Photo by Ivy Hess

In one of Texas high school

football’s biggest match-ups of the season, Coppell couldn’t stop Southlake from running away with a victory in the final ten minutes of the fourth quarter.  The first three and a half quarters were a defensive stalemate for both teams. The Cowboys were

outscored in the second half, 14-7

, on the way to a 27-10 defeat.

The first half of the game was a competitive battle. Coppell’s defense held Southlake’s offense, led by junior quarterback Kenny Hill, to 13 points in the first two periods of play. But the Dragons’ tenacious front seven wreaked havoc on the Coppell offensive line all night long.

Hill was held without a touchdown pass for the 2nd game all season, finishing with 23 of 29 passes completed for 190 yards. But he showed that he could be a dual threat in the running game by rushing for 75 yards on 15 carries, and two touchdowns in the second half.

Coppell’s offense started slow and continued with the same tempo for the majority of the game. It wasn’t  until early in the fourth quarter, after the Cowboys forced and recovered a fumble, that the offense proceeded to march down the field in a short series of three running plays, two for junior running back Luke Jenner, who finished the night with 162 yards on 31 carries and a 5-yard TD run.. The score pulled Coppell within three points at 13-10.

Junior quarterback Tyler Zabojnik seemed to have shored up the mistakes from last week in the passing game, turning it around to complete 55.6% of his passes for 94 yards. Esteban Acala and Jason Lister shared the team lead in receptions with three each. Lister made an acrobatic grab on the last target, catching a tipped ball for a gain of 21 yards late in the fourth quarter.

“We ran the ball hard, we threw the ball when we had to, and next week we’ve got to build on that. We gotta be able to do different things to create better opportunities for the team,” Zabojnik said after the game.

In the final ten minutes, Southlake scored twice when they shouldn’t have. On the first touchdown, Carroll’s Steven Bergmark slipped away from at least two tackles and rambled into the end zone. When the Dragons scored the second time, Hill avoided would-be tacklers flying at him from all angles and ran in, untouched, from 19 yards out. The defense played deflated over the last half a quarter, which led to a final score that did not reflect the game accurately.

Coppell drops to 5-2 on the season, and 2-2 in district play.

In its second home district game tonight, Coppell will square off with rival Southlake. The Cowboys sit third in District 7-5A while the Dragons’ 3-0 record positions them tied for first with Denton Guyer.

Coppell (15-4-1, 2-1) is ranked 1st in the area due to an impressive non-district performance, however, recently suffered its first district loss to Guyer, 4-1, which makes tonight’s game even more important. With ground to make up, the Cowboys will be looking knock off the number 4 ranked Dragons and their ace, a Texas signee.

On the other hand, the Cowboys will have their own ace in Sam Swinton taking the mound. The right-hander has already spent numerous years on varsity and, this fair, has collected 2o strikeouts, which is second on the team. Not to mention he has two home runs on the season, plus an exceptional .341 batting average.

Along with Swinton is a skilled lineup including Baylor commit Adam Toth, Tyler Hernandez and Craig Aiken. Aiken, just a junior, leads the team in batting average and is second on the team in stolen bases with 11.

This early district test for Coppell begins at 7:00 p.m. at the CoppellISD baseball complex behind CMSW.

During Coppell’s crushing of Midland on Saturday, the Bulldogs’ band could not fit on the home side and, therefore, was surprisingly placed in the Cowboys’ cheering section.

When the undefeated Cowboys(ranked #2 in the state) and defending champion Euless Trinty Trojans(#1 in the state) face off for an epic battle on Friday, a simlar problem will ensue as there is no way the 15 million dollar Dragon Stadium will withstand the attendance that is anticipated.

For the second straight round, Coppell coach McBride lost the coin flip to decide the location, so the Trojan Coach chose Southlake as the venue. McBride lobbied for the game to be played at SMU, but for some reason, Trinity wanted the stage to be smaller than it should be. Now, perhaps the most exciting high school football game of the year will be limited to a capacity max of around a 11,000, maybe slightly more.

In the Area round this year, the presiding two Division I champs, the Allen Eagles and these Trojans, competed in a monster matchup at Cowboys Stadium and the attendance was upwards of 35,000 people. Another second round game in 2009, between Southlake Carroll and Allen, which was also a blockbuster contest, was awarded Cowboys stadium and allotted a crowd of nearly 40,000. This does not mean the Trinity-Coppell game needed be at Jerry’s World(which is occupied on Saturday), but it should at least be given a stadium with proportional capacity to the magnitude of the game.

Yes, Dragon Stadium claims to only have enough for 11,000, but in all honesty, it will have to be expanded as much as possible like a balloon before it pops to please all the fans and media. The showdown will probably attract at least twice the 11,000 allowed and should be interesting to see how Carroll ISD handles the issue. In short, make sure you show up early for the tailgate at 5 p.m. Friday night and buy a ticket early in the week or you will miss out on the action.

Entertainment Editor

Yes, the rumors are true. The Coppell Cowboys varsity football team defeated Midland and now move on to the fourth round of the playoffs.

While the elation leftover from the staggering win beings to wear off, it’s time for everyone to look toward the next match-up, against the undefeated and nationally ranked Trinity Trojans on Friday Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m. at Dragon Stadium in Carroll. Everyone knows the other team: Trinity has claimed the 5A Division I State Championship three out of the last five years, including last year. What not everyone may know is the stadium situation.

For our playoff game, the coaches of both teams met and flipped a coin to decide who would get to choose the stadium to play in. Trinity won and decided to have the game at Southlake. Ordinarily, this would not be a big deal. However, this game is expected to have an attendance upward of 20,000 and the stadium only seats about 12,000 people. Herein lies the problem. While the stadium is conveniently close, only about a 20 minute drive, only fraction of the fans will be able to attend.

