Palo Duro is 0-4 against Cooper since October of 2018 but things could change on Friday. The Palo Duro Dons will head out on the road to face off against the Cooper Cougars at 7:00 p.m. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Palo Duro is headed into the match having just posted their biggest win since October 6, 2023 on Friday. They blew past Legacy, posting a 34-6 victory. Given the Dons' advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 389th, while the Leopards are ranked 808th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Palo Duro to victory, but perhaps none more so than Julian Reese Ii, who threw for 211 yards and four touchdowns while completing 85.7% of his passes.
Cooper fell on hard times earlier this season, but after back-to-back wins it seems like their luck might finally be changing. They were the clear victor by a 45-21 margin over Legacy two weeks ago.
Austin Cummins went supernova for Cooper, throwing for 210 yards and four touchdowns on only 19 passes, while also rushing for 84 yards and a touchdown. Those 84 rushing yards gave Cummins a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Zavian Alexander, who picked up 130 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Cooper's record is now 3-6. As for Palo Duro, they now have a winning record of 5-4.
Palo Duro came up short against Cooper in their previous meeting back in October of 2023, falling 28-21. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Cooper's Daniel Bray, who rushed for 107 yards and two touchdowns. Now that Palo Duro knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
