by Malcolm Butler
Cedar Creek head coach Matt Middleton wasn’t sure what to expect Thursday night as his team lined up against Sterlington and Rayville in a fall scrimmage.
What he saw pleased him.
“I was proud of them,” said Middleton. “We competed, and we competed really well. We did a lot of really good stuff. I was proud defensively. And offensively, we did some really good things as well.
“I told them that I thought we competed. I thought we got better tonight. Sterlington has a really good football team. Ravyille has a really good football team. It was a good measuring stick. And for the most part we are healthy, which we are blessed. Obviously we have another monster task next week against Evangel.”
The scrimmage consisted of both a scripted plays portion and then a live quarter portion. Creek ran 8 offensive plays against Sterlington and then 8 offensive plays against Rayville while the Cougars defense lined up for 8 plays against each team as well. Each possession started at midfield.
Cedar Creek scored twice in those eight plays against Sterlington and twice in the eight plays against Rayville while surrendering just one TD vs. the defending 3A state champion Panthers and none against the Hornets.
“We were able to throw it around a little bit,” said Middleton. “Sterlington has a great defensive front. They are really big. We spread the ball around pretty good tonight. Carter Hill had a couple of great blocks. Our guards made some great plays. We were able to spread it around a little bit on offense and get some things going. We didn’t run the football quite like I want to be able to run it, but we did make progress. Lane (Thomas) had a good night doing that. All in all, I was pleased.”
Following the scripted portion of the scrimmage, Creek then played one live quarter against both Sterlington and Rayville. The Cougars defeated the Hornets 14-6 before falling to the Panthers 14-0.
“Defensively, we flew to the football like we do,” said Middleton. “We were very aggressive. Just at some point we ran slap out of gas. We have a lot of guys who play both ways. You think 16 plays on offense and then 16 plays on defense, that’s 32 for those guys that start both ways. Then a live quarter on top of that.”
Ladd Thompson, Thomas, Brian Osborne and Lawson Lillo each recorded touchdown receptions from starting quarterback Caden Middleton during the night, while Hill had a pick six for a score.
“I thought we were clicking on offense,” said Middleton. “We have been doing that in practice but you never know until you go against somebody else. It was great to do it against two really good football teams. I watched them scrimmage in the spring and it was a completely different team than I had. And then tonight it was a completely different team than in the spring. We looked good. We were sharp. Hopefully we can continue the trend moving forward.”
The Cougars will face Evangel at the Bayou Jamb Saturday, Aug. 27 at Joe Aillet Stadium before opening up the regular season Saturday, Sept. 3 against Glenbrook at Independence Stadium in Shreveport.
