ABILENE – With 11 seconds left in the game, Abilene Cooper capped a West Texas shootout with a winning touchdown that sent Westlake to a shocking 0-2 start.

The Chaps fell 35-31 at Abilene’s Shotwell Stadium Friday despite an offensive explosion keyed by quarterback Lewis Guilbeau. However, Westlake’s 472 yards of offense – including 376 from Guilbeau – wasn’t enough for the Chaps to nab their first win of the season.

“We have to get our defense to where it needs to be,” said Westlake coach Darren Allman, whose team opened the year ranked No. 4 by The Associated Press. “We want defense to be the mainstay for our football team. Right now, it’s not, but it will be.”

It appeared that Westlake would escape with the victory despite giving up 442 yards to the balanced Cougar attack. After the Chaps allowed a go-ahead touchdown with 2 minutes, 43 seconds left in the game, Guilbeau engineered a 71-yard scoring drive that highlighted his diverse set of skills. He opened the drive with a 60-yard bomb to Collin Shaw that moved the Chaps to Cooper’s 13-yard line. Three plays later, the shifty quarterback burst through a seam in the middle of the Cougars’ defense for a 4-yard touchdown run with 1:35 left in the game.

However, that score did little to alleviate Westlake’s concerns.

“I didn’t feel good at any point in the game with the way we were playing defense,” Allman said. “We weren’t stopping the run or the pass.”

And the Chaps could stop neither on Cooper’s final drive. Behind quarterback Clayton Nicholas (168 yards passing) and running back Davon Riddick (25 carries, 206 yards), Cooper (2-0) marched down the field with ease. Cougar coach Mike Spradlin even reached into his bag of tricks on that final drive when receiver Khole Jackson connected with John Patrick on a reverse wide receiver pass that moved the Cougs to Westlake’s 7-yard line. Two plays later, Patrick snagged a swing pass and coasted in for the winning score.

Unfortunately for the Chaps, such a last-minute loss has become common in recent games. Trinity scored an overtime touchdown to win last year’s Class 5A Division I title game, and Bastrop handed Westlake its lone district loss in 2009 with a late touchdown.

“We know it’s never over until the last second,” Shaw said. “We realized that last year, and we knew it again tonight. We just have to score every time we get the ball, and we didn’t do that.”

Shaw did his part in a career night that included seven receptions for 194 yards and two scores. Senior classmate Jason Prideaux had a career-high eight catches for 75 yards, and Guilbeau ended the game with 304 yards on 20-of-38 passing.

Before a frenzied crowd eager to welcome Odessa native and former Odessa Permian coach Allman back to West Texas with a loss, the Cougars pounced quickly. They forced Westlake into a three-and-out on the Chaps first drive before promptly marching down the field on an 11-play, 50-yard touchdown drive. After another quick Westlake possession, Cooper’s Jackson slipped loose from several Chap tacklers and skipped down the sideline for a 64-yard punt return that put Westlake into a 14-0 hole.

The only negative for Cooper in the first quarter – an injury to star tailback Alford Cooper – even turned into a positive. Riddick, who usually forms a dangerous combination with Cooper, bore the burden of the Cougars’ ground game with relish. He averaged 8.2 yards per carry against a Westlake defense built to stop the run. Allman credited the 6-foot, 208-pound Riddick for his hard running but also cited the Cougars’ successful scheme.

“They were working the perimeter passing game to expand our defense, similar to what we do [offensively], “ he said. “That opened up the middle for their running game. We as coaches could have done something better, but we’re not sure what that is right now.”

The Chaps didn’t blink from their early deficit. They shook off a missed 31-yard field goal attempt on their third drive and cut the score to 14-7 midway through the second quarter on a 3-yard run by Van Gramann.

After J.R. Jackson snuffed a Cooper drive by recovering a by Nicholas, Guilbeau led Westlake on an 82-yard touchdown drive that evened the score just before the halftime break. Guilbeau showed both ways to beat a defense on the drive; he kept the possession alive on a 3rd-and-14 scramble for a first down and hit Shaw with a beautiful dart to the back corner for a 19-yard touchdown pass.

Shaw’s 46-yard scoring reception from Guilbeau in the third quarter gave the Chaps a 21-14 lead in the third quarter, but it wasn’t enough to hold off Riddick and the Cougars.

Although Westlake fell to 0-2 for only the second time in the past 24 years, Allman said the quality of his team’s opponents will eventually help the Chaps reach their lofty preseason expectations. The Chaps’ two losses have come against Class 4A No. 1 Lake Travis and traditional Class 5A playoff participant Abilene Cooper.

“This is why we’re playing this schedule,” he said. “It’s ugly to be 0-2, but we’ll be a better football team because of this.”

Abilene Cooper 35, Westlake 31
West (0-2) 0 14 7 10 – 31
AC (2-0) 14 o 7 14- 35

First quarter
AC: Davon Riddick 1 run (Justin Lehr kick)
AC: Khole Jackson 64 punt return (Lehr kick)

Second quarter
West: Van Gramann 3 run (Buckley Willis kick)
West: Collin Shaw 19 pass from Lewis Guilbeau (Willis kick)

Third quarter
West: Shaw 46 pass from Guilbeau (Willis kick
AC: Riddick 21 run (Lehr kick)

Fourth quarter
West: Willis 25 FG
AC: Riddick 21 run (Lehr kick)
West: Lewis Guilbeau 4 run (Willis kick)
AC: John Patrick 7 pass from Clayton Nicholas (Lehr kick)

West AC
Rush 36-168 38-246
Passes 20-38-0 20-27-1
Passing yards 304 196
First downs 22 25
Penalties 4-39 4-27
Punts 4-38.5 2-35
Fumbles 0-0 3-1

Rushing
West: Lewis Guilbeau 16-72, Van Gramann 15-64, Brice Dolezal 5-32.
AC: Davon Riddick 25-206, Khole Jackson 7-32, Alford Cooper 2-7, Clayton Nicholas 2-0, Khaeer Sonnier 1-1, Navonte Wall-Williams 1-1.

Passing: West: Guilbeau 20-38-0-304. AC: Nicholas 19-26-1-168, Jackson 1-1-0-28 .

Receiving: West: Jason Prideaux 8-75, Colin Shaw 7-194, Gramann 1-9, Jeremy DiGiovanni 2-15, Tyler Luxion 1-5, Mathan Myers 1-4. AC: Jackson 8-75, Riddick 5-39, John Patrick 4-38, Wall-Williams 3-44.