By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
CENTRE – A second Cherokee County High School football lineman is headed for Huntingdon.
Six-foot-4, 220-pound Cooper Martin is joining teammate Zack Gaylor with the Division III Hawks. Both Martin and Gaylor blocked for fellow Warrior senior Jacob Cornejo, who ran for a school-record 3,003 yards and 36 touchdowns last season.
Martin said he’s looking forward to continuing his football playing days at the next level. He wanted to go to a school that was similar to the back-to-back Class 4A state runners-up. With Gaylor, who signed with the Hawks in early February, Martin feels like he’s found the right fit.
“What I told the coaches at Huntingdon when we went down for a recruiting visit was I wanted to go somewhere where I can win, and second, I just don’t want to go play. Football is fun obviously, but if you’re not playing with the right people, then that’s my turnoff,” Martin said. “I want to be able to play with brothers, and that’s one of the biggest reasons I picked Huntingdon.”
Something else that appealed to Martin about Huntingdon is strength and conditioning coach Charlie Goodyear. Martin said Goodyear reminds him of Warrior head coach Jacob Kelley.
“He’s really cool, high energy,” Martin said. “It’s just a great feeling down there. Everything is so close together. One of the biggest things they said was family. They’ve had a program for 21 years. They’ve had the same head coach for 21 years (Mike Turk), same defensive coordinator (Steven Hicks) for 21 years, same strength and conditioning coach (Goodyear) for 21 years. It was just a great feeling going down there and being a part of that.”
Kelley said Martin has come a long way since his freshman and sophomore years in the weight room.
“I’m really proud of Cooper and all he’s done in four years,” Kelley said. “He was trying his best to get bigger and stronger, but he was stubborn. He wouldn’t listen to the things I was saying, like you’ve got to get deeper on your squats. You need to take some weight off. You need to get some depth instead of what your partner is doing. He finally listened and he started getting a little lighter, increasing his form, doing some one-on-one stuff and Vertamax with me. He really took to listening.
“Last off-season, going into his junior year, I saw him blossom. I saw them all blossom. I was like ‘We’ve got a chance to be pretty good because these guys are working their tails off, and then you add Jacob into that room. They’ve all been together a long time, and just to see them get after it and compete, to me it’s what makes my job so special. I just have guys who love to compete, love to be coached and love to work. What coach wouldn’t want that?”
Cornejo, who recently committed to Cumberland University, benefitted from countless blocks from Martin and Gaylor throughout the past two seasons. Martin said Cornejo’s record-breaking 2023 season is like a badge of honor for all the Warrior linemen.
“We’re really proud of it,” Martin said. “Jacob is a humble guy, and I would not want anybody other than him to have that record. He’s most deserving of it. We have a lot of pride in that. We don’t care to have our names out there. It’s like Jacob said it might be his name in the record book, but everyone knows (it was a team effort).”
It’s that kind of team effort Martin is looking for with the Hawks.
“I think it will be fun,” he said. “Getting the opportunity to play the game itself for the next four years (in college) is going to be different. I’m just grateful for the opportunity to go and do it again for four years.”