Napoleon

DEFIANCE – Minutes after Defiance used four goal-line and five red-zone defensive stands to snuff out Napoleon drives in a 7-0 victory on Thursday night at Fred J. Brown Stadium, the voice of one of the last remaining Bulldog fans in the stands reverberated through the late August night, “Travis Cooper for President!”
The comment got a big smile out of the new Defiance sideline general in a debut that Bulldog faithful will not soon forget.
Defiance turned away Napoleon twice at the goalline in the final 4:26, including the game-clincher with just second remaining.
“It’s a lot of prayers, a lot of hard work and it comes down to the kids,” said Cooper. “We can have this vision and program in the summer but the kids had to buy in. They weren’t skeptical. They bought in and did everything they possibly could. What more could you ask from our kids?”
The Bulldogs’ defense lived on the edge four times with the Wildcats teetering near hallelujah land, but each time Defiance was up to the challenge.
After failing to score on its third goal-to-go situation a couple minutes earlier, Napoleon marched right back inside the Defiance 10 after forcing a three-and-out by the Defiance offense. With under a half minute left, Napoleon faced a fourth-and-goal. As Blake Wolf tried to hit Caleb Stoner with a pass over the middle at the goalline, he was interfered with, resulting in another play for the Wildcats.