Early ranking puts Cooper 7th in football
By BILL HART / Abilene Reporter-News
The Cooper Cougars will start the 1997 football season as the No. 7-ranked team in Class 5A, according to Texas Football magazine. And they are the only District 4-5A team in the Top 10.
Converse Judson is top-ranked, while defending state champion Austin Westlake, which beat Cooper in the Division II final, is No. 5. Garland High, Cooper's opening game opponent, is ranked No. 9.
"When I talked with the Texas Football people earlier, I got the impression that we'd be ranked in the top 25, but I didn't expect to be in the top 10," said Cooper coach Randy Allen. "I wish Garland was ranked ahead of us. But this is a great compliment to our program and our players will be excited about this.
"I like being picked in the middle because it gives you a chance to work up. We lost some great players, but we have a lot of good ones back. We know what we have to do and what weaknesses to overcome to get to the level we were last year."
Cooper returns five offensive and eight defensive starters from last year's team which reached the Class 5A Division II title game.
Richardson Lake Highlands, which lost to Cooper in the semifinals, is ranked No. 8.
The Cooper-Garland game won't be the only one involving area teams that are state-ranked.
Sweetwater, rated No. 6 in Class 4A, entertains No. 7 Brownwood on Sept. 5. Stephenville, which beat Sweetwater in the playoffs, but lost to Brownwood in two overtimes during the regular season last year, is rated No. 5.
The area has teams ranked in every classification, but defending Six-Man state champion Gordon is the only one that is ranked No. 1.
Breckenridge is No. 8 in Class 3A, Stamford is No. 9 in Class 2A and Munday is No. 7 in Class A. Breckenridge, 8-2 last year, finished third in District 6-3A, while Stamford lost to Iraan in the quarterfinals and Munday lost in the area round to Wheeler.
Other Six-Man schools ranked are Panther Creek (No. 3) and Brookesmith (No. 9).
Holliday, in District 9-2A with Haskell, is No. 10 in Class 2A, while defending Class A state champion Windhorst, in 6-A with Throckmorton, is No. 10.
Converse Judson (5A), La Marque (4A), Sealy (3A), Pilot Point (2A) and Tenaha (A) are the top-ranked teams. Iraan is the only defending state champion not ranked. The Braves won the 2A title last year.
he magazine goes on sale the week of June 23 at newsstands, Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouses and select Pepsi end displays.
CLASS 5A
1. Converse Judson
2. Tyler John Tyler
3. Longview
4. Duncanville
5. Austin Westlake
6. Fort Bend Dulles
7. Cooper
8. Richardson Lake Highlands
9. Garland
10. Lewisville
CLASS 4A
1. La Marque
2. Texas City
3. Waxahachie
4. Denison
5. Stephenville
6. Sweetwater
7. Brownwood
8. Corpus Christi CalAllen
9. Corsicana
10. Jacksonville
CLASS 3A
1. Sealy
2. Commerce
3. Crockett
4. Vernon
5. Daingerfield
6. Cuero
7. La Grange
8. Breckenridge
9. George West
10. Tatum
CLASS 2A
1. Pilot Point
2. Schulenburg
3. Groveton
4. Lockney
5. Mart
6. Elysian Fields
7. East Bernard
8. Grand Saline
9. Stamford
10. Holliday
CLASS A
1. Tenaha
2. Wheeler
3. Granger
4. Wink
5. Runge
6. Burkeville
7. Munday
8. Springlake-Earth
9. Celeste
10. Windthorst
SIX-MAN
1. Gordon
2. Lazbuddie
3. Panther Creek
4. Chillicothe
5. Whitharral
6. Trinidad
7. Jonesboro
8. Balmorhea
9. Brookesmith
10. Borden County