by Malcolm Butler
It’s only a scrimmage.
But Friday night’s controlled scrimmage at Lakeside High School provided a glimpse into what may could be for this year’s Cedar Creek Cougars.
Coming off a 1-9 campaign that saw Creek miss the postseason for the first time in decades, first year head coach Jacob Angevine was eager to see what his team would do against another opponent. And after more than two hour of plenty of snaps on both sides of the ball that featured first, second and third teamers, Angevine had a positive opinion.
“We asked the kids to fight,” said Angevine. “That was the message going into it. Just give effort. That’s the one thing we won’t coach. We knew there would be highs and there would be lows. We knew there would be mental mistakes.
“This is the first time we got to see someone in a different colored jersey this year. It was learning experience for a lot of our guys. We are relying on a bunch of new guys, a bunch of young guys. It was good to finally see them hit somebody in a different uniform. We will get better each week, but overall, I am thrilled. I am very pleased.”
The scrimmage started with 30 offensive snaps for the Warriors followed by 30 for the Cougars as neither team found the endzone in the opening segment.
However, the Cougar defense — despite playing without senior Blake Robinson, who is still rehabbing from a soft tissue injury — held strong against the Warriors. The Cougars allowed six first downs (3 coming on the opening series) and forced one turnover.
“Defensively, we are flying to the football,” said Angevine. “We are in the right spots. We have to do a better job of finishing tackles, but we will get better. This was the first time hitting somebody wearing a different color jersey. Once the game starts to slow down for them, they will be okay.”
The only scores that the Cougars allowed during the night came on the second segment of the night, where each squad got 20 offensive snaps. The Warriors first team group took back-to-back possessions and drove 70 yards each time, scoring on a 22-yard TD pass and a 25-yard TD pass on plays where there were breakdowns in the Cougars secondary.
“We are young in the secondary,” said Angevine. “We have one junior and a bunch of freshmen and sophomores rotating around. They will get better. Coach (Kyle) Stracener and our staff will use these (mistakes) as teaching moments.”
Following the two TDs by Lakeside, Creek forced turnovers on each of the next two series, including a fumble recovery (that would have been returned for an easy score if not for a whistle stopping the play) and an interception.
Creek’s lone offensive TD of the evening came on their second possession of the second offensive segment for the Cougars. Quarterback Brett Bell hit Hayden Durrett on back-to-back throws covering 17 and 33 yards and then Ryan Coleman took a handoff off the right side and scored from 20 yards out.
Bell’s performance under center was one of the biggest highlights of the night. The junior completed his first four passes of the night (14, 16, 23, 14) and looked poised for most of the contest, consistently showing off his arm strength on long outs and a couple of post routes.
Micah Taylor, Peyton Harris, and Hayden Durrett were the top targets during the scrimmage as the Cougars showed the ability to hit for chunk plays, something last year’s team struggled with for most of the year.
“Every single day in practice we have those guys building chemistry with one another,” said Angevine. “A passing game will make us more two dimensional. Brett does a really good job of completing throws and putting balls in the right spot. He makes really good decisions. For a guy who hasn’t played since he was in eighth grade, he makes really good decisions and really smart throws.
“He is only going to get better. It wasn’t the first time he has seen moving targets with 7-on-7, but tonight he had moving targets coming after him. It was different, but as we saw, he got better as the night went on. And we will get better as a team.”
The Cougars offensive line also showed signs of playing at a different level, opening up some running lanes as Durrett, Liam Durrett, Coleman, and Harris were the main beneficiaries of the job up front.
The scrimmage ended with one running-clock 12-minute quarter where neither team was able to find paydirt.
Creek will return to the practice fields this week in preparation for its jamboree game against D’Arbonne Woods next Saturday at 11 a.m.
