The Cooper Cougars found themselves down by three points at halftime out in El Paso in the first round of the playoffs.

Three key plays in the third quarter turned the game around.

Austin Cummins hit Jayden Carrillo for a touchdown. Cooper executed a perfect pooch kick that they recovered, and that drive was capped by a touchdown run by Daniel Bray.

Those three plays turned the tide of the game.

Head coach Aaron Roan said, “That chain of events helped get momentum back on our side and going out and finishing. On the first offensive drive, we make a heck of a catch on the post, delivered a good ball and protected and made a good catch and took advantage of some things we saw in the secondary. We took advantage of a misplayed kick that they had. The guys covering it did a great job of covering it, and then scoring again. Just like that it was a two-possession game. That was really good. Momentum was on our side. The defense was playing really good. If you are able to get a lead like that and control the clock some, I thought that was good.”

The Cougars are back in action this week.

The Area championship is on the line when they meet Colleyville Heritage in Mansfield.

They kick it off at 7 p.m. on Friday night.