Creek dominates LRCA 48-0 for third straight win

It was all Cougars in a 48-0 win over Lafayette Renaissance Charter Academy on Thursday, with Cedar Creek benefitting from stellar play from both sides of the ball.

Creek senior Gray Worthey led the way with 9 carries for 97 yards and 3 touchdowns, while racking up 5 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, and a fumble recovery on defense. Fellow senior Lawson Lillo tallied 3 rushes for 19 yards, 2 catches for 23 yards and a touchdown while putting up 9 tackles, 5 tackles for loss and a fumble recovery.

Quarterback Ladd Thompson finished 8-of-11 passing for 64 yards, 2 touchdowns and interception to go with 8 rushes for 23 yards.

With the win, the Cougars close their non- district slate with a 3-3 record after rattling off threestraight wins.

Head coach William Parkerson said the last three games have been exactly what his team needed as District 2- 1A around the corner.

“I thought it was our best overall team performance so far and I told the kids told to use this as a preview to the playoffs because we’re going to likely have to be road warriors and make a long trip somewhere and prove that we can focus on a long bus ride, get off the bus and play and they answered that challenge so that was good to see.”

Creek jumped ahead of LRCA 16-0 in the first quarter, starting with a 23yard strike from Thompson to Kade Lucker, along with a two-point conversion from Worthey, to lead 8-0.

Shortly after, the Cougars’ defense recovered one of LRCA’s four fumbles on the night and a few plays later it was Worthey punching it in from 10 yards out, along with another two-point conversion, for a two-score lead.

In the second quarter, Creek continued to pound away on the ground as Worthey scored another rushing touchdown before Thompson connected with Lillo for an 12yard touchdown to lead 32-0 at halftime.

Worthey and Noah Durrett each scored rushing touchdowns in the second half to cap off the blowout, as Durrett ended with 9 carries for 48 yards.

Cedar Creek finished with 235 rushing yards, bolstered by the return of senior center Brett Johnson – an area of Thursday’s win Parkerson saw plenty of positive of takeaways.

“I think he’s a calming presence to the offensive line and he makes the calls and gets everyone lined up right and in the right blocking scheme so that was big,” Parkerson said.

As for the duo of Worthey and Durrett, Parkerson said, “ Gray is a ball of energy and runs and plays hard. He was all over on defense too. Noah and Gray are pretty interchangeable, and Noah had actually never played running back until this year and he gets more confident and more every game and he does have some speed and I can’t wait to see him rip off a long one. It’s only a matter of time.”

For as encouraging a performance as the offense had, the Cougars’ pitched a shutout and had multiple players flying to the ball to rack up tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

Along with the play of Lillo and Worthey, Creek’s defense was led by Blake Robinson and James Meyers with 6 tackles each, with Robinson adding 3 tackles for loss to his stat line. Alex Simpson put up 3 tackles, 1 tackle for loss and a fumble recovery, while Conner Rolen finished with 2 tackles, 1 sack, and 2 tackles for loss. Wyatt Gremillion also added a fumble recovery.

And in his first game back from injury, Johnson registered 3 tackles, a team-high two sacks and 2 tackles for loss.

Cedar Creek (3-3) begins District 2-1A play when it hosts defending Division IV Select state champion and undefeated and top-ranked Ouachita Christian (6-0) next Friday at Cougar Stadium.

The Cougars’ threegame winning streak comes on the heels of an opening three-game losing streak this season. Creek finishes out with Lincoln Prep and St. Frederick.