by Malcolm Butler
With so many young players seeing significant snaps this year, Cedar Creek is going to have some growing pains.
Some of those not-so-pleasant moments came tonight in its first live action of the year in a scrimmage against Lakeside at Cougar Field at Origin Bank Stadium.
During the almost two-hour mostly-controlled scrimmage, the Webster Parish Warriors scored six touchdowns behind a potent ground attack and an assortment of aerial targets while the Cougars were unable to cross the goal line.
Second year head coach William Parkerson addressed his team following the game and said his message was simple.
“You just have to lock arms and look in the mirror, honestly,” said Parkerson when asked about his message. “You have to evaluate yourself. What did you do good? What did you do bad? How do we improve.
“We will never make excuses but at times we were having to throw kids in spots they have never practiced before to get through it. They gladly jumped in and tried their best, but its hard play when you have never practiced the position before.”
With a lot of inexperienced skill position players on this year’s Cougar squad, the interior lines on both sides of the football are expected to be the strength of the team. However, for the vast majority of the night the Warriors controlled the trenches.
A pair of Lakeside tailbacks had success both inside and to the outside of the line of scrimmage, including a 60-yard TD run on the first offensive play from scrimmage for the Warriors.
Meanwhile the Cougars found sledding tough on the interior with the most explosive two runs of the night coming from eighth grader Payton Harris.
“They got after us,” said Parkerson in reference to the trenches. “That’s what we are built upon, but they were more physical than us. The more physical football team is going to win the night.”
Freshman Cason Floyd, senior James Myers, sophomore Hayden Durrett and Harris all saw time under center for Cedar Creek. The best two scoring opportunities for the Cougars came on play-action passes when the Cougar receiver got behind the Lakeside defensive backs. However, the connections weren’t made.
Parkerson said he saw some good and some bad during the scrimmage and expects his squad to use it as a learning tool.
“The good? I saw some young guys who have never played step up and perform,” said Parkerson. “The bad. We didn’t execute like I thought we would offensively. And we weren’t nearly as physical offensively or defensively then we anticipated. Hats off to (Lakeside). They were well coached and they were physical. It will be something to learn from.”
Creek will head to Monroe next Friday to face OCS at 4 p.m. in the Bayou Jamb.
“We just have to keep working and keep getting better and see how things turn out,” said Parkerson.
