By Malcolm Butler
As William Parkerson leaned on the fence on the east end of Origin Bank Stadium Tuesday night watching the third and fourth grade Cougars fall in an overtime heartbreaker to OCS in the championship game of the North Louisiana Youth Sports League, the first year Cedar Creek head coach was watching some of the future of the school’s football program.
And despite the loss, Parkerson and Cougar fans have plenty to be excited about in the coming years.
The foundation for the Cougars has to first come in the stability of its coaching staff, as the program has seen more than its share of turnover since Ben Haddox stepped away from the position in 2017. It’s not a coincidence that Haddox’s dedication to the program for almost decade is what helped Cedar Creek to one of its most successful stretches — if not the most successful — on the gridiron since joining the LHSAA ranks in the 1980s.
Parkerson, who was an assistant on those Haddox staffs, appears poised to follow in one of his mentor’s footsteps and to do it for the long haul. It’s a must for the program to succeed on all levels.
Then comes the players.
The Creek middle school team (7th and 8th graders) is 4-1 on the year with its lone remaining game Thursday night at home against Glenbrook. Both pee wee teams, including the 5th-6th grade squad who fell in their playoff game this past week, had successful fall seasons as well.
There is talent (and numbers) in the pipeline, and Parkerson knows the importance of both for the future of Creek football.
“In seventh and eighth grade, they have almost as many kids as we have in four grades combined (in high school),” said Parkerson, whose varsity Cougars this year boast only 28 players. “I am happy to see the numbers are up. The junior high team made big strides from the first scrimmage to where they are now. They are almost unrecognizable how much better they have gotten over the course of a couple of months.”
Middle school head coach Jacob Angevine, who is also an assistant on the varsity staff, said he thinks the seventh and eighth grade has a solid combination that will bode well for the future of Creek varsity football.
“We have a really good mix,” said Angevine. “In the eighth grade class there is a lot of skill guys. In the seventh grade class there are a lot more lineman. Typically that has been the theme at Cedar Creek. You have a good mix of lineman in one class and then you have a good mix of skill guys in the other.
“Overall its a really good group. Those seventh graders really challenge those eighth graders. Those eighth graders challenge those seventh graders. It’s a good mix.”
Angevine spouted off names like Micah Taylor, Cason Floyd, Eli Slocum, Chandler Bullock, Eddie Henry, Vance Mallett, Lathon Roberson, Christian Ellis and Gabe Miller when asked about some of the up and comers on this year’s middle school team. They will all be varsity Cougars next year, and Angevine believes many could contribute almost immediately.
It’s a pipeline that is being groomed the right way under Parkerson and Co., starting all the way down in third and fourth grade.
“We want them to start running our base concepts as early as possible,” said Parkerson. “We want to start teaching football fundamentals. Winning (on those levels) is great but if they learn the proper way to play and learn our terminology and schemes to a base level … the earlier the age, the better.”
After running the spread under two-year head coach Matt Middleton, this year the Cougars are running the triple option flex bone — a run heavy offensive scheme as the name would suggest. A early stage, simplistic version of it could be seen during Tuesday night’s pee wee game.
“We actually had a meeting before season started with the high school coaches, middle school coaches and pee wee coaches with all of us in one room just going over the base offense,” said Angevine. “We were really simplifying it down to vanilla stuff for the third and fourth graders. Instead of saying we are running four and five or 10 and 11, it’s a dive or pitch or toss. Just to get them familiar with basic terminology. That’s how pee wee should be. You are teaching them the very basic and then you add on a little more each year.”
While the varsity Cougars practice after school, the middle school practices during their PE hour each day. It allows for members of the Cougars varsity coaching staff to help out and be more hands on with the seventh and eighth graders.
“The thing that I was most excited about when I took the junior high job — its a tough job to do with two people,” said Angevine. “Coach Parkerson and I decided that the junior high practice was going to be during the school day. That way they get one-on-one individual time with the varsity coaches.”
“We are pretty hands on with the junior high,” said Parkerson. “On the pee wee level, we taught those coaches our offense and defense and they are running those. But we aren’t nearly as hands on with those younger teams.
“However, if the middle school team is focusing on offense during PE, then the offensive coaches will go that day and help. Or if they are practicing defense that day, the defensive coaches will go help.”
According to Angevine, the ability for the seventh and eighth graders to get to develop the coach-player relationship and learn the system working with the varsity coaches is invaluable.
“Coach (Mark) Ware is one of the greatest defensive minds in the state,” said Angevine. “So for him to be able to pour into a 12- or 13-year old is awesome. So when they get up to the high school level, they know those terms. Then we just add on … it’s scaffolding I guess you could say.”
As the fall season comes to an end Thursday night for the middle school, so does year No. 1 learning the William Parkerson system.
“It’s been really great to see involvement from everyone,” said Angevine. “But that is how a football program should be.”
