Cougars look to improve after Lakeside scrimmage

Cedar Creek hopes to learn from a tough preseason scrimmage against the Lakeside Warriors on Friday at Cougar Field.

The Cougars struggled to move the ball offensively, facing multiple plays behind the sticks between low snaps, penalties or Lakeside crashing behind the line for tackles for loss. Defensively, Lakeside's athleticism won the day with multiple plays breaking off for 30+ yard gains.

In the team's live quarter, a total of eight minutes, Lakeside put up two touchdown drives.

Cedar Creek head coach William Parkerson told his team to take the scrimmage as a learning opportunity as they inch closer to the start of the regular season in two weeks.

"Just gotta lock arms, look in the mirror honestly and evaluate yourself and see what you did good and what you did bad," Parkerson said postgame. "How do we learn and how do we improve? We'll never make excuses but at times we were having to throw kids in spots that they've never practiced before to get through it. They gladly jumped in and tries their best. But it's hard to play when you've never practiced the position before.

"We didn't execute like I thought we would offensively. We weren't nearly as physical offensively or defensively than we anticipated. Hats off to them. They were well coached. They were physical. It'll be something to learn from."

The Cougars had opportunities for big plays, including two play-action passes from freshman quarterback Cason Floyd to Blake Robinson. However, both passes were dropped.

Floyd ran the first team offense for most of the night, until the live quarter when senior James Myers stepped in under center. Parkerson said postgame there is no competition at quarterback.

Payton Harris, an 8th grader, picked up where he left off from a standout performance in last week's intrasquad scrimmage with multiple carries of positive yardage, including a 25-yard run.

"Saw some young guys who have never played step up and perform," Parkerson said.

Mason Wooden and Myers also carried the rock for a handful of positive yardage before the live quarter began. Wooden, a senior, made strong tackles on defense as well.

Defensively, senior Bryce Martin came away with a sack and multiple TFLs on the night, along with a solid night of tackling from junior Blake Robinson.

However, Lakeside established itself as the dominant team up front most of the time, creating big lanes for athletic tailbacks to take off upfield.

Parkerson expects the play of Creek's line to improve moving forward.

"They got after us," Parkerson said. That's what we're built upon, and they were more physical than us. The more physical football team is going to win the night.

"We just gotta keep working and getting better and see how things turn out."

Creek will prepare for its final preseason action next Friday in the Bayou Jamb against OCS.