By Malcolm Butler
Cedar Creek head coach William Parkerson knows his team isn’t far away.
Although the Cougars have dropped their first three games of the season, Parkerson and Co. aren’t hanging their heads as they head into tonight’s 7 p.m. match-up against Delhi at Cougar Stadium.
“Everything is still in front of us,” said Parkerson. “I think we are sitting at 17 in the power points so if we can start getting some wins we could have a home playoff game. We just have to find a way to get that first W, and know what winning is like. And winning becomes easier once you know how to do it.”
Creek hasn’t been far away from winning. The Cougars lost one possession games against Glenbrook (22-18) and Vidalia (14-12) and were in a scoreless tie with Winnfield (20-0) last week at halftime. It’s one play here and one play there that has been the difference.
Senior two-way player Lawson Lillo said the players believe in the process and are expecting to start putting marks in the W column.
“We just need to bounce back and try to get a win against Delhi,” said Lillo. “They are a fast team and they have players, but if we can get a win then we can get a roll the next couple of weeks and hopefully make a push towards the playoffs.”
Creek was without senior QB Ladd Thompson last week, but Parkerson said on Thursday that he expects him to play tonight. True freshman Kade Lukar got the start against Winnfield and Parkerson was impressed with what he saw from the young man.
“I thought he did well,” said Parkerson. “He managed the game pretty good. It was good for him. I would have loved to have Ladd out there, but I thought Kade did a lot of good things. he handled himself with good composure and always had good body language when things didn’t go right. It starts right there. If they can have good body language and keep good composure when things aren’t going great then good things will come eventually.”
Delhi (1-2) is coming off a 58-0 loss to a talented Capital team, but will present plenty of challenges for the Cougars.
“Delhi will run the spread,” said Parkerson. “They have some guys who can really run. The big thing will be gang tackling and keep the ball in front of us defensively.”
Defense is what has kept Creek in games this year. Lillo, who leads Creek with 55 tackles, said he believes the Cougars defensive unit will continue to improve as more young players get more game action.
“I think we’ve grown and people getting experience has definitely helped us,” said Lillo. “There is a big difference from the first game to the second game to the third game. I think what has made this group good is getting on the same page and people understanding what our job is and being relentless to the ball.”
Parkerson said Delhi has shown on film they will be aggressive on the defensive side of the football.
“They will play a 4-2-5,” said Parkerson. “They like to blitz their linebackers and strong safeties. They play man in the secondary.”
Win, lose or draw, Lillo said he believes the future of the Cougars is in good hands.
“I think as seniors that no matter what happens this year, this is the coaching staff of the future,” said Lillo. “They have the right idea and right motives for why they are here. I think they are here for the long haul.”
