Van Buren senior Antwon Cooper proud of being a team captain for the Pointers

Defensive end standout Antwon Cooper felt a tremendous amount of pride when he was selected a team captain for Van Buren’s football squad prior to the season.

“In my opinion, it’s really special to get the offer in the opportunity to be the person they see to help motivate and keep our team together, so it was really awesome for Coach (Moe) Henry to offer me that position on the team,” said Cooper, a senior.

Cooper, who is 6-foot and weighs 225 pounds, also spent his senior year learning to play nose guard on the defensive line, having previously played at end.

“I played (defensive end) for about four years and Coach (Joe) Haynes (the Pointers’ defensive coordinator) just saw something in me,” Cooper said. “He just wanted to throw me at nose and see what I can do and now I played nose. I feel like my primary strengths as a player is definitely me being so agile and my hand-eye coordination. And just the motivation that I want it more than others.”

Cooper finished his senior season with 69 total tackles, averaging more than 6 tackles per game. He also had a sack, two fumble recoveries and caused another fumble. Cooper helped get Van Buren into the playoffs, as the Pointers started 6A-West conference play with four straight wins.

“I felt like the reasoning behind our good season has got to be the coaching and how much effort they put out into us,” Cooper said. “But I also have to say it is also the players for just playing their hearts out and just making sure that everybody is held accountable for what they do on the team.”

Van Buren moved to 4-0 in conference play with a hard-fought 17-10 win against Southside on Oct. 17. In that game, Cooper finished with a season-high 12 tackles

“Our best game would have to be probably Southside, because that showed everybody what our defense is about and how we’ve grown from the years and we’re not the same Pointers we used to be,” Cooper said.

“I feel like the defense always played tremendously; big shoutouts to my D-line, Braden Daws and Charlie Vaughan and also really had to shout out my linebackers Darren Mays, Jaxson Silvers and Jace Ponder. They always kept the defense in check and just made sure everybody knows what they’re doing.”

Cooper also registered 11 tackles in the Pointers’ opening-round 6A playoff game, though Van Buren was nipped by Marion in the final moments, falling 32-29. Now, Cooper, who possesses a 3.2 grade-point average, is hoping to get that chance to play at the next level. Cooper isn’t ready to have his football career come to a premature end.

“I played a whole bunch of sports growing up, but football just stuck out the most,” he said. “I got trained as a little kid by my dad as a running back from first through fifth grade, and I’ve never fell out of the love of the sport. I’ve always loved playing football.

“My ninth grade year is when I got moved to defensive end and I loved it there. I loved causing chaos wherever I went. It was the best and funnest experience of my life, so I just stayed at that position, took the coaching and gotten really good at what I do.”

That freshman year also helped Cooper learn the nuances of the game even more, plus learning to keep his emotions in check.

“I would say the biggest improvement I had from my freshman year to now was probably my knowledge of the sport and just how I’ve grown to open my mind to a lot of new things and a lot of new moves,” he said. “And also, I’d say it’s probably taking coaching because I used to be really bad about attitudes and sarcastic remarks, but I had to grow out of that because if I did that now, they wouldn’t look at me as a player. I’ll be on the sideline, where I wouldn’t be able to contribute to the team.”