The Turnaround: Lubbock Cooper Wrap

The Turnaround
gamestrat high school football sideline instant replay

by Jason Strunk
Lubbock High School Head Football Coach
Follow @WestTXCoach

LHS ran into a buzzsaw on Friday, losing to Cooper 38-7.  However, the score doesn’t dictate the kind of game it was.

We battled, all night.  It was 7-7 after one quarter.  Cooper pulled away in the second quarter, scoring 21 points.  It’s hard to overcome a 28-7 deficit to such a solid team.  We had our chances, but we just came up empty.

The second half was a battle.  We fought.  The defense gave up 10 points.  I will tell you this…in years past we would have lost 63-7.  We will not fold the tent.  We will not quit.  It was evident on Friday night.

Our team is so much improved from last year that I cannot put it into words.  It’s the closest we have ever been, even the year we went to the playoffs.  This group will keep fighting.  Good things happen to those who fight.

Class Act

Lost in all the bravado of football, are teams and coaches who do everything that right way.  Too many times we hear about players who act like jerks or grandstanding professional athletes who kneel during the national anthem.  Lost in all that are great stories on class and grace.

I want to say thank you to the Lubbock Cooper Pirates.  They are complete class.  They win with class and act with class…win or lose.  It is a reflection of their head coach, Max Kattwinkel. He does things right.

It is very rare to get messages from opposing players wishing us well and telling me how much we impressed them.  But some of the Pirates went out of their way to send me nice messages like that.  It is very much appreciated!

This is proof that there are good people and acts of kindness still going on at the purest level of all athletics, the high school level.  What an awesome gesture by those opponents.

The Pirates have the ultimate respect from me.  I wish them well the rest of the way!

Mental Health Tip

Wake-up and put a positive thought into your mind.  Start the day off with a positive thought.  Life is too short to be miserable and negative.

Randomness

-Special sideline guest this week for our home game with Lake View: former trainer DJ Abascal. I am so pumped about this!

-If you listen to the people in the stands, you will eventually join them.  That isn’t a good thing.

-I think every human being, when they die, will have this in their obit or on their tombstone: “Was a great person, loved by many and was a former Offensive Coordinator for every NFL, College and High School team.”  It is incredible how much non-coaches know about play calling.  Why aren’t these people coaching?  There are experts everywhere.  My advice: stick to your day job.  Obviously, you aren’t cut-out for coaching.

-Shout out to the “tough guy”, who talked crap to LHS coaches’ wives in the stands and then followed them out to their cars after our win at Shallowater.  Apparently, he’s one of our “fans”.  Ridiculous.  If you think that is acceptable, you are missing your marbles.  Get a grip on life.

-We control we.  You are irrelevant to us.  You have no bearing on my daily existence and you never will. Naysayers can continue in their miserable existence and will not drag us down with them.

-Goodbye Rangers. Goodbye Red Sox. Stunning fashion. Cubs, as I have said, win it all.

-Steelers are rolling.

I’m going to blog about ridiculous antics of fans and and football goofballs tomorrow.  Why?  Because I feel like it.  It’s my blog and I want to expose the ignorance.

Good night!

FIO.

No More Fumbles

Play Football

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About the Author

Jeff Fisher
Jeff is an award-winning journalist and expert in the field of high school sports, underscored with his appearance on CNBC in 2010 to talk about the big business of high school football in America.Jeff turned to his passion for high school football into an entrepreneurial venture called High School Football America, a digital media company focused on producing original high school sports content for radio, television and the internet.Jeff is co-founder and editor-in-chief of High School Football America, a partner with NFL Play Football.