So if you are a Coppell Cowboys fan and you are hoping to come to the game on Friday night, make sure you pick up tickets in advance at the CHS field house. Adult tickets cost $10, students cost $8. Get them quickly because they’re sure to sell out soon.

For more info, visit: http://www.coppellcowboys.com/

It was a night of rivalry for all of Coppell on Friday night as both the football and volleyball teams took on the Southlake Dragons, but the Coppell Cowgirls volleyball team wasn’t as lucky as Football.
The Cowgirls were defeated by the Southlake Dragons in three sets (14-25, 19-25, 21-25). They tried to come back during the third game, but couldn’t in the end. This loss puts them at a 7-4 district record.
The team leader in kills was sophomore Erica Bohannon with 11; followed by sophomore Cassidy Pickrell with 9 and senior captain Chandler Hatton with five. Bohannon also lead the team in blocks along with Shelby Mason who both had two. Kristen Dickerson was the leader in both service aces and dig with 2 aces and 11 digs.
The Cowgirls next match is against Saginaw at Coppell High School at 6:30. This is the Cowgirls last home game of the season and also senior night, where they will honor their one and only senior Chandler Hatton.

The Coppell baseball team is scheduled to play Southlake Carroll tonight at the Carroll High School.

The Cowboys are the second team in the district right now and the Dragons follow Coppell in the number three spot, so the game will determine who will take second place in the district. It is an important game because if the Cowboys win, they will remain in second place following the Flower Mound Jaguars, but if they lose the Cowboys will drop down to the number three spot.

The game will start at 4 p.m., so come out and support the Coppell Cowboys baseball team!

To visit the Coppell Cowboys Baseball website, click here.

The Coppell hockey team rose above their expectations for the 2009-10 season and finished with an impressive record of 36-7-3 and a third-place finish in the Texas State Cup Championship.  

Before their season even started, the Cowboys earned the title of Summer League Champions with a 12-0-1 record. They also competed in the preseason tournament and came out with a 9-1-0 record.

“I was really excited for the season to start after winning the Summer League and doing so well in the preseason tournament,” senior captain Charlie Busch said. “It is a lot easier to go into the regular season after such a successful preseason.”

Coppell kicked off its play with a good start that only continued to progress as their season went on. They ended their regular season on March 4 with a record of 15-6-2 and qualified for the playoffs.  

In what could be considered the first round of playoffs, the Cowboys played Plano West to see if they would qualify for the City Championship Tournament. They ended up winning the two games they played against the Wolves and moved on to beat Southlake Carroll 6-2 in the City Championship Tournament semi-finals.  

The Cowboys then played Allen in the finals of the City Championship. Coppell beat the Eagles 4-2 and were guaranteed a spot in the Texas Cup State Tournament. Although Coppell beat both Southlake and Allen in the City Championship, all three teams qualified for the State tournament.

“Beating Southlake, Allen and Plano West put us in a really good position to start the state tournament because they were probably our biggest rivals during the season,” senior assistant captain Brandon Harley said.

In the state tournament, Coppell beat Flower Mound 7-1, lost to Southlake Carroll 7-3 and beat Plano Sr. 6-2 which left Coppell in third place, Allen in second, and Southlake Carroll in first.

This year was the first time since 2003 that Coppell has made it to the state tournament, so the team was satisfied with their season overall.

Not only did the team have a good season, the goalie, senior Derek Willms, was nominated for the Varsity Gold Division “Goalie of the Year”.

“It was my last year to be a part of Coppell hockey, and I just wanted to do everything I could to give my team the best chance to win,” Willms said. “Being awarded Goalie of the Year was just the cap to a great season. I will always remember this season, and I want to thank all my teammates for making it a great one.”

Willms, along with 8 other seniors, will be missed next year as they were a very talented group of players who helped lead the team to the state tournament. However, there are positive predictions for next year’s team as there are still a significant number of players moving up to varsity along with new members coming in.

The Coppell hockey team lost their game against Southlake Carroll on Thursday Feb. 25 with a final score of 3-1.

The team had six players that were not able to play in the game due to injuries or tournaments in their club teams. Nick Futch has been out due to an injury for several weeks. Tyler Privette, Brandon and Bradley Harley, Chad Guderian and Derek Wilms were the players not able to compete in last week’s game.

“Though most of the players that were out were some of our key players, we weren’t going to let that hold us back from trying hard to win one of our last games before playoffs,” senior and captain Charlie Busch said.

The Cowboys have a game on Tuesday March 2 at 6:30 and Thursday March 4 at 5:30 at the Farmers Branch Stars Center. These two games will be the final games of the regular season before the Cowboys advance to the playoffs.

Come out and support the Coppell varsity hockey game as they play the final games of their regular season!

The Coppell varsity hockey team continues its success by moving up in the rankings. They currently share the No.1 spot with the Southlake Carroll Dragons who could be considered the Cowboy’s biggest rival this year.

The Cowboys played a tough game against Allen last night and ended up winning 4-3 in a shootout. They have previously lost two games that went into overtime, so last night’s win was very encouraging.

District games for the Cowboys will end on Mar. 4^th which marks the beginning of the playoffs this year. Coppell has four more district games to play, including the game canceled due to inclement weather last week.

Their game next week is against Southlake Carroll, and since they are tied for the No.1 spot in district, it is crucial that they Cowboys come out with another win.  Come out and support Coppell as they work their way into the 2010 playoffs!