Playing in a crucial contest toward trying to reach postseason play, Lincoln Preparatory School got run over by the “Lane Train.”

Cedar Creek running back Lane Thomas steamrolled through the Panthers defense to the tune of four first-half touchdowns Thursday night as the Cougars raced past Lincoln Prep 55-0 at Cougars Stadium.

“We got outplayed and got beat all over the field,” said LP Coach Glen Hall. “We didn’t do anything that we practiced. We didn’t execute. We just totally got whooped all over the field.”

When asked what he thought was wrong with his Panthers, Hall was quick to answer.

“Mentality,” Hall said. “We don’t have the mentality to be a great team right now. And until we get that mentality, this is who we’re going to be.

“We’ve got to learn to stand up to be able to take a shot in the mouth and get back up. But we can’t do that right now. We’re just not doing it.”

The Panthers’ struggles with the mental aspects showed on the first play from scrimmage, with Lincoln Prep senior quarterback Bralyn Mayfield set to receive the shotgun snap.

But the snap rolled along the grass to Mayfield, who was sacked for an eight-yard loss before ever getting a chance to set his feet.

“That’s strictly mentality,” Hall said. “You’re supposed to get the first snap perfect every time to start the game off correctly. And we just rolled it back there. That started the whole thing going downhill.

“We practice and practice and practice and do everything we want to execute, and yet by the time the game starts our mindset is that we’re already defeated. You just can’t play like that. And it starts with the head coach. And that’s me. Evidently I’m not doing enough right now to get this team going.”

After stopping the Panthers on a fourth-and-nine on that first series of the game, Cedar Creek took over on the Lincoln Prep 36-yard line and Thomas fired up his engines, rushing for nine yards on first down before running right up the middle and making a juke move to race 27 yards untouched to paydirt to put the Cougars up 7-0 at the 9:21 mark of the opening stanza.

Cedar Creek held the Panthers to a three-and-out on the ensuing series and took back over at the Lincoln Prep 48-yard, with Thomas weaving his way for 15 yards down to the Panthers 12, adding a six-yard run and then wading up the middle for a six-yard touchdown run to push the Cougars’ advantage to 14-0 with 4:25 remaining in the first quarter.

Cougars quarterback Cayden Middleton threw his first touchdown pass of the night with 11 seconds left in the first quarter, hitting Ladd Thompson on a 15-yard scoring strike before Thomas pushed the Cedar Creek lead to 28-0 with 8:06 remaining in the first half as he slashed left on a seven-yard scoring scamper.

Thomas’ fourth touchdown of the night came with five minutes left in the second quarter as he burst up the middle, cut on an angle to the left sideline and raced 62 yards for the score.

Middleton’s five yard touchdown pass to Lawson Lillo with 11 seconds left in the half gave the Cougars a 41-0 advantage at intermission.

“My concern was this being a trap game,” said Cedar Creek coach Matt Middleton. “We’re coming off a real emotional game where we played a really good team and had some chances – my biggest deal was to come out here and handle what we had to handle and not be looking toward next week.

“We’re excited about that game but we had to get through this one first. And I’m excited about our kids and the way we played.”

It was a record-setting, barrier-breaking  night for Cougars.

Thomas broke the 1,000-yard barrier, finishing with 173 yards on 14 carries while adding three catches for 53 yards to finish with 226 total yards.

Linebacker Quincy Lewis, Cedar Creek’s all-time leading tackler, totaled six takedowns to finish with 100 tackles on the season.

And Coach Middleton got to see his son set the Cougars’ all-time touchdown record with 41.

“All that is fun, but here’s my deal — I’m a coach,” he said. “I didn’t even say anything when Cayden broke the touchdown record tonight. We had kind of talked about it, and then tonight Coach (Shane) Mabou came up to me and said, ‘That’s it, he broke it.’

“I’m proud of it, but it’s a team deal. He’s got great guys to throw it to and great blockers up front. He’d be the first one to tell you that. It was fun.”

Thompson moved to quarterback after that and scored the Cougars’ final touchdown on a seven-yard run.

Cedar Creek held the Panthers to 58 yards of offense and didn’t allow the Panthers to get their initial first down until there was only five minutes remaining.

Lincoln Prep did add one other first down to finish with two.

“The biggest thing for us was to pressure that quarterback, because that guy can sit back there and throw. I saw him throw it 60 yards in the air. But we felt if we could pressure and harass him a little bit we could do something.

(Cougars defensive coordinator Mark Ware) came up with a great game plan and we harassed (Mayfield) enough for it to go the way we wanted.”

Next up for Lincoln Prep (3-7 overall and 1-2 in District 2-1A)  is the regular-season finale on Thursday at Ouachita Christian.

“We’re going to come in and practice tomorrow and get ready for next Thursday against OCS,” Hall said. “And OCS is probably the best team in our (district). So we’ve got our hands full. But I’m going to figure something out. I’m going to work. I’m going to get better.”

Cedar Creek (6-3 and 2-1 in District 2-1A will close out the regular season on Thursday at St. Frederick.

“It’s a big one,” Middleton said of that upcoming contest.. “It’s a big one. St. Frederick is the real deal. The last two years they beat Cedar Creek 7-6. Last year they beat us 7-6 in the first game I coached here, so there’s not a lot of motivation. We’ve got to go handle our business.

“We know what we’re in for and we’re geeked up for it.”