Cougars put up a fight in home loss to Ouachita Christian

Cedar Creek’s threegame winning streak ended Friday night as the Ouachita Christian Eagles got the best of the Cougars, 35-0.

Although the Cougars lost by a shutout, Head Coach William Parkerson couldn’t be any more prouder as his team competed against the No. 2 team in the state and was down one 14-0 at halftime.

“They played with great effort, great intensity; they put it on the line, and we fought them with the best of our ability, and they were better than us. Our numbers wore down in the second half, our kids battled and competed, and I couldn’t be any more proud of them,” said Parkerson.

“If we play and compete like that, we can beat anybody in Division IV,” he added. “If we play with that intensity and competitive spirit, why can’t we go to New Orleans?”

After winning the coin toss, the Cougars received the ball. After a seven-play drive, the Eagles’ defense forced a punt. On the ensuing drive, OCS started from their 43 yard line, using a mixture of run and pass to get down to the Creek 28 yard line.

The CCS defense held their own, but a costly offsides penalty gave the Eagles a fresh set of downs deep in the Cougar’s territory.

Lawson Lillo did what he’s done best all year, making big-time plays and a huge fourthdown stop, which resulted in a turnover on downs as the Cougars started their second possession of the night from their 9 yard line.

Unfortunately, the Cougars went three and out and had to punt again.

The Eagles and Cougars traded three-andouts again as a scoreless first quarter ended, but a mishandled snap by Creek gave the Eagles great field possession.

OCS (7-1, 2-0) started their first drive of the second quarter from Cedar Creek’s 29 yard line, and the Creek defense stood tall again. Still, on fourth and five, Luke Vidrine connected with Vanderbilt commit Tate Hamby for a 25yard pass up the middle as OCS took the lead 7-0 at 9:17 after a successful point after touchdown.

On the ensuing drive, the Cougars marched down to the OCS 8 yard line, but a dropped pass on fourth down gave the Eagles possession again.

OCS moved down the field to the Cougar five yard line as running back Makin Lenard scored from 5 yards out with 36 seconds left in the half with the lead now 14-0 after the PAT. After halftime, both teams traded blows for most of the quarter, but with 22 seconds remaining, Lenard scored on a 2-yard rush, pushing the lead 21-0 with the PAT being good.

The Cougars went three and out, and Hamby returned the punt for 55 yards to the house, extending the lead to 28-0 with 9:23 left in the ball game.

To cap off the night, Lenard scored his third touchdown with 2:47 left with a successful PAT, which gave the Eagles the 35-0 victory.

“We just have to learn from this loss and capitalize on our opportunities and keep getting better and staying together, and we’ll be just fine,” said Parkerson.

Ladd Thompson paced the Creek offense with 148 total yards, 114 of that through the air. Lillo led the Cougars defensively with 11 total tackles while Gray Worthey added 10.

The Cougars face Lincoln Parish rival Lincoln Prep Friday at 7 p. m. at Panther Stadium in Grambling.