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Cooper varsity teams open seasons

By: Lynn Boeding
| Published 08/15/2016

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THE WOODLANDS, Texas — The John Cooper School's football, volleyball and cross country teams opened their seasons last week with scrimmages and tournaments.

The varsity football team hosted The Fort Bent Christian Academy and Lutheran High North in a scrimmage on Aug. 12 on Pugh Field.

From Coach Brent Landrum: The three-team scrimmage between The John Cooper School, Fort Bend Christian and Lutheran High North went very well. Each team got plenty of reps, everybody stayed healthy and there were a lot of positive moments for each team. The Dragons struggled a bit early on, defensively and offensively, but eventually settled in did some great things. Cooper looks to have a great week of practice in preparation for the always tough Eagles of Second Baptist.

“For a first scrimmage, I was happy. We have a lot of work to do but we also have some things to build on.”–Coach Brent Landrum

Next up for the Dragons: another home scrimmage on Pugh Field is set for Friday, Aug. 19 vs. Second Baptist at 7 p.m.

Varsity Volleyball Dragons finish 4-4

2016 Adidas Texas Volleyball Invitational in Pearland

The Dragons went 4-4 for the Tournament with the final game against Ursuline Academy setting the tone and intensity for the upcoming season. This tournament is the biggest high school tournament in the nation with over 80 teams. This year the tournament hosted the 6a State champs and finalist, plus 5a state finalists.

Day 1

vs. Colleyville Heritage, 25-20, 20-25, 25-13 –loss

vs. Pearland, 25-14, 25-15–loss

vs. Nederland, 26-24, 25-27, 25-15–win

Day 2

Highland Park, 25-16, 25-21–loss

Barbers Hill, 25-23, 20-25, 25-22–win

Clear Springs, 25-22, 25-17–loss

Day 3

Rockwall, 25-17, 25-18–win

Ursuline Academy, 20-25, 25-21, 25-21–win

Comments from Coach Ray Hedden: We had a very competitive Day 1, playing a very talented 5a Colleyville team from Dallas to start off. After falling in three in a tough match, we were immediately up to play Pearland, who is ranked fourth overall. Pearland overpowered us, leaving us to play Nederland for the final match of the day. Nederland was a very competitive match going back and forth the first two games, eventually and splitting them, leading to the third game, where we found our rhythm and started to put things together winning that match in dominating fashion.

Day 2 began with a tough loss against Highland Park, then a win over Barber Hill in three, which led us to our third match of the day, where our own errors gave Clear Springs the win.

Day 3, the team came in determined to play cleaner and with more intensity. We started off against Rockwall playing our game and won easily in two. The final match had us playing a very scrappy Ursuline Academy (UA), who had previously handled SPC-rival, Kinkaid, with ease. I predict that this match will be one that we look back on as key in setting the intensity and effort levels we will need to play at to make our run at SPC. UA had some really good ball control and hustled down every ball non-stop. After dropping the first set, we challenged each other to raise our effort level and intensity. The team responded by out-hustling UA and leaving the tournament with what I feel was a great win.

We all agreed that we would set that level of play moving into practice and for the rest of the season. Overall, the team played well and built upon the scrimmage from August 5th. We had great leadership from our seniors and juniors and some key contributions from our sophomores. Our freshmen showed they will be very instrumental in the team’s success this year by making some big plays in big moments as well. I am very proud of this team’s ability to play together and that the chemistry is so strong so early in the season. Our next steps are to heal up and continue our run against Frassati this Tuesday for our home opener.

Next up for the Dragons: The games begin! The Dragons host Frassati Catholic in their first home game on Tues., August 16 at 6:30 p.m. The Dragons head to a tournament in Allen on Aug. 19-20.

The varsity cross country teams will compete in their first meet of the season, Friday Night Lights at Bear Branch on August 26 at Bear Branch Park.

Upcoming varsity sports action @ home*:

Fri., Aug. 16

6:30 p.m. Varsity Volleyball vs Frassati Catholic School

Fri., Aug. 19

7 p.m. Varsity Football vs Second Baptist (scrimmage)

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