By Clay Whittington
Cove Leader-Press
One day, Rodney Southern hopes to bring Copperas Cove its first state championship, but he also understands it is a process.
Thursday evening, the Bulldawgs took the first step.
Despite falling to visiting Waco Midway, for the first time since 2018, Copperas Cove concluded the regular season with a winning record, and more importantly, the Bulldawgs extended their schedule.
Copperas Cove completes its lengthy trek back into the playoffs later this week, and while his ultimate goal still awaits, the Bulldawgs’ first-year head coach feels things moving in the right direction.
“I’ve done this a long time,” Southern said, “and I’m patient enough, but at the same time, I’m anxious because I want to get there. Sometimes, you’ve got to pour a foundation before you can build a house on it.
“I’m just proud of these kids, though, because they have worked so hard for us. Now, we’ve got to continue to do the little bitty things, but it feels really good as a community to know we are getting to play next week.”
Copperas Cove will travel to DeSoto on either Thursday, Friday or Saturday for a bi-district encounter in the Class 6A, Division II bracket.
The Eagles, who won the 2024 state championship, enter the postseason with an overall record of 7-3 after finishing in a three-way tie for first place with Duncanville and Waxahachie in the District 11 standings. All three squads were 6-1.
The Bulldawgs emerged from District 12 in fourth place after suffering a 56-26 loss to the Panthers, who scored 21 unanswered points in a run bridging halftime.
“The Third quarter killed us,” Southern said. “We gave up big plays to a good team, and we turned the ball over. That’s exactly what you can’t do.
“We did both of those.”
After allowing a touchdown with 83 seconds remaining in the first half, Copperas Cove could not stop Midway on the third quarter’s opening possession and fell into a double-digit deficit at 28-14. Then, the Panthers took complete control, sandwiching touchdowns around a Bulldawgs’ punt and fumble.
Junior running K.J. Zeigler finally ended the outburst by posting a 40-yard run into the end zone with 1 minute, 9 seconds remaining in the third quarter, but it was too late.
Zeigler finished with two touchdowns after helping Copperas Cove remain competitive throughout the first half.
Midway opened the scoring with a 27-yard touchdown from senior Andrew McNair to tight end Hayden Brock with eight minutes elapsed from the clock.
The Bulldawgs responded with a 95-yard drive emphatically punctuated by Zeigler’s 61-yard touchdown, but two plays into the second quarter, Panthers junior running back Latham Whisenton’s five-yard run across the goal line put Midway back ahead.
Keshawn Dooley, a junior, capped off a 71-yard possession with a 19-yard touchdown run to tie the score once more, but McNair delivered a six-yard touchdown run just before halftime, and it proved to propel Midway (9-1, 5-1) to victory.
The loss could not dampen the playoff-bound Bulldawgs’ impressive achievement, though.
“I’m just excited for these kids,” Southern said, “because I know we’ve taken a lot of the steps we needed to take. It also feels good because I’ve got guys on my staff that played here and understand how it used to be, and I’ve got guys who have coached with me for a long time that know these things don’t just happen overnight even if you want them to.
“The kids are doing everything we are asking them to do.”
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