Jamello Cooper didn’t see a lot of playing time a year ago as the Ankeny football team relied heavily on senior receivers Andrew Brandhorst and Owen Fischer.
Now that Cooper has taken over a starting position, the 5-foot-8, 175-pound junior is making the most of his opportunity.
Cooper caught a pair of touchdown passes in the second half as the Hawks rallied from a 10-0 deficit to beat visiting Waukee, 14-10, on Friday at Ankeny Stadium.
“We’ve been working all summer for this,” said Cooper. “I knew what I could do, and we know what our teammates can do. Give the ball to our receivers, and go make a play.”
Ankeny (2-0) got off to a slow start in its home opener after posting a huge road win at Waukee Northwest a week ago. The Hawks had just 61 yards of total offense in the first half and were outgained by Waukee, 293-224.
“We knew Waukee would come in and battle, and they did,” said Ankeny coach Jeff Bauer. “They’re tough. They made it hard on our offense to run the ball obviously.”
After holding a 7-0 lead at halftime, the Warriors (0-2) extended their margin to 10-0 with a 56-yard drive to open the second half. A 44-yard pass from TJ Sleiter to Trey Johnson set up a 41-yard field goal by Braylon Blackford with 8 minutes 32 seconds left in the third quarter.
Ankeny then went three-and-out, but the Hawks gained some much-needed momentum when linebacker Rowan Doak intercepted a Sleiter pass on Waukee’s next play from scrimmage.
“I was actually supposed to go after (Sleiter) but I saw my teammate go after him, and then my teammate also tipped it and I saw the ball in the air and I went to go grab it,” Doak said. “As I touched it, my helmet hit the ball and I was able to secure it to the ground. It was a fun play.”
The Hawks then drove 36 yards in five plays to close the gap to 10-7 midway through the period.
“That was a really huge play,” Cooper said of Doak’s interception. “It flipped the momentum for sure.”
Cooper caught a 16-yard pass over the middle from Mason Machan to cap the scoring drive.
“I’ve got a belief in our offense to come through for us when it’s time to do that,” Doak said. “And right there after a first-play interception, they were able to use that momentum to go down and score.”
After an exchange of punts, the Warriors drove into Ankeny territory before Blackford missed a 38-yard field-goal attempt on the second play of the fourth quarter.
The Hawks then needed just six plays to go 80 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. After Machan completed passes of 10 and 11 yards to DJ Tate for a pair of first downs, he found Cooper along the left sideline for the game-winning 56-yard touchdown.
“Jamello was awesome,” Bauer said. “It was a great throw by Machan, and Jamello–he doesn’t drop many.”
Cooper caught the ball after a Waukee defender tried to jump the route but was unable to pick off the pass. He then raced to the end zone to put the Hawks ahead for good with 10:06 left in the game.
“I was kind of surprised (that it resulted in a touchdown), but I’ve been working for this and I know what I can do,” Cooper said.
The Warriors had one last chance after forcing an Ankeny punt with about 2 minutes left. They took over at their 34-yard line, then moved down the field as Sleiter completed passes of 22 yards to Colton Smith and 11 yards to Boston Onstot.
But after reaching the Hawks’ 31, Waukee’s offense stalled in the final minute. Two procedure penalties and three consecutive incomplete passes ended the Warriors’ bid for an upset.
Safety Ace Parton got his hands on Sleiter’s final pass to the end zone.
“It felt great to come away with the win,” Doak said.
The two teams combined for just 151 yards of offense in the first half. Ankeny was limited to just three first downs.
Waukee’s offense wasn’t much better, but the Warriors took advantage of a short field to score the game’s first touchdown with 14 seconds left in the opening period. Sleiter completed a 19-yard pass to Smith on fourth-and-2 to set up a 19-yard scoring pass to Onstot three plays later on third-and-18.
“Hopefully, we learn from it,” Bauer said of his team’s first-half struggles. “The defense had to play a long time, but they played hard. We made some stupid mistakes penalty-wise or substitution-wise that kept some drives alive, but we got through it. In the end, we won.”
Sleiter completed 14-of-33 passes for 183 yards, while Sam Heinrich added 82 yards rushing on 26 carries. Waukee’s defense got an interception from Therston Nebo and a fumble recovery by Nick Osborne.
Cooper said the Hawks simply needed to have a fresh start in the third quarter.
“We went into halftime thinking we aren’t down,” he said. “The score is 0-0 at half, and you’ve got to come out and make a play.”
Ankeny will play Des Moines Roosevelt (2-0) in a matchup of unbeaten teams on Friday at Mediacom Stadium. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
The Roughriders own wins over Des Moines Lincoln (19-6) and Des Moines East (20-14).
