The John Cooper School will get its shot at redemption.
With a 41-7 victory over The Austin Saints on Friday, the Dragons punched their ticket to next week's SPC 3A Championship game , which sets up a rematch of the 2018 title game.
"I am very proud of our young men trusting in a new staff, and believing in one another," John Cooper School first-year coach Erik DeHaven said. "This was a goal of ours at the beginning of the year and we are not done yet. We will attack this week just like we have the past and take it one play at a time."
The @JCS_Football team clinched a spot in the SPC Championship game with a 41-7 victory over The Austin Saints. JCS will take on @fwcd_athletics on 11/9 in a rematch of the 2018 Championship. @ConroeSports @Sideline_Club @DuncanBoone_1 @vypehouston @LSCSN @WOLsports @spcsports pic.twitter.com/YzN5Zv2Uj6
— Cooper Athletics (@JCS_Athletics) November 2, 2019
Last season, John Cooper posted a perfect regular season mark heading into the title game. The Dragons in the end couldn't complete the perfect season, falling to Fort Worth Country Day. It marked FWCD's second title in three years.
The 14-point loss stuck with the returning players, who will now get their shot to bring home the program's first-ever SPC Championship.
"They want to do it for last years class and the guys who have laid the foundation for this program," DeHaven said. "It's going to be a great game."
DeHaven isn't foreign to leading a team into the final game of the year. Coming from St. Pius X, DeHaven was a part of many coaching staffs that took the Panthers on deep playoff marches.
What does he take away from those experiences into the next week?
"Don't focus on the outcome," DeHaven said. "When you do that you get distracted. We need to continue to work on us and try to be perfect one play at a time. Control what we can control."
The John Cooper School faces Fort Worth Country Day on Saturday, November 9 at Butler Stadium here in Houston. Kickoff is slated for 2 p.m. with the SPC 4A Championship to follow at 7 p.m.
