Worth County’s Chip Cooper heads All-Region honors in Region 1-AA

SYLVESTER — Worth County football’s explosive offense picked up numerous postseason honors in the highly competitive Region 1-AA this week, including the Offensive Player of the Year award for senior quarterback Chip Cooper.

In 11 games this season, Cooper threw for 2,431 yards with 23 touchdowns and ran for 683 yards and 12 more touchdowns. The Rams finished 8-3 on the season.

Three of Cooper’s offensive playmakers also earned first-team honors — senior wide receiver Parker Weaver, wide receiver Dee Fulton and running back Kaden Chester. Offensive tackle T.J. Smith made the second-team for the Rams.

On defense, the Rams placed linebackers Jaylen Fluellen and Hunter Barber on the first-team defense, along with defensive back Quantavious Frier. Second-team defensive standouts were defensive end Andrew Dixon, linebacker Quentin Cole and defensive back Kevin Tukes.

Players named to the honorable mention list were tight end Grant Juster, offensive linemen Tristan Carter and Ken Hamilton, defensive end Danny Wilkerson and linebackers Sherman Smith and Key’Unta Jackson.

“Any time you get selected to an all-region team it is a great honor,” said Worth head coach Jeff Hammond. “These awards are picked by the coaches that you competed against. We had several first-team and second-team all-region players. The first one that jumps off the page is Chip Cooper, he was selected as the Offensive Player of the Year. Chip had a tremendous year. He accounted for over 3,200 yards and was the person that made us go on offense. Other first-team offensive members were Kaden Chester, Dee Fulton and Parker Weaver. I hate to see Parker go because he was our spark plug. If we needed a big third-down conversion then he was the guy we targeted.

“Dee and Kaden are sophomore and freshman, respectively. To be chosen at their age says a lot about what their future can be. Defensively we had Jaylen Fluellen, Hunter Barber and Quantavious Frier. Jaylen had a tremendous career for the Worth County Rams. He is a great player and has a well-deserved selection. Hunter is our effort guy. He plays at a high speed and is very physical. Quan started the year off at receiver but was forced to play corner because of injuries. To come on during region and be picked to an all-region team just says what kind of football player Quan is. We have nine returning players who were selected for the All-Region Team at some level. With the core group returning I expect next year to build off this last one. We will miss this awesome senior class because their leadership will be the building block for our program for years to come.”

Courtesy Worth County High SchoolJoeWhitfield[email protected]