By T. Scott Boatright
It was a game that felt like it went Cedar Creek’s way for the most part.
At least until the final minutes.
Arcadia mounted a late 67-yard drive Friday night for a late score that spoiled Cedar Creek’s Homecoming as the Hornets escaped with a 14-12 win over the Cougars at Origin Bank Stadium.
It was a tough loss for Cedar Creek coach William Parkerson and his Cougars. Creek outgained Arcadia 325 to 103 and had 20 first downs to only 9 for the Hornets. The Cougars were 6-of-8 on third down while the Hornets were 0-of-6.
The Cougars started strong, starting the game-opening drive at their own 35 and marching 65 yards for the score thanks in large part to a 25-yard completion from quarterback Cason Floyd to Mason Wooden.
Floyd capped off the scoring drive with a 7-yard scoring scamper to put the Cougars on top 6-0 after Arcadia stopped Cedar Creek’s two-point conversion run attempt.
Cedar Creek looked like it would extend its lead on the first play of the second quarter as Trigger Woodard took a handoff from the Hornets 6-yard line and plunged into a pile of players and appeared to be stopped at the Arcadia 5.
But suddenly the Hornets’ Bryce Gates popped out of the pile of players and rocketed the other way for a 98-yard scoop and score. Ian Fitzgerald added a 2-point conversion run that put Arcadia on top 8-6 with 11:56 remaining in the first half.
Cedar Creek drove as deep as the Arcadia 15-yard line late in the second quarter before a holding call erased a solid run by James Myers that was followed by an illegal procedure call against the Cougars that squashed the scoring opportunity with Arcadia maintaining its two-point lead at intermission.
Arcadia had possession to open the second half, but a fumble recovery by Myers gave possession to the Cougars at the Hornets’ 35-yard line.
Cedar Creek then used Woodard to hammer away at the Hornets as the sophomore rushed five times for 30 yards on the drive that culminated with him powering his way to paydirt from one yard out.
Arcadia stopped Cedar Creek’s two-point try, holding the Cougars to a 12-8 advantage at the 6:07 mark of the third quarter.
Woodward led the Cougars on the night with 166 yards on 32 carries.
“He’s big, he’s physical and he’s getting better every week,” Parkerson said of Woodard. “I thought he ran really well tonight. The offensive line blocked really well tonight. That fumble they called on him … I’m 99.9% sure he was down, and that was a gamechanger.
“But he played great and ran hard and did all the right things.”
After forcing an Arcadia punt, it again looked like Cedar Creek would extend its lead early in the final stanza as Myers raced 38 yards to the end zone for a score that would have given the Cougars a two-score advantage.
But Myers’ run was wiped out by a holding call that had more penalty yardage tacked on after he complained to a referee, backing the Cougars up to their own 48-yard line.
Cedar Creek gained 20 yards on the next four plays, but that wasn’t enough to earn a first down after the double penalty as the Cougars turned the ball over on downs.
“From a physical standpoint I told our kids they played better,” Parkerson said. “We were the more dominant team. We were the more physical team. We controlled the ball. We controlled the line of scrimmage. We controlled the clock, and … I’ll leave it at that,”
Arcadia then took over on its own 33 and started the game-winning drive.
And that drive became the Ian Fitzgerald show as the diminutive running back rushed seven times for 57 yards, slashing up the middle on a 17-yard scoring scamper to give the Hornets their final margin of victory with 2:10 remaining in the contest.
“They found something late with him,” Parkerson said about Fitzgerald. “All night we had stopped him. I’m sure we were tired, but they got him going late.”
A solid kickoff return by Myers allowed the Cougars to start the ensuing drive at their own 44-yard line, but two plays later Gates picked off a Floyd pass and Arcadia ran two quarterback keepers for a first down before kneeling to run out the clock.
Myers added 82 rushing yards for Cedar Creek on 10 carries while Wooden added 26 yards on five runs while also catching both of Floyd’s completions for 34 yards.
Yellow flags rained on the field march harder than the mist that floated through the air in the first half, as Cedar Creek was penalized 15 times for 124 yards while Arcadia was hit with 13 calls for 110 yards.
Parkerson told his team after the game that he believed they had turned in a winning effort.
“I told them they did everything we asked of them,” Parkerson said. “We controlled the line of scrimmage, the clock — we played the game at our style and our pace. A couple of breaks went against us that weren’t in our control.
“It’s tough. Those kids are 1-8 right now and they continue to lay it on the line every week. They continue to play hard. They continue to fight. That felt like it was taken from us tonight.”
Cedar Creek concludes its season next Friday as the Cougars play host to Jonesboro-Hodge.
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