Cougars take to the practice field

Cedar Creek returned to the practice field this week for a pair of morning workouts to begin fall camp, signaling the start of year two of William Parkerson’s tenure as head coach.

With nearly 40 varsity players suited up for practice, along with a dozen junior high participants, the Cougars clawed up the grass practice fields early Tuesday in position and team drills by running through multiple base plays.

“It was good. Typical first day — lots of enthusiasm, lots of mistakes,” Parkerson said after practice. “ I told them we gotta learn from the mistakes but keep that enthusiasm every day. Good first two days so far.”

Creek finished with a 4-6 record in 2023, ending with a loss in the Division IV Select playoffs to Catholic Point Coupee. Parkerson expects another year in the system will allow the Cougars to fare better this season, even if early mistakes come along the way.

“As long as we’re getting perfect effort, we can overcome mistakes. If your effort’s there and your intensity is there, we can overcome mistakes with people flying around,” Parkerson said. “If there’s a mistake but you’re going full speed, we can live with it and coach that up. A lack of effort is hard to coach up.”

Offensively, the Cougars return four of their five starting linemen with Bryce Martin, Logan Canales, Landon Hall, and Kaden Williams set to lead the charge as a young quarterback takes the reins behind them.

The starting quarterback battle is still ongoing, with Cason Floyd and Hayden Durrett vying for the starting job. As of now, Parkerson is pleased with the offense’s progression in the early stages of camp.

“You got four of the five offensive linemen from last year back,” Parkerson said.

“They're much smoother with their calls and knowing the scheme. We’ll be breaking in a young quarterback, and the young quarterbacks had better days than I expected so that was good to see.”

Creek spent most of the first two practices on its three base run plays on offense, along with its base defense — not wanting overwhelm assignments as camp begins.

“We’re adding stuff every day and sprinkling in what we’ve been doing,” Parkerson said. “They gotta learn on the fly and correct mistakes on the fly.”

As camp winded down, Parkerson worked with a handful of junior high players in drills focused on tackling and wrapping up, repping with the group for 10 minutes. With more time on the practice field under the direction of varsity coaches, Parkerson is confident the young Cougars will be ready when their time comes down the line.

“They go through individual drills with the varsity guys so they’re getting coached by varsity position coaches they’ll have when they get here,” Parkerson said. “ And then we group, and team and we spread out varsity on one side and junior high on the other so they’re all getting a bunch of reps. It’s been good. When they get to high school, they’ll know how we practice and stay with our tempo and all that.”

Cedar Creek will continue fall camp morning practices Wednesday and Thursday.