Cooper's Onte Burns admits, sometimes it can all be a little exhausting.
On nights like Friday, when regular starter Nascier Borden was sporting a hurt ankle, Burns and his defensive cohorts are asked to shoulder more of the load in the offensive backfield.
That proved no problem for Burns, who rushed for 115 yards and two touchdowns to lift Cooper to a 20-7 victory against Armstrong in New Hope and remain undefeated with a 5-0 record. Fellow starting linebacker Nate Hill also rushed for 95 yards.
"If you've seen these kids in the summer you'd know they could play eight quarters," Cooper coach Willie Howard said. "They're monsters."
Burns also intercepted a pair of Armstrong passes, while Hill starred for a defensive unit that limited Armstrong (3-2) to only 148 yards of offense.
Cooper trailed 7-6 at halftime after managing only four first downs. But the Hawks put together second-half touchdown drives of 88 and 85 yards to top Armstrong for the third consecutive year. Now, Burns said, there's just one problem that needs to be fixed before next week's game at Richfield.
"Doing the same thing, but we have to play a little bit harder in the first half," Burns said. "We have to start off fast and that's it."
MICHAEL HUGHES
