WESSON – When the going got tough,Southwest quarterback Vintavious Cooper got tougher. Cooperovercame heat exhaustion to rally the Bears past Co-Lin 31-28Thursday night in Stone Stadium. He passed for three touchdowns andprovided the  hold for JakeSaltalamacchia’s game-winning, 27-yard field goal with 15 secondsleft to play.

    Cooper (5-9, 200), a powerful sophomore from Homerville, Ga., haddirected the Bears on a last-minute TD drive at the end of thefirst half. Southwest set up for an apparent field goal attemptfrom the Co-Lin 17-yard line but Cooper sprang to his feet andtossed a scoring strike to Renard Williams for a 20-14 halftimeadvantage.

    Cooper sat out the third quarter in an attempt to regain hisstrength as Co-Lin built a 28-20 advantage. He returned to actionat the start of the fourth quarter.

     “My chest was hurting andI was having trouble breathing,” said Cooper. “Coach told me totake a break.

    “I felt like I could pull our team through,” said Cooper. “God waswith me tonight.”

    For the game, Cooper completed 8 of 19 passes for 103 yards andbulled his way on the ground 24 times for 134 yards.

    Southwest (2-3, 1-2) realized its first South Division win of theseason after narrow setbacks to Gulf Coast and Pearl River. Co-Lin(3-2, 1-2) lost for the second time on its home turf.

    The victory ended five years of frustration for Southwest sixth-year head coach CharlesAnthony. His Bears had endured five straight setbacks at the handsof Co-Lin.

    “The streak is over,” said Anthony as his team celebrated in frontof the visiting stands last night. “It hasn’t been much of arivalry because Co-Lin beat us five straight years. Our kids playedhard and I’m proud of them.”

    Anthony said his quarterback was dehydrated at halftime. “He’s agutsy kid and he came back in the fourth quarter.”

    Cooper guided the Bears on 60-yard scoring drive on the game’sopening series. He hit Jerome Stewart on a  slant pattern for a 7-0 lead.

    Co-Lin got rolling in the second quarter and took advantage of ashort punt when it sailed out of bounds at Southwest’s 43. Tenplays later, sophomore running back Danny Hobbs made a leap acrossthe goal line. Nolan Long’s PAT tied the game at 7-7 with 9:26until halftime.

    The Bears quickly replied. Freshman running back Ashton Elzey ofTylertown broke free after shedding some Co-Lin tacklers and raced50 yard to paydirt for a 14-7 lead.

    The Wolfpack fired up the large home crowd on the next series.Quarterback Chandler Rogers hooked up with wide receiver TrentPowell who was wide open for a 59-yard completion to Southwest’s1-yard line.

    Rogers hit tight end Jerry McNair on the next play and Long’s PATmade it 14-14.

    Coach Anthony said the fake field goal attempt was something histeam worked on every day in practice. “We’ve been doing it for fiveyears and it worked tonight.”

    In the third quarter, with Cooper sidelined, Co-Lin went to workand took advantage of his absence. The Wolves capitalized onSouthwest fumble that was recovered by Jordan Black at the Bears’35-yard line.

    Seven players later, Rogers hit Hobbs in the left flat for a 2-yardTD and a 21-20 Co-Lin lead.

    Rogers finished the game with 12 completions in 22 attempts for 179yards. Powell had 2 catches for 73 yards. Darren Anderson caught 3passes for 34 yards.

    Hobbs scored his third TD of the game with 13:54 left to play. Hecrashed over the right side from 6 yards out. Co-Lin led 28-20.

    Co-Lin coach Glenn Davis was disappointed with his team’s setback.He complimented Cooper and the Bears.

    “Give Southwest credit. They made the plays,” said Davis. “Number 9(Cooper) is the guy I thought we had to stop.”

    The Bears got a 43-yard kickoff return from Fidel Montgomery andCooper provided a 5-play drive for the tying points and a 28-28deadlock with 11:00 left to play. He hit Jerome Stewart with a30-yard TD completion and then faked a handoff on the 2-pointconversion try, plunging up the middle of Co-Lin’s defense.

    “We are a young team and we made mistakes,” Davis continued. “Wemade some big plays but not enough of them.”

    Co-Lin resumes action Oct. 6, at Pearl River in Poplarville.Southwest hosts Northwest the same night in Hurst Stadium.