by Malcolm Butler
Cedar Creek’s early season schedule isn’t for the faint of heart.
And even the preseason scrimmages and jamboree will test the Cougars in year No. 2 of the Matt Middleton era.
Under muggy conditions and some light rain Monday evening, Middleton put his troops through a two-hour workout with all eyes set on this Thursday’s scrimmages against defending Class 3A state champion Sterlington and Rayville at 6 p.m. at Sterlington.
“Today I tried to set the tone early,” said Middleton. “A sense of urgency is what we need. We have a big scrimmage against Sterlington and Ravyille coming up, and we need to start clicking and getting after it. I do think we have made progress. We have found some spots we are looking for. We are pushing. I like where we are headed.”
Although Middleton knows Thursday’s “games” won’t count towards the record, he knows he will find out a lot about where his team is at with regular season opener against Glenbrook set for Sept. 3 at Independence Stadium in Shreveport.
“Defending 3A state champs,” said Middleton about Sterlington. “A very confident team. They are playing West Monroe in week 1 and the Neville Tigers in their jamboree. They feel really good about their team. They are a really good team. It will be a huge test for us. We will be outnumbered as far as numbers are concerned, but we are going to go compete.
“We just want to be healthy. We want to get really good work against two really good football teams, and come out healthy. But here’s the deal. They have some guys with offers on that roster and they are as advertised. We are going to find out where we are.”
Cedar Creek hopes to build on a 6-4 season a year ago that saw the Cougars advance to the Division IV playoffs. The Cougars four regular season losses all came down to one possession.
