by Malcolm Butler
Confidence is a dangerous thing.
And mostly in a good way when it comes to sports.
It may only be one win, but last week’s season opening 19-14 victory over Delhi Charter did wonders for the Cedar Creek Cougars, according to head coach Jacob Angevine.
He hopes that confidence will continue tonight when Creek (1-0) hosts Lakeview (0-1) at Origin Bank Stadium at 7 p.m. The contest can be heard on 99.3 FM with Ray Creasy and Ben Haddox providing a call of the game.
Angevine admits he had some concerns this week following the win.
“One of my biggest concerns (this week) was how well was this team going to handle success,” said Angevine. “It’s been a long time since they have had a big win like that. It’s been a long time since we had a win in general.
“For us to pull out a big win like that, the biggest thing on my mind was what type of hangover are we going to have. Are we going to stay on Cloud 9? How quickly are we going to come back down to reality?”
According to Angevine, those concerns didn’t come to merit.
“We came back on Monday and these guys were ready to get after it,” said Angevine. “We took it pretty easy on them on Monday. We were pretty beat up from the past few weeks. And usually when you take the pads off, the kids are more relaxed and not as focused.
“But we were focused. Tuesday we put the pads back on and got after it. They have shown signs of being a really mature team this week.”
One of the big questions following last Friday’s win was also the health of a few key players for the Cougars. Running back Hayden Durrett and defensive end/tight end Blake Robinson both saw significant playing time after nursing some “injuries” that had left some question as to how much they would be able to play in the opener.
Angevine said both young men got through the game and aren’t any worse for the wear.
“Physically, we are in good shape right now,” said Angevine, who said the Cougars have really focused hard this week on hydrating after seeing player after player limp off the field Friday with cramps. “We went to the store Monday and bought all sorts of Gatorade and pickle juice and started them preparing for (tonight). We want to eliminate the cramp issues this week.”
The Cougars opponent tonight is Lakeview, which lost its opener 56-0 to Booker T. Washington (Shreveport).
“They have some athletes,” said Angevine. “Their skill guys are pretty dangerous. If we are not disciplined on the edges, they can get away from us. They have some guys that can go. They have some pretty big linemen.
“I don’t think their scheme is overly complicated up front so I hope we can take advantage of that, especially after the street fight our guys were involved in last week.”
