-2) built a three-touchdown first-half lead over the Lakers (7-3) and held on for a 21-13 victory at New Hope.

"TK, I've got a lot of respect for that guy," said Russell, who complimented his offensive line as well. "They stepped up in the first half.''

His brother, Cooper sophomore quarterback Joseph Russell, threw a touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Cornelius Wooten in the second quarter.

Marshall, a North Dakota State recruit with 1,464 yards and 20 touchdowns in the regular season, couldn't get going at first against the Hawks. The Lakers didn't muster a first down in the first half.

Momentum swung in the third quarter when Marshall broke runs off runs of 9 and 15 yards to set up his team up at the Hawks 2-yard line. Senior quarterback Mack Nall then ran 2 yards to score the first of his two rushing touchdowns to cut the Hawks' lead to 21-7.

"We changed it up, and we had something that we wanted to complete, and we shot for it," said Marshall, who had 142 yards rushing.

Southwest drove into Cooper territory twice in the fourth quarter, but the Hawks defense held on fourth-down passes to the end zone both times.