By Malcolm Butler
Lane Thomas rushed for 178 yards and three touchdowns and Brian Osborne recorded a career-high eight receptions for 114 yards plus a score to lead Cedar Creek to a 52-0 win over River Oaks Thursday night at Cougar Stadium.
The Cougars (4-2) won for the fourth straight time and did it convincingly.
From executing an onside kick on the opening kickoff of the game to tossing a 32-yard TD pass with less than four minutes remaining, the Cougars stayed aggressive all night.
“Our fear was they would limit our possessions,” said head coach Matt Middleton. “You saw they took eight or nine minutes off the clock on their first drive. We took our chances early because I figured they would eat the ball.
“We got one and went down and scored. It’s tough. The situation of us still wanting to play and get reps (in a blowout game); that makes it tough. I was proud of the kids. They came out and played for four quarters.”
Most of the Cougars starters hadn’t played past halftime the last two weeks with lopsided wins over Delhi and Tensas. And with a winless Lafayette Renaissance team coming to town next Friday, Middleton felt the need to work his starters for the majority of four quarters.
“It was huge for us,” said Caden Middleton, who completed 13 of 19 passes for 205 yards and four touchdowns to four different receivers. “It was getting us conditions for the OCS’s and the St. Fred’s and the Lincoln Prep’s of the world. That was really big for us to get out there and get conditioned and get some work in.”
Creek rushed for 217 yards and passed for 205 yards in the win, a balance that Middleton has been looking for and hopes to continue to see over the final four regular season games.
“We are a better team when we are balanced,” said Matt Middleton. “We are trying to get more people involved. Connor Norris had a nice touchdown. Brian Osborne had a big night. Ladd is Ladd. Lawson made a couple of good plays. We got a lot of people involved. I think that’s what we have to do down the stretch.”
Thomas scored on TD runs of 2, 2 and 40 yards – the latter being an impressive run up the middle where the senior evaded numerous tacklers, cut back to the Creek sideline and raced untouched to the end zone. His 178 yards rushing came on just 19 carries.
Caden Middleton threw touchdown passes of 32 yards to Osborne, 17 yards to Norris, 21 yards to Thompson and 32 yards to Lillo in the victory. The senior signal caller praised the work of his wide receiver corps.
“When you have guys who consistently do their job and work on their craft it makes it easier to spread the ball around,” said Caden Middleton. “We plan around it. We try to spread the ball out as much as possible especially when we get different looks.”
Defensively, Creek limited River Oaks to just 144 total yards of offense. After seeing River Oaks drive inside the red zone on its opening possession – a drive that stalled when the Cougars held on fourth down – Cedar Creek never saw the opponent get inside the 40-yard line the rest of the night.
“Defensively, we had another shutout,” said Matt Middleton. “What do you say bend-but-don’t-break. That’s a hard offense to prepare for especially in two days. We always say three days but it’s two on a short week like this week.”
Quincy Lewis recorded another double digit tackle night, leading the Cougars with 12 followed by Blake Robinson with six and Thomas with six.
Davis Long hit all seven extra points and added a 24-yard field goal in the victory.
