Cooper Football Beats Benilde-St. Margaret’s in Regular Season Finale
The Cooper football team beat Benilde-St. Margaret’s 21-14 in the regular season finale for both teams.
Cooper built a 21-0 halftime lead before holding off a late rally from the Red Knights.
The Hawks scored on their first play from scrimmage as Danari Connors ran 65 yards for a touchdown on his way to a 200-plus yard rushing night.
After a Darius Mulbah interception, the first of two for him and one of three total for the Hawks, Connors scored on a one-yard run to make it 14-0 after a quarter.
Kameron Fox connected with Jaxon Howard for a 38-yard touchdown in the second quarter to make it 21-0.
It stayed that way until very late in the game, when things got wild.
BSM scored on an 83-yard touchdown strike from Nirvaan Yogarajah to Elliott Huether to make it 21-7 with 2:24 to play.
The Red Knights then recovered an onside kick, followed by a 56-yard TD pass from Yogarajah to Khalif Brown that made it 21-14.
Cooper appeared ready to put it away but the Red Knights stripped the ball from Connors near the BSM goal line and recovered in the end zone for a touchback.
They moved the ball to midfield but were stopped on downs in the final seconds as Cooper held on for the win.
The Hawks finish the regular season at 2-6; Benilde is 0-8.
Cooper is the third seed for the Section 5AAAAA tournament and they have a bye into the semifinals.
