On the practice field this week, Abilene High Coach Larry Pullin told his players that they could leave a mark on their school with a victory over Cooper Friday night.



And as they have been doing all season, the Eagles responded.



The surprising Eagles made it four in a row over their cross-town rivals with a 14-10 victory over the Cougars before a crowd of about 14,000 fans at Shotwell Stadium.



More importantly, they set up a season-finale that Abilene high school football fans have been waiting for.



The victory over Cooper gives the Eagles a 4-1 record in District 4-5A with league leading and undefeated Midland Lee coming to town next week. A win by Abilene High could force a three-way tie between the Eagles, Lee and Odessa Permian, and would at least get the Eagles in a coin flip for a playoff berth.



Amazing.



"What we’ve been trying to do since I’ve been here is to get the kids to believe in themselves," Pullin said. "We have preached that the most important thing was showing character and poise, and the wins and losses would take care of themselves. And they have."



The Eagles took care of win No. 7 of this season Friday night when they controlled the second half with a swarming defense and a relentless rushing attack. Trailing 10-7 in the third quarter and facing a strong wind, the Eagles took a punt at their own 10 and took the Cougars totally out of the game.



Quarterback Jon Davis finished off a 13-play drive with a 3-yard run that gave the Eagles their first lead. The killer, though, was the 5:52 of the clock the drive took away from Cooper, which needed the gusting wind to get its passing game off the ground.



"They sure ate up a lot of the wind," said Cooper coach Larry Peel of the long drive. "They just came out and controlled the ball in the second half on us."



The Cougars, who dropped their fifth straight to fall to 3-6 and 1-4, made one last threat in the fourth quarter, but the turnover bug bit them again.



First, Scotty Pugh’s pass to Roderick Brown moved the Cougars to the 23, but a clip on the end of the play put the ball back to the 38. On the next play, the Eagles sacked Pugh, who fumbled in front of a jubilant Abilene High bench.



"Turnovers - we had two in each half and they didn’t have any in the second half," Peel said. "That was the difference."



As has become the trademark of the Eagles, they played a mistake free second half. When they needed a first down, fullback Warren Abor, who had 157 yards on 23 carries, provided a big run. When they needed a lift from the defense, there were plenty of heroes - Abor, Shane Daniel, David Aguirre, Marty Esparza, Barkley Pineda, to just name a few.



"The kids just realize what they have to do, and they do it," said Pullin. "I just think it was their mental frame of mind in the second half."



Despite a first half completely controlled by the offenses, Cooper took only a 10-7 lead into halftime.



But even more surprising was the way Cooper got its lead. Alternating Michael Gobert and Roderick Brown in their one-back offense, the Cougars discovered the run in their run-and-shoot offense.



Gobert, making the most of his first start with 132 yards, did most of his damage in the first half as the Cougars amassed 213 total yards before halftime - 111 on the ground.



With the score tied 7-7 after the first quarter, Cooper drove 50 yards - all on the ground - to take the lead. Although an 8-yard run by Gobert converted a fourth-and-5 at the Eagles’ 19, the Cougars stalled and had to settle for Jeff Ireland’s 27 yard field goal with 4:28 left.



Abilene High also flashed a sharp offense in the first half, and was forced to punt just once. But the Eagles missed their fourth-down conversion on the first drive as safety Chris Jones broke up Davis’ pass inside the Cooper 20.



Cooper took over and quickly moved 67 yards in the usual way. Pugh passed three times in the 8-play drive, and all three went to Ireland, who had five receptions for 95 yards in the first quarter but was shut out the rest of the way.



Scrambling away from an Eagle rush, Pugh connected with Ireland for 34 yards to the AHS 6. On the next play, Ireland pulled in another pass in the right corner of the end zone for a 7-0 Cooper lead with 5:01 left in the first quarter.



But thanks to the scrambling ability of Davis and a personal foul penalty, Abilene High answered on its next possession. Davis beat the Cougars to the corner twice for runs of 19 and 9 yards, and was hit late by a Cougar on the second run to put the Eagles on the 16.



Three plays later, Davis rolled right and threw into the teeth of the Cooper secondary. But the ball skipped off the hands of CHS cornerback Terry Heatherly and into the arms of kneeling Esparza for a 14-yard scoring pass that made it 7-7.

Abilene 7 0 7 0 — 14

Cooper 7 3 0 0 — 10

Abilene Cooper

First downs 17 18

Rushing yards 48-238 31-177

Passing yards 83 165

Comp-Att-Int 6-11-1 11-25-2

Punts 4-35 3-47

Fumbles lost 0 2

Penalties-yards 3-25 7-78

First Quarter

CHS - Ireland 6 pass from Pugh (Ireland kick)

AHS - Esparza 14 pass from Davis (Forkerway kick)

Second Quarter

CHS - Ireland 27 FG

Third Quarter

AHS - Davis 3 run (Forkerway kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - Cooper - Gobert 20-132; Brown 2-12; Hester 1-1; Pugh 7-26; Scruggs 1-6

Abilene - Abor 23-157; Haynes 6-13; Davis 16-55; Evans 3-13

PASSING - Cooper - Pugh 11-25-165-2 ints., 1 TD

Abilene - Davis 6-11-83-1 int., 1 TD

RECEIVING - Cooper - Hester 1-7; Ireland 5-95; Scruggs 1-26; Gobert 2-19; Brown 2-18

Abilene - Forkerway 3-29; Esparza 2-46; Haynes 1-8

4-5A standings

District Overall

W L T PF PA W L T PF PA

Midland Lee 5 0 0 195 54 8 0 0 341 74

Permian 4 1 0 159 61 7 1 0 276 92

Abilene 4 1 0 62 83 7 2 0 137 155

San Angelo 2 3 0 83 100 5 4 0 165 128

Midland 2 3 0 76 74 5 3 0 138 138

Cooper 1 4 0 81 132 3 6 0 185 238

Odessa 0 6 0 53 177 2 6 1 96 212



Friday’s Results

Abilene High 14, Cooper 10; Midland Lee 42, San Angelo 7; Midland 35, Odessa 6.



Next Week’s Games

Midland Lee at Abilene High; Cooper at Midland; San Angelo at Permian.