TERRE HAUTE — Shaun Cooper was ready to do all the heavy lifting when the situation called for it.
The senior plays a backup running back role to starter Braylen Townsend, but by the end of each game, he’d done his fair share of damage. When the Panthers decided to keep Townsend on sidelines after 11 carries and 72 yards, it was the Shaun Cooper Show after that.
Cooper’s 35th and last carry took him into the end zone with his fifth score of the night, piling up the last of his career high 221 yards as the Class 5A No. 2 Panthers took care of host Terre Haute South, 49-14, Friday night, Sept. 19, in a Conference Indiana football game.
“It’s a huge moment,” Cooper said. “Obviously, we knew we had a good team to play this week. We thought we wanted it more, so we had to come out and play South football.”
His 19-yarder tied it midway through the first quarter, then he had a 13 yarder at 11:11 of the second to put Bloomington up for good.
“Braylen went down. He’s alright,” Cooper said. “Being fortunate enough to have the depth we do, he put me in to get the job done. Good team win.”
A week after Duncan Combs threw for 315 yards (he was still 17-of-24 for 155 yards Friday), the Panthers churned out 295 yards on 47 carries.
“That’s the beauty of what we have,” South coach Gabe Johnson said. “Depth. And Braylen goes down and doesn’t look great. So, do we keep pressing it and make it worse, or do we sit him and put in a guy where we don’t lose a step and continue to run the offense the way that we want?
“I thought it was better that he stayed out. I don’t think it’s serious.”
Cooper had three touchdowns in the first half and should have had four.
He broke free for a 51-yard gain before a THS defender slapped the ball out of his hands inside the 5. Receiver Connor Parker, rushing in to celebrate the TD, wound up being Johnny-on-the-spot, scooping up the ball at the 2 and falling into the end zone for the score.
“Lost the focus, lost the discipline, but that’s what teammates are for,” Cooper said.
Cooper added a 14-yard scamper to build a 28-7 lead with 1:52 to half. TD runs for 1 and 7 yards, the last with 1:48 left, left him exhausted.
“I was feeling them for sure, all those hits,” Cooper said. “But you gotta do what you gottta do.”
Penalties piling up
Johnson sees all the warts, and none seem to be any bigger than his team’s issues with penalties and kickoff returns.
From basic holding to unsportsmanlike conduct, the negative yardage and bail outs that give the opposition free first downs are happening way too often. Bloomington South was nicked 12 times for 115 yards, compared to 7-52 for the Braves.
“That’s something that we’ve need to clean up for sure,” South linebacker Ian Quick said. “We’re striving for more, and that’s definitely the next step.”
“We’re not as good of a football team as we think,” Johnson added. “We were a little undisciplined, right? I am going to get the penalties corrected. And we’re not keep playing with guys or with a lack of discipline that we’ve been playing with.
“We’ve done our part as coaches. We’ve pled with them to get it fixed and clean it up and they haven’t done it. So I will get their attention. Monday is not going to be fun.”
At the same time, South is still undefeated and averaging 42 ppg.
“Now, that being said, we won the game,” Johnson continued. “A win’s a win, and we’ve got to learn to enjoy those a little bit because we don’t do things right all the time and we win 49-14. I can’t imagine what we would be if we played penalty free.
“Terre Haute South is a good football team and they’ll be better if we see them in the sectional. But we’ve got to work on us a little bit.”
For the third time this year, South gave up a 90-plus yard kickoff return for a score. It was the second time it was on the opening boot as Mayson Lewis glided 90 yards to give THS a brief 7-0 lead.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do and there has to be some urgency behind it,” Johnson said.
Panthers defense wreaks havoc
Bloomington South (5-0, 3-0) took some time to grind down the Braves (3-2, 2-1), who were held to just 135 yards of offense, seven first downs and turned it over four times, including three interceptions by Rylan Stikeleather, Brady Adams and the last by Sam Giles taken back 46 yards for the score.
“We were physical and got after them,” Johnson said. “And we’ve improved our coverage.”
The Panthers planned to contain scrambling quarterback Maddox Woodcock (21 yards rushing, 26 passing), but he took a blow late in the opening half and was replaced by Harrison Wetzel, who was just 5-of-13 for 67 yards.
“(Woodcock) is a super-athletic kid,” Quick said. “He can get out make plays, despite whatever else is going on. So, we had a big emphasis in containing him. I think we did that well. I think that showed up on the scoreboard for sure.”
The Panthers had three sacks and nine tackles for loss overall as THS ran for only 42 yards on 27 carries.
BLOOMINGTON SOUTH 49, TERRE HAUTE SOUTH 14
Bloomington South (5-0, 3-0) 7 | 21 | 7 | 14 — 49
Terre Haute South (3-2, 2-1) 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 — 14
FIRST QUARTER
THS: Mayson Lewis 90 kickoff return (Meredith Toomey kick), 11:47. THS, 7-0.
BS: Shaun Cooper 19 run (Cohen Fischer kick), 6:11. Tied, 7-7.
SECOND QUARTER
BS: Cooper 3 run (Fischer kick), 11:11. BS, 14-7.
BS: Connor Parker 2 fumble recovery (Fischer kick), 6:44. BS, 21-7.
BS: Cooper 14 run (Fischer kick), 1:52. BS, 28-7.
THS: Lewis 43 pass from Harrison Wetzel (Toomey kick), :48. BS, 28-14.
THIRD QUARTER
BS: Cooper 1 run (Fischer kick), 8:14. BS, 35-14.
FOURTH QUARTER
BS: Cooper 7 run (Fischer kick), 1:48. BS, 42-14.
BS: Sam Giles 46 interception return (Fischer kick), :57.4. BS, 49-14.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
Bloomington South (47-295): Shaun Cooper 35-221, Brayen Townsend 11-72, Connor Parker 1-2.
Terre Haute South (27-42): Maddox Woodcock 9-21, Tyisaac Corbin 11-21, Mayson Lewis 2-1, Samuel Weihert 1-0, Harrison Wetzel 4-(-1).
PASSING
Bloomington South (17-24-0-155): Duncan Combs 17-24-0-155.
Terre Haute South (7-20-3-93): Wetzel 5-13-2-67, Woodcock 2-7-1-26.
RECEIVING
Bloomington South: Jalen Williams 8-65, Parker 3-37, Blake Azcui 2-14, Sam Giles 2-7, Jonathan Winstead 1-(-1).
Terre Haute South: Lewis 4-72, Weihert 2-11, Corbin 1-11.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Take 5: South senior bulldozes Terre Haute South for five scores in CI football rout
Reporting by Jim Gordillo, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
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