One of the top teams in Class A will enter Cougar Stadium Friday night when No. 2 ranked Ouachita Christian travels to Ruston to face Cedar Creek. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.
The Eagles (3-0) have played a tough schedule to date, defeating 5A Southwood 40-0 and edging another perennial state power in Oak Grove 35-21 in two of their three victories. OCS also beat Sicily Island 47-12 last week.
Cougar head coach Matt Middleton knows his team is in for a test.
“Really good football team,” said Middleton. “We obviously know that. They have been in two of the last four state championships in Division IV. Had a lot of success. Steven Fitzhugh has been the head coach for over 20 years. Lot of continuity with their staff. Done a phenomenal job. Built a top-notch program that has won a lot of games. They just reload every year.
“It’s one of those game where we will have our hands full. For us to be where we want to be as a program we got to go compete and be able to beat those guys and we will have our hands full on Friday.”
Creek (1-1) is coming off a 38-6 win at Delhi Friday in a game that was played in torrential rain at times. The Cougars defense allowed just 15 total yards of offense in the win over the Bears, and Middleton knows that they will have to play well once again against OCS.
“Offensively they have a really good quarterback,” said Middleton. “He throws it around. He is more of a down-the-field guy. They have a couple of really good receivers. They have four senior offensive linemen on a core group that is really good. They run the ball really well.
“I think they will try to establish the line of scrimmage. I know they know we play good defense. But I think they are very confident in their abilities to move the ball. I expect our defense to have a really big challenge this week. They are going to try to put us in bad positions. We have to make plays. We are a very veteran group. We are battle tested but we are going to get their best effort on Friday and we will have our hands full.”
Creek has been led defensively this year by Carson Riley, Lane Thomas, AJ Thomas and many more on that Cougar side of the football.
Offensively, Cedar Creek has struggled through two games. Despite putting up 38 points in last week’s win, Middleton wasn’t pleased with the production and execution of the Cougars offensive unit. The Cougars did manage to rush for 168 yards led by Lane Thomas with 54 yards, Jed Worthey with 39 and Lawson Lillo with 25 and a TD.
This week won’t get any easier.
“Defensively OCS causes a tremendous amount of havoc,” he said. “They try to bring a whole lot more pressure than you can block. That’s kind of their answer. It’s how many times can we heat up the quarterback and hit the quarterback and force him into bad throws. They have had a lot of success doing it. They are going to throw the kitchen sink at us def and they are going to do what they do offensively and that’s run the counter and throw the ball down the field.”
Creek’s top running back Jed Worthey left last week’s game early with an ankle injury, but Middleton said he has been rehabbing and hopes to have him back Friday night.
The contest can be heard on 101.9 FM with Kevin Bayles and David Cole providing the call of the action. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Photo: Darrell James (dgjames.photoshelter.com)
