COOPER CITY — Marquise Russ threw three first-half touchdowns as Fort Lauderdale jumped to a 20-10 halftime lead, then leaned on its smothering defense to beat Cooper City 27-10 Friday night in a showdown of unbeaten teams, spoiling the Cowboys’ homecoming.

Russ completed 8 of 14 passes for 145 yards and three touchdowns, along with two interceptions, in the first half. The senior signal caller finished 16 of 23 for 221 yards with the three TDs and two picks.

“We are just taking it one week at a time, go 1-0, and we came out with the W,” Russ said. “We’re fiery, and this is a really big win for us.”

Fort Lauderdale (5-0) struck first after Cooper City went for it on fourth-and-2 from its own territory, but the L’s defense held, sacking senior quarterback Nick Dyer for the first of its four sacks on the night. The L’s also limited the Cowboys to 222 total yards.

Fort Lauderdale wasted little time grabbing a 7-0 lead as Russ found sophomore Primes Jest for a 16-yard touchdown to cap a six-play, 47-yard drive.

The teams traded scores on their next possessions. Dyer tossed a 12-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Stefano Colosi to tie the game at 7-7, but the L’s quickly answered. Freshman Elijah Williams returned the ensuing kickoff 38 yards, and a 15-yard personal foul against the Cowboys moved the ball to the Cooper City 38. On the next play, Russ found a wide-open junior Ricky Ware for a 13-7 lead.

Fort Lauderdale freshman outside linebacker King Taylor recovered a fumble by Dyer at the Cooper City 4-yard line, setting up Russ for his third touchdown of the half — a 13-yard strike to junior Antwan Jackson that extended the L’s lead to 20-7.

Cooper City (5-1) trimmed the deficit with a 37-yard field goal by sophomore Augustin Gomez Oviedo with 1:31 left in the half.

The L’s capitalized on another Cooper City turnover when Williams intercepted Dyer and returned it 36 yards to the Cowboys’ 41. One play later, senior running back Kemaury McCall went around left end for a touchdown with 5:21 remaining in the third quarter, extending Fort Lauderdale’s lead to 27-10.

Despite the win, L’s coach Richard Dunbar said there is still room for improvement.

“We are still making a lot of mistakes, and we had two touchdowns called back,” Dunbar said. “They still found a way to win, and we just have some stuff to clean up and we need to keep moving forward. We hang our hats on our defense, and they were great again tonight against a great team.”

Cooper City was bidding for its second 6-0 start since 2011-12, when the Cowboys finished 7-2. That was also the last time Cooper City posted a winning season. The Cowboys have already matched last year’s win total.

“I think we left about 21 points on the field,” lamented Cooper City coach Art Taylor, whose team had three turnovers and 135 yards in penalties. “We have a young team and had some injuries tonight, and knew we were going to have to play a near-perfect game to beat them.

“We didn’t play a very good game and had a lot of self-inflicted mistakes,” Taylor continued. “Coach Dunbar has done a great job over there. They are better than they were last year, and we just have to get back at it. We are 5-1, which is better than we were a year ago.”

Fort Lauderdale’s 5-0 start is its best since the 2022-23 season.