Football Game Preview: Lubbock-Cooper Pirates vs. Memorial Mavericks

The Lubbock-Cooper Pirates will head out to take on the Memorial Mavericks at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Lubbock-Cooper has given up an average of 37.8 points per game this season, but Friday's game will give them a chance to turn things around.

Lubbock-Cooper came into this matchup off a tough 50-point defeat last Friday. This time they kept things ultra-competitive, but unfortunately the final result was the same. They fell just short of Palo Duro by a score of 36-33 on Friday. While losing is never fun, the Pirates can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 255th, while the Dons are ranked 111th).

Meanwhile, after only six points in their last matchup, Memorial made sure to put some points up on the board against Wylie on Friday. The Mavericks blew past the Bulldogs 45-14.

Memorial's win came from a few key players Lubbock-Cooper will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Eric Powell, who rushed for 149 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and also picked up 92 receiving yards and two TDs. With that strong performance, he is now averaging an impressive 103.7 rushing yards per game. Another player making a difference was Joe Castles, who threw for 303 yards and four TDs while completing 72% of his passes.

Memorial was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 220 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in November of 2024.

Memorial's victory was their first in the district, bumping their district record up to 1-2 and their overall record up to 5-2. As for Lubbock-Cooper, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 4-4.

Lubbock-Cooper and Memorial were neck-and-neck in their previous meeting back in October of 2024, but Lubbock-Cooper came up empty-handed after a 44-43 loss. Can the Pirates avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.