by Malcolm Butler
Cedar Creek hosts first year football program Lafayette Renaissance Charter Academy tonight at 7 p.m. at Cougar Stadium in the final non-district contest of the regular season.
The Cougars (4-2) put their four-game winning streak on the line as head coach Matt Middleton and Co. continue to build momentum heading into district play starting next week.
After picking up a 35-20 win over Winnfield a month ago, the Cougars have won their past three games by a combined score of 160-6.
“Practice this week has been good,” said Middleton. “We had fall break Monday and Tuesday so school was closed but we had two really good practices those two days. The energy was good. Hopefully we will have a good crowd (tonight).”
Lafayette Renaissance Charter Academy is in its inaugural year of football and the Class 2A program is still looking for its first win. LRCA has been outscored 160-18 in its four losses to Peabody, Madison, St. Helena College & Career Academy, and East Iberville.
“We don’t know a lot about them,” said Middleton. “I have one tape on them and that was against East Iberville. They are pretty athletic. I did see some clips of them in a scrimmage. They are young. They will come in here with about 30 kids that will be mostly freshmen and sophomores.”
The game wasn’t originally on Cedar Creek’s schedule, but was added right before the year started.
“We both had open dates so it worked out,” said Middleton.
In a match-up that appears to be one-sided — at least on paper — it could be a fourth straight blowout win for Cedar Creek. Although Middleton knows the game has to be played on the field and not on paper, he also knows that his team will have three straight tough district match-ups following tonight’s contest.
“I am nervous about it,” said Middleton. “I think biggest thing is what is false confidence and what is not. Have we been better than the teams we have played lately? Yes. Are we better as a tea than we were a month ago? Yes. And we need to be.
“We are going to go from this stretch to getting hit square in the mouth by OCS. But from week one to now, we are a completely different team. We have all sorts of kids contributing now. We will come out this stretch and then have district games against some really, really good teams.”
The Cougars are led offensively by a balanced offensive attack featuring Lane Thomas (98-661 yards, 8 TDs) on the ground and Caden Middleton (841 yards, 12 TDs) through the air. Middleton has a plethora of receivers, including Brian Osborne (20-246 yards, 1 TD), Ladd Thompson (11-167 yards, 3 TDs), Connor Norris (11-172 yards, 1 TD), Thomas (8-70-1) and Lawson Lillo (6-91-2).
Creek’s defense continues to dominate, allowing just one TD in its last three games. Quincy Lewis (59 tackles), Lillo (44 tackles, 3 interceptions), Thomas (41 tackles, 1 interception), Thompson (4 interceptions) have spearheaded the Cougars effort on the defensive side of the football.
“We have to handle our business,” said Middleton. “That’s the biggest thing.”
