Over the past five decades, the Cooper football program has become known for the quality of rushers that have called its backfield home.

From Terry Orr (2,485 yards from 1977-79) to Allen Gunter (2,933 yards from 1981-83) to Mike Rose (4,271 yards from 1991-93) to Dominic Rhodes (3,102 yards from 1994-96) to Brandon Diles (3,145 yards from 2000-02) to A’mon Pimpton (3,102 yards from 2006-08) to Devin Johnson (3,106 yards from 2014-16) to Tyrees Whitfield (3,916 yards from 2015-17) to Noah Garcia (5,389 yards from 2017-20) to Daniel Bray (2,079 yards from 2022-23), CHS has been a veritable factory when it comes to producing game-breaking running backs.

If things continue on their current path, that list should grow by one this season, as senior Peyton Ewing looks to etch his name in permanent ink in the annals of excellent Cooper backs. While he still has some work to do to build the credentials those before him did, the third-year varsity lettermen is playing at a similar level this fall for a Cougar offense that is reaping the benefits of his big-play ability.

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The Cooper football team entered Friday night’s homecoming against Lubbock Coronado having been involved in a pair of thrilling games the last two weeks — even though they’d come out on the wrong end of the decision against crosstown rival Abilene High and San Angelo Central.

Any frustrations that the Cougars had from those two games were quickly vanquished as Cooper closed out nondistrict play with a 59-0 thumping of Lubbock Coronado at Shotwell Stadium.

It was a total team effort for the Cougars as coach Aaron Roan’s squad used three quarterbacks and had nine players carry the ball, six receivers catch passes, three kickers convert extra points and 18 players record a tackle.

The Coogs also had three players intercept a pass and got two fumble recoveries from Dycin Davis.

LUBBOCK CORONADO (0-3) AT COOPER (1-2) 

7 p.m. Friday, Shotwell Stadium, Abilene

SAN ANGELO — Cooper led by two scores on three occasions Friday, but a late surge by San Angelo Central was enough to lift the Bobcats to a 40-35 win at San Angelo Stadium.

Trailing the Cougars 28-17 with just under four minutes to play in the third quarter, the Bobcats scored 23 points in less than 10 minutes of game time to go up 40-28 and held off Cooper late for a hard-fought win.

The loss dropped Cooper to 1-2 with Lubbock Coronado coming to town next week to close out nondistrict play.

COOPER (1-1) AT SAN ANGELO CENTRAL (0-2)

7 p.m. Friday, San Angelo Stadium

Coming into the season, Cooper coach Aaron Roan and his offensive staff believed the Cougars line could be a strength.

The Coogs returned three senior starters in Kayden Bryan, Jayden Flores and Marcus Andrade and brought back a fourth player, junior Ismael “Smiley” Martinez, who got some playing time in a reserve role last year, leaving the CHS staff with just one spot to fill to complete the starting five.

With senior Isaiah Kanyabitabo assuming that final role, the the Cougar O-line wasted no time confirming coaches’ hunch last week, paving the way for a 300-yard rushing effort in a 49-25 season-opening win at Azle. And with that performance in the books, Roan said the future could be even brighter for that unit — and the Cooper offense as a result.

AZLE — The Cooper football team got off to a running start Friday … literally.

The Cougars piled up 316 yards on the ground, averaging 6.7 yards per rush attempt, and never trailed in a thorough 49-25 win over Azle.

After opening the scoring with just over three minutes remaining in the first quarter, CHS extended a 22-7 halftime lead to three scores by the 10:39 mark of the third and held on from there to secure its first season-opening win since 2020.

COOPER (0-0) AT AZLE (0-0)

7 p.m. Friday, Hornet Field, Azle

As a three-star recruit who has already committed to play Division I football at the University of Texas-El Paso, Dycin Davis has a big future ahead of him.

But entering his fourth year as a starting defensive end for the Cooper Cougars, his sole focus at present is on … well … the present.

Davis, a 6-foot-3, 235-pound wrecking ball off the edge for coach Aaron Roan’s squad, has but two goals as he prepares for his final high school season — to relish the time he has left with his South Side brothers and to help CHS to its first winning season in his four years on campus.

The 2024 season was a unique one for the Cooper Cougars.

After struggling to a 1-6 start, including an 0-3 stretch to kick off District 2-5A Division II play, the Coogs closed the regular season with three consecutive wins to extend their playoff streak to 18 seasons.

With 24 lettermen back from that 4-7 squad, including seven offensive and four defensive starters, coach Aaron Roan and his team are hoping to ride the momentum of that late-season surge to a faster start in 2025. And if they can, the eighth year Cooper mentor feels his Cougars could play a larger role in the district race as well.

Football is just around the corner, and we at BigCountryPreps.com are committed to bringing you the information you need to prepare for your favorite team’s season.

We’ll be releasing our Big Country Preps Preseason Football Preview, the most comprehensive look at the upcoming Big Country football season anywhere, on Wednesday, Aug. 20. But you won’t have to wait until then to sate your gridiron appetite.

Leading up to the first day of fall football practice on Aug. 4, we’ll be spotlighting each 11-man team in the area and posing some of the key questions they’ll face in 2025 as part of our annual “Countdown to Two-a-Days” series.

Today, we take a look at the Cooper Cougars.