The Copperas Cove Bulldawgs are simply too good a team to let a classic game slip out of their hands.
Nick Greene hit Josh Boyce for a 40-yard touchdown pass with nine seconds to play to give Cove a 55-48 win over Houston Cypress Ridge in a Class 5A Division II Region II semifinal, pushing the Bulldawgs into the fourth round of the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.
Up until that point it was merely a battle between one of the nation’s best quarterbacks in Cy-Ridge’s Russell Shepard, who rushed for 328 yards, passed for 233 and accounted for six touchdowns, and a breakout junior running back in Cove’s Will Wright, who had 247 yards rushing and two TDs.
Louisiana State commitment Shepard let it be known that he was the real deal early on, rushing for more than 100 yards in the first quarter as the Rams took a 14-0 lead.
“Shepard is a great athlete, but I tell you what, they had a great team,” said Cove coach Jack Welch, whose team will play next week for the Region II title against the winner of today’s Richardson Lake Highlands-Klein Oak game. “They played hard. It was a shootout, no question about it. But I was proud of our kids. They played great tonight.”
Shepard’s read-option fake handoffs to running backs Mike Powell and Hasan Lipscomb kept the Cove defense guessing wrong many times and allowed Shepard to rack up big rushing yardage.
“We were just trying to keep him contained,” Cove defensive coordinator Reb Brock said. “I did see some film of teams not as fast as ours and they looked like they were in the right spot at the right time and he got past them. I was a little concerned about that. He did hurt us a few times.”
Shepard’s best run of the night came with 1:43 to play and the ball at the Rams’ 24-yard line. Shepard stepped back to pass, found no one and scrambled. He broke one tackle behind the line, then ran up the middle, juked two more defenders and then used his speed to get into the end zone. His two-point conversion to tie the game at 48.
Then the Rams intercepted a Greene pass with 1:11 to play and returned it to the Cove 29. But then Cove’s defense got the biggest gift of the night.
Shepard called his own number again, but this time when he changed direction his arm hit offensive lineman John Edmonson, forcing the ball out and right into the hands of Cove’s Cooper Brock.
Wright had two runs to get a first down, then Greene hit Brelan Chancellor to get to the Rams’ 40.
After a timeout Greene ran to his right, but instead of scrambling to the open area in front of him where it looked like he might have room to get into field-goal position, he lobbed a pass to near the goal line.
Texas Christian commitment Boyce cut in front of defender Greg Jones and then found himself free for the touchdown after Jones slipped at the 3.
“The biggest thing tonight was our offense,” Reb Brock said. “I was joking with them before the game and told them if they could put up 50, I think we can hold them to 49. They laughed, but what a lot of people don’t realize is that in a game like this, the longer our offense is on the field, they are keeping a guy like Shepard off of it.”
Shepard had nothing but praise for Cove.
“To play against Copperas Cove, one of the best teams in the state, is amazing,” he said. “I go off to LSU in three weeks, and what a heck of a way to go out. Cove is fast and aggressive, probably the best defense I’ve seen in my career. The better team won tonight, and we hope they win it all."
mhood@temple-telegram.com
