By T. Scott Boatright
Football is a game of ebbs and flows. There are mountains and valleys through a full season, through a game, through a quarter, through a practice week.
That quote from Seattle Seahawks receiver Cooper Kupp epitomizes the way Cedar Creek played Friday night as the Cougars battled past early miscues to pull off a 32-10 upset of longtime rival St. Frederick at Origin Bank Field.
One motivating factor was St. Frederick’s 49-6 win over Cedar Creek in the opening round of last season’s playoffs, something Cougars coach Jacob Angevine repeatedly reminded his team of throughout the week.
“We preached to the guys all week to keep that taste of what happened last year in their mouths,” Angevine said. “We told them on Monday, we got them up here early on Monday after a film session of last Friday’s game. We had a good practice and had good weights after that.
“And the message was, like it’s been all week — 2,520 days. That’s the last time we beat those guys. Are we going to let the same thing boil over and over and over, or are we going to be the guys that flip the script? They took that to heart all day of every single day all week.”
Friday’s win was Cedar Creek’s first victory over St. Frederick since earning a 21-7 win over the Warriors on Oct. 18, 2019.
St. Frederick started its winning streak over the Cougars with consecutive 7-6 victories the next two years, making the drought even harder to forget.
“It’s just one of those things where you’ve seen close games — 7-6 ballgames that I’ve been part of here,” Angevine said. “I’ve been in games like that against St. Frederick, and getting knocked out of the playoffs like we did last year. This moment here, I hope that scoreboard stays up there lit like it is the rest of the week.”
Early on, Cedar Creek appeared in danger of letting the emotions of the rivalry get the better of it.
St. Frederick took a 3-0 lead midway through the opening quarter before the Cougars muffed and fumbled away the ensuing kickoff. Four plays later, the Warriors scored on an 8-yard run to build a 10-0 advantage.
Creek countered with a 75-yard touchdown run by quarterback Brett Bell, but the Cougars then muffed their next two punt returns, losing the second to the Warriors.
“We just let the moment kinda get too big,” Angevine said. “We talked at halftime about how everything St. Frederick got in the first half, we gave right to them. It’s one of those things where we can settle down, and I even got the sideline warning penalty in the first half — just keeping everybody back and keeping my emotions in check.”
Former Cougars head football and baseball coach Ben Haddox, who returned to the Cedar Creek sideline this season as a volunteer coach, said managing those emotions was critical.
“Football is a game of highs and lows and you’ve got to find somewhere in the middle ground to live,” Haddox said. “I think you saw that early in the game — a lot of real big highs and a lot of lows. And in the second half, it takes effect because your emotions start wearing you down physically.
“I felt that we did a really good job in that first half of managing our emotions. We never got too high and we never got too low, and I think that it helped us at the end have a little more juice.”
Haddox said coaching high school football involves as much psychology as X’s and O’s.
“It’s all about kids and understanding that you’re going to need to coach one kid a certain way and another kid another way,” Haddox said. “Coach Angevine has done a tremendous job with these kids. They play hard for him and they trust him. He did a great job with their message all week of being consistent, and the coaches have really bought into it as well.”
Bell said there was no panic in the Cedar Creek locker room despite the Cougars trailing 10-6 at halftime.
“He kept us calm — no concerns,” Bell said of Angevine. “Everybody knows it’s the beginning of the season and those first snaps, it’s going to go a little bit awkward. We got down 10-6, but Coach Ange did a great job of keeping us levelheaded and we just kept going and fighting back.
“We knew big emotions would come into this game. Coach Ange just did a great job of leveling us out — humbling us — and we knew where we were at. We came out and we played hard every snap. It’s been 2,520 days since we last beat St. Frederick. So we knew what we had to come in here to do tonight, and we did it.”
Angevine said Bell also played a role in keeping the Cougars steady.
“The role Brett plays — I get my emotions up and he gets his emotions up, but I know it’s a good thing to have him out there on the field and level everybody out,” Angevine said. “To watch this guy come out last year, after not playing football since the eighth grade, and then do what he’s done and become the player he’s become, there better be some colleges calling his phone tomorrow, because that dude is one heckuva player. One heckuva leader.”
The Cougars outscored St. Frederick 26-0 in the second half, although emotions surfaced again when Cedar Creek was hit with another sideline penalty during Case Phillips’ 55-yard interception return for a touchdown.
“I think it was somebody that was way back behind the play, but it’s one of those things you can correct,” Angevine said. “It didn’t hurt the play. We still got the touchdown. It’s just one of those things where we’ve still got a lot of young guys on the roster and we’ve just got to keep our emotions in check and keep everybody back.”
Haddox said the rivalry made the night even more intense.
“It’s tough anytime you play those guys,” Haddox said. “So this was an easy week to get up for — an easy week to be excited for. I’m just excited the kids played so well. It was just a tremendous effort. We were really thin up front on the offensive and defensive line, and you wouldn’t have known it by watching the game.
“We’ll look at film and see some things that we need to improve on. But this was a fantastic win.”
Angevine told his Cougars to enjoy finally getting over the St. Frederick hump. Then, he said, it will be time to move on.
“Knocking off an opponent like that, one that’s had our number for a while, it’s definitely awesome,” Angevine said. “But our guys, I think we’re a mature enough team to realize that, hey, we can celebrate this win, we can have the weekend and move forward, but we’ve got to come back Monday ready to go back at 0-0.
“But on Monday, last week doesn’t matter. We’ve got another opponent — Beekman Charter — and it’s going to be tough. We’ll have enough distractions with that as it is. It’s going to be a true test of the character of our team.”
