by T. Scott Boatright
It was a game expected to be won in the trenches, and the script played out perfectly for Cedar Creek on Friday in the regular-season finale against Lincoln Prep at Cougar Stadium.
Five different Cougars helped Cedar Creek total 301 yards on the ground while holding a potent Panthers offense to 274 total yards as Cedar Creek finished the regular season at 9-1 with a 49-14 win over Lincoln Prep.
The Panthers finished the regular season at 3-7 but are expected to squeeze into one of the lower slots in the 24-team Division IV select playoff field.
And while Cedar Creek ended up dominating in the trenches, things didn’t start out that way.
The Cougars failed to pick up a first down on the opening series of the game, and Lincoln Prep used a 10-yard run by Howard Kirkpatrick Jr. and a 9-yard scamper by Aiden Ferguson to move to the Cedar Creek 37-yard line before the Panthers lost a fumble.
Cedar Creek then marched 59 yards for a score, with Payton Harris appearing to be tackled on second-and-goal from the Lincoln Prep 6-yard line before breaking loose to the left and finding the end zone to put the Cougars on top 7-0 seven seconds into the second quarter.
A long kickoff return by Josiah Spann set the Panthers up at the Cedar Creek 39 on the ensuing series before quarterback Jabari Levingston was intercepted by the Cougars’ Case Phillips.
After the teams traded three-and-out possessions, Cedar Creek’s Harris added a pair of touchdown runs that pushed the Cougars’ advantage to 20-0 midway through the second quarter.
Cougars coach Jacob Angevine felt a sense of deja vu in the way the game began.
“Anytime you can close out a regular season with a home win, it’s awesome,” Angevine said. “Especially against a district opponent. I’m proud of our kids. The vibe around practice this week was a little slow, obviously, after the great game against Haynesville, just having a little bit of a hangover from it. I think it showed a little bit in the first quarter, but we came out and had a good second quarter, and the foot was on the gas pedal all night after that.
“It was like last year, although that was even more of a shootout last year. I think they scored in the 30s. So, I’m proud of our kids coming out in the second half and just dominating.”
Panthers coach Chaunce Davison realized his team failed to take advantage of a potentially strong start.
“We came out strong,” Davison said. “We had a game plan. I felt like we were executing at first, but then special teams kind of put us in a hole. And once the other side’s points start adding up, sometimes the players’ minds and attitudes change. That’s just one of those things you’ve got to fight through.
“We’re trying to change their culture and get them to not give up when things first turn against us. Just play through it.
“Obstacles come with just being Lincoln Prep. We’re just trying to teach our kids that we have to fight through those times. If something happens against us, we just have to go out there and take it, regardless. Nobody’s going to give us anything.”
The Cougars pushed their lead to 27-0 with 2:00 remaining in the first half when quarterback Brett Bell broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and raced 35 yards for a touchdown.
Lincoln Prep drove to the Cedar Creek 31-yard line on the ensuing series before turning the ball over on downs with four seconds remaining in the second quarter.
Cedar Creek scored again on a 45-yard run up the middle by Noah Smith to push the Cougars’ lead to 34-0 just 48 seconds into the second half.
The Panthers finally got on the scoreboard with 3:05 remaining in the third quarter on a 9-yard run by Levingston, but Cedar Creek answered with a 17-yard touchdown run by Harris and a successful 2-point conversion to make it 42-6.
The Cougars then recovered what appeared to be an onside kick and scored on a 34-yard run by Liam Durrett with 8:52 remaining in the game.
Angevine said he was thinking about power points when he decided to go for two, but the ensuing onside kick was purely accidental.
“We were trying to play for power points a little bit, trying to solidify getting into the top eight (playoff berths) and get a bye,” Angevine said of the decision to go for two. “We’ll see what happens around the rest of the state. We were trying to get in and out of here with as minimal of injuries as possible.
“I don’t think the onside kick was intentional. I think it just came off his foot wrong, and we made a good play on it to recover it, so credit to our cover team for having their heads on a swivel. But we only called one onside kick, and we were offside on it.”
The final score of the game came on a 1-yard run by Levingston with 1:40 remaining.
That touchdown was set up by a 47-yard reception by Kirkpatrick, who also led the Panthers with 26 tackles, including 19 solo stops.
Kirkpatrick added four tackles for loss and a blocked kick in his big defensive performance.
“Howard is something else,” Davison said. “He does a whole lot with 162 pounds. He does a lot. If he can ever put on a little weight and keep that same intensity — he’s just one of those guys who can be something. His daddy has done a good job of raising him. He’s a great kid and a great player.”
Durrett led Cedar Creek’s ground attack with 101 yards on 11 carries, while Harris added 100 yards on 18 attempts.
The Cougars also got 45 yards from Smith on his lone carry, 25 yards on five attempts by Bell and 26 yards on four carries by Phillips.
“Usually it’s Payton or Bell, but tonight the fullback showed up,” Angevine said. “Case had a big run. Noah Smith had a big ole carry at fullback tonight. Liam Durrett had a heckuva night just getting those minimal yards and then turning them into big plays.
“It’s huge anytime you can get a backfield working like that running the veer like we do. It’s great.”
Now both teams await the announcement of playoff pairings and seedings, with Angevine hoping his Cougars might earn a first-round bye.
“We just need to keep our foot on the gas,” Angevine said. “We can’t be worried about what happened last week (at Haynesville). We made some mistakes, but we just have to take it, learn from it and use it as fuel for the next game.”
Davison remains hopeful his Panthers will get into the playoffs, too.
“I always want to play another game, even though it will probably be a tough one because of seeding,” Davison said. “There’s no doubt about that. We want to continue to play. That’s why we play the game, to get that shot at the postseason.
“If we make the playoffs and somehow win a game, then all the frustration will be forgotten. We just have to get the kids focused and keep coaching and get them to keep playing.”
