by Malcolm Butler
When the clock struck zero at Cougar Stadium Friday night, the scoreboard showed a five touchdown victory for No. 2 ranked Ouachita Christian over Cedar Creek.
And although Creek head coach William Parkerson doesn’t believe in moral victories, he did see his out-manned Cougar squad leave it on the field against the Eagles (7-1) in the 35-0 loss.
“We played with great effort, great intensity,” said Parkerson. “We laid it on the line. We fought them to the best of our ability. They are better than us. With our numbers, we wore down in the second half. But our kids battled and competed, and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Entering Friday’s match-up Parkerson said he felt the game would be a measuring stick in some way to where the Cougars are. He was transparent when talking about OCS being the standard for small school high school teams in the state of Louisiana.
Parkerson’s 26-man roster played toe-to-toe with the 64-man OCS squad as the Cougars defense made the Eagles earn every yard and every point.
After a scoreless first quarter that saw the Cougars defense force a turnover on downs deep in their own territory and a Ladd Thompson interception, OCS finally scored on a 23-yard strike from Luke Vidrine to Tate Hamby on a fourth down and four play with 9:17 to play in the second quarter. It was a perfectly thrown pass to the back of the endzone as the ultra-athletic Hamby got a step on the Cougars corner and safety on the play.
Creek mounted its best scoring opportunity of the night on the ensuing possession. Starting on its own 15-yard line, the Cougars used a 25-yard hookup between Thompson and Lawson Lillo to move the ball past midfield.
Two plays later Thompson hit James Myers on a 30-plus yard pass play to move the football down to the Eagles 14-yard line.
“We put in some stuff for them, and we told them all week that we were going to be aggressive,” said Parkerson talking about the Cougars passing game. “We were going to take every shot we had. And we did and we executed on them. I just wish we could have put a couple of them in the end zone. Tip our hat to them.”
However, Creek was unable to convert a fourth-down-and-four from the OCS eight-yard line and turned the ball over on downs with 2:50 to play before halftime.
The Eagles countered with an 8-play drive, covering 92 yards that was capped by a two-yard TD run with just 36 seconds to play before the half to take a 14-0 lead into the lockerroom.
“Our defense has been really good all year,” said Parkerson. “They continued to play really well tonight. OCS scored in the last 60 seconds of the second quarter to make it 14-0 and then the last 10 seconds of the third quarter to make it 21-0. (Our defense) battled and competed all night long.”
The Cougars defense came up with a stop on the first possession of the third quarter as OCS was unable to convert a fourth down. Following the change of possession, Creek went to its bag of tricks. A reverse pitch back to Thompson led to a 27-yard strike down field to Lillo to move the ball to the OCS 40-yard line.
The drive stalled for Creek three plays later, forcing a punt.
OCS added a 2-yard TD run with 22 seconds to play in the third quarter and then a 60-yard punt return for a TD by Hamby early in the fourth quarter to push the lead to 28-0. The Eagles would add a 18-yard TD run with just under three minutes to play to finish the scoring.
Thompson completed 7-of-14 passes for 117 yards, including four for 72 yards to Lillo. Thompson led the Cougars on the ground with 31 yards on 16 carries.
Lillo had 12 tackles while Gray Worthey added 10 to lead Cedar Creek.
The Cougars travel to Lincoln Prep Thursday to face the Panthers.
With two regular season games remaining, Creek is on the inner edge of the 24-team Division IV playoff bracket. Parkerson had some motivational words for the Cougars postgame.
“I said guys if we play like that and compete like that, I said we can beat any body in Division IV,” said Parkerson. “If we play like that with that intensity and that competitive spirit, why can’t we go to New Orleans.”
