COFFEETOWN HS SPORTS

Coffeetown football put up a valiant effort but ultimately came up short in a tightly contested game against Copper Central High School. Copper Central’s 10-6 victory – with Coffeetown’s lone touchdown coming on the final play of the game – left Copperheads fans visibly frustrated on the visitors’ side of the stadium.

Quarterback Reptile Henderson and fullback Crock Pot Peters were the driving forces behind the Copperheads’ offense.

Henderson took several snaps on 38 offensive plays and handed the ball off all night.

He only threw one pass, and it was a spike to stop the clock before Peters bolted for a window-dressing touchdown to end the game.

Coffeetown head football coach Cliff Swansea playing not to lose against the higher classification Cadets?

It’s difficult to look past a stat sheet in which the talented Henderson only threw one pass into the dirt, and Peters carried the ball for 90% of Coffeetown’s offensive plays.

The sophomore Peters did finish with a career-high 80 yards on the ground. But he had -5 rushing yards before the last-gasp score that covered 85 yards of Copper Central turf.

If trying the same thing over and over again with the expectation of different results is the definition of insanity, then Swansea should be commit himself to the Copper County Psychiatric Ward.

Copper Central’s defensive line is thicker than a bowl of day old grits, and Coffeetown’s offensive line hardly had a prayer from the opening gun.

All-county center Snap Summers whiffed on multiple blocks and held his way to a couple penalties against Copper Central stud defensive tackle Emmanuel Hemingway V.

Yet the rush-first / rush-only offensive plan continued painfully into the night, like a maimed gazelle fleeing the lion’s inevitable maw.

So what exactly was Swansea thinking, running his backfield into the teeth of the Cadets’ front seven?

“I want our team to impose its will against any team we play. I don’t care if it’s Copper Central, Georgia or the Kansas City Chiefs,” Swansea told me afterward.

“And I want them to understand they can do it whether or not we have an all-state quarterback running the offense. They’re going to feel this game all weekend. I thought we showed heart. And I’m glad Crock Pot broke through. That’s what he does best. Just cooks for a few hours all game until finally there’s a tasty meal ahead because he just worn the other team down. That, to me, was the biggest silver lining.”

Coffeetown football fans won’t take much heart from that reasoning, but they will have to trust their State Championship-winning head coach for now

It’s still early in the season.

These Copperheads will either learn from it, or they will bang their collective head against Swansea’s iron wall of stubborn bully ball.

Word of advice: Strap up your helmets.

If this game was any indication, Crock Pot Peters may not be the only Copperhead simmering in the Coffeetown football program.