‘Set the tone early’: Colleyville Heritage trounces Abilene Cooper in area playoff game
MANSFIELD – Colleyville Heritage had a simple formula for advancing to the third round of the Texas high school playoffs: let quarterback Luke Ullrich fire the football to Braden Blueitt.
The result was a resounding 55-21 win over Abilene Cooper on a foggy Friday night at Vernon Newsome Stadium. And while the stats were gaudy, it was the simplicity of Heritage scoring on every possession until the Panthers went into victory formation in the final two minutes to kill the clock.
Heritage head coach Jerry Edwards wisely removed Ullrich at the start of the fourth quarter with a 45-7 lead and the game clearly in hand. By that time, the senior quarterback had hit on 27 of 35 passes for 285 yards and five touchdowns.
Junior receiver Blueitt caught 10 of those passes for 146 yards and 3 TDs.
“We wanted to set the tone early,” Edwards said, “We were able to do that right away and then keep the pressure on them the rest of the way.”
Edwards, in his first year as head coach at Heritage, said an early interception by Jaden Hall provided the spark needed for Heritage to quickly get in front by two scores.
Heritage won the coin toss and deferred receiving the ball until the second half. After forcing Cooper to punt on its first possession, a short one of only 17 yards, the Panthers started with good field position at their own 44 yard line.
Ullrich and company wasted little time in mounting a 10-play drive for a touchdown with Ryan Kelleher bolting 10 yards virtually untouched into the end zone. The drive was sparked by tosses from Ullrich to Hayden Golden for 13 yards and his first connection to Blueitt for 6 yards.
Hall’s interception gave Heritage the ball again at midfield, and, after another short completion to Golden, Ullrich hit Blueitt in stride for a 40-yard touchdown with 4:48 still to play in the opening quarter. Heritage owned a 14-0 lead.
Cooper responded with a burst from running back Daniel Bray for a touchdown after a good kickoff return by Jeramiah Appel became even better after a 15-yard penalty. The Cougars started from Heritage’s 42-yard line.
“They cut it to a touchdown lead there toward the end of the first quarter but I was pleased that we responded well with our offense clicking right away,” Edwards said.
Ullrich was just getting warmed up with a repertoire of darts and arching bombs to Blueitt. Many of his throws came after he scrambled to elude the Cooper rush.
Starting from their own 34, the Panthers marched down for a third touchdown in a patient 11-play drive that featured hard running from Siona Vailahi and short completions to Blueitt and Kai Pruitt. The touchdown was Ullrich’s second scoring toss to Blueitt. This time, it was from 6 yards out.
Heritage signaled the rout was on early in the second quarter when the Panthers marched 82 yards on 11 plays. Ullrich found Bluett for a third touchdown from 15 yards out. It gave Heritage a 28-7 lead and was set up when Cooper quarterback Austin Cummings was sacked by Jacob Roppoto.
Heritage scored another touchdown late in the second quarter when Ullrich found Joey Hilliard on a 13-yard strike. That stretched the lead to 35-7 at halftime.
The second half was more of the same except that Heritage had to twice settle for field goals instead of touchdowns. One was from 22 yards out in the third quarter by Ryan Zuckert and one from 39 yards by Landon Dressell in the final quarter.
Colleyville Heritage added two more touchdowns in the second half, as did Cooper, to account for the final score. Ullrich tossed five yards to Pruitt late in the third quarter and then Heritage sophomore QB Brodey Weaver hit Zack Logan from 10 yards out midway in the fourth quarter.
Cooper’s two touchdowns were 48 yard rush by Christian Rico and a 17 yard run by Troneal Robinson.