Named most valuable offensive player and most valuable defensive players of the game, senior Jon Copeland (3) and sophomore Jake Sullivan (21) led the Argyle Eagles to a 42-21 victory over the Lovejoy Leopards in the Tom Landry Classic at Allen Eagle Stadium on Saturday.

“I was a little unsure about the first game, but the kids really played like champions,” head football coach Todd Rodgers said.

Copeland completed 24 passes for 269 yards, three of which landed in the endzone. Copeland also barreled into the endzone to add a rushing touchdown to his stand out performance.

“Coach told us to come out and ‘shock and awe’, and that’s exactly what we did,” Copeland said. “We executed perfectly, and we’re very happy.”

Sullivan led the defense with an interception in the third quarter, ending the Leopards attempted drive to the end zone.

“Jake Sullivan is really young, and for him to be playing at that kind of level in a game like this is very exciting,” Rodgers said. “We didn’t even have him in the lineup 10 to 14 days ago and gave him an opportunity, and he took great advantage of it. That’s the sign of a really high quality player to be thrown into the fire like this then rise to the level of the game.”

Ranked four in The Associated Press’ 4-A state poll, the Eagles look to begin the road to state next week when they challenge LaGrange at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.

“I hope next week you can expect a game in which we take what we get here, and we expand on it and rise to the occasion again each and every week,” Rodgers said.