By Brice Cherry

Tribune-Herald staff writer

COPPERAS COVE — The Waco High Lions gave the Copperas Cove Bulldawgs plenty of fight. Problem was, the Lions also gave them the ball.

In a rare nondistrict renewal of the classic Cove-Waco rivalry, the Bulldawgs capitalized on four Lion turnovers on their way to 27 unanswered points and a 41-20 come-from-behind victory here at the Bulldawg Stadium Friday night.

Cove (2-0) also rode the record-setting running of William Wright, who tallied five touchdown runs — four of which came from one yard out — to tie former Notre Dame standout Vontez Duff for most TD runs in school history.

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For the Lions (1-1), who twice held 10-point leads in the first half, a very real chance at victory seemed to slip away when the ball began to slip through their fingers.

“You can’t give a team that many gifts, unless you’re going to get a few gifts back in return,” Waco High coach Johnny Tusa said. “We put (Cove) in good position to score a few times, and you can’t do that.”

Though the teams weren’t playing for a district championship, as they had been the previous two years when Waco High emerged victorious, the game still didn’t lack for intensity.

Waco High’s defense strutted out in full ball-hawking glory, helping the Lions stake an early 10-0 lead. Andrew Weaver, a Super Centex defensive end last year, corralled a fumbled pitch on Cove’s first possession and ran 33 yards for the touchdown.

Moments later, the Bulldawgs again let the pigskin slip through their fingers, and Waco High’s Raymond Moore snapped it up for the recovery. That takeaway eventually led to a 28-yard field goal from Ernesto Guevara and a 10-0 Lion lead just five minutes into the game.

“The first half of the first quarter, we just stunk,” Copperas Cove coach Jack Welch said. “We weren’t meaning to, but whether it was some freak things or whatever, we gave them far too many opportunities, and they took advantage of those opportunities.”

The Bulldawgs didn’t lay dormant for long. Cove’s Rashad Hardy snagged an easy interception on Waco High’s second possession, returning the ball back to the Lion 28. Four plays later, Wright dove into the end zone from a yard out, trimming the Waco High lead to 10-7 with 3:37 to play in the opening quarter.

Wright punched in three one-yard scores on his way to those record five TDs.

“That’s a team record, for sure,” Welch said. “Will would be the first one to tell you he couldn’t score those touchdowns without those linemen up front blocking for him. We did a good job moving the ball against a Waco High defense loaded with talent.”

After Waco High’s thick-legged Guevara nailed a 36-yard field goal to propel the Lions to a 20-14 lead with 6:33 to play in the half, Cove charged back again.

The Bulldawgs picked apart Waco High’s pass defense in manufacturing an eight-play, 80-yard scoring drive that culminated with another TD run from Wright. That score gave Cove its first lead at 21-20 with 3:26 to play in the first half.

Waco High appeared as if it wouldn’t surrender the lead for long, zipping right back downfield into scoring position. The big play for the Lions came on a well-executed draw, with Toylon Clark exploding through the Cove defense and down the sideline for 63 yards.

But the Lions couldn’t punch the ball in on two goal-line runs from quarterback Kollin Kahler, the second of which resulted in a fumble that Cove recovered.

Afterwards, Tusa said it looked as if Kahler broke the plane of the end zone on his initial run, but he didn’t blame the play for the loss.

“We thought he got in, but it was certainly hard to tell, because there was a pretty big conglomerate down there,” Tusa said. “But I’ve been trying to make calls from the sidelines for over 30 years, and I apparently don’t always get them right.”

In the second half, the Bulldawgs became greyhounds, puncturing Waco High’s normally stiff run defense for 154 rushing yards. Wright’s 14-yard scamper with 21 seconds left in the third quarter extended the Cove lead to 28-20.

Then, on Waco High’s very next play after the kickoff, an errant pitch from Kahler to Clark ended up in the paws of the Bulldawg defenders, who recovered at the 9-yard line. Moments later, Cove QB Cody Vaughn boot-legged to his left and found receiver Sherome Miller in the end zone for a seven-yard score that upped the score to 35-20 and essentially cemented the win for the Dawgs.

“It’s always nice when you can beat Waco, but it’s because I have such respect for Waco,” Welch said. “You say, ‘Why do you respect Waco?’ Well, it’s because I have such respect for Johnny Tusa. To me, he’s the ultimate high school football coach. We’ve had so many battles that I didn’t feel safe. I didn’t feel safe until I looked up there with 1:30 left and we had the ball.”

Waco High’s Clark led all rushers with 121 yards on 18 carries, while fullback Keyshun Russell, starting in the place of the injured Bronshae’Keon Dugas, contributed 71 and the team’s only offensive TD.

For Waco High, which plays Round Rock Stony Point in its final nondistrict clash next week, the loss to Cove didn’t carry the same sting it would have had it come in November.

“We’ve just got to throw this game out and come out ready to play next week,” Tusa said. “We’ll figure out what we did well and what we need to work on, and go back to the drawing board. Every game is a learning experience, and we learned some things tonight.”

bcherry@wacotrib.com

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