Prepsters winding down season
RHS, Creek home Friday; Grambling treks to Arcadia
, buddy@rustonleader.com
10-29-2009
Football, the regular season portion, is winding down for Lincoln Parish high school teams.Cedar Creek, Ruston and Grambling will all be involved in their next-to-last contests on Friday night, all beginning at 7 p.m.
Remaining at home will be the Bearcats against Wossman High in District 3-4A and the Cougars versus Delhi High in District 2-1A.
The Kittens go on the road, but it’s a short drive to Arcadia for a showdown of District 1-1A and neighboring rivals.
Sizing up each of the games:
RUSTON (6-2, 2-1) vs. WOSSMAN (2-5, 1-2): Bearcats’ head coach Billy Laird will have to get his team’s attention again against an opponent who will come into James Stadium, as the underdog.
“Hopefully, by them beating Bastrop (38-25) last week, it lets our players realize that they’re going to have to give it their best,” Laird said. “Maybe they will come in here still thinking about that win. With two games left, we’ve got a chance to be 8-2 on the year and get a good power ranking.”
A 19-14 come-from-behind win over West Ouachita last weeek actually dropped RHS from No. 5 to No. 7 in the power ratings.
But they went from No. 7 to No. 6 in the weekly Class 1A Louisiana Sports Writers Association state poll.
CEDAR CREEK (2-6, 1-2) vs. DELHI HIGH (2-4, 0-3): One of the teams will have their losing streak end. The Cougars have lost their last two, the Bears their last three.
Cedar Creek’s offense has averaged 24.5 the last three contests after having edged Avoyelles 33-32 earlier this month for its first win of the season.
Delhi has scored only six points in its last three games and was blanked twice (34-0 t Oak Grove, 53-0 to Ouachita Christian).
GRAMBLING (6-2, 3-1) vs. ARCADIA (7-1, 4-0): This game is more than a battle of District 1-1A rivals. It’s between two schools located within a long touchdown pass of each other, with close games in all sports being a tradition.
The No. 9 state ranked Kittens had their five-game win streak stopped with a 24-18 loss to Haynesville last week and will be trying to apply the brakes on the Hornets’ seven-game victory streak.
Arcadia lost its opening game to Quad-A Bastrop and hasn’t lost since and has averaged 29.8 points during the win streak.
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Recapping prepsters’ weekend
A quick review of last week’s games involving Lincoln Parish high school teams:
• HAYNESVILLE 24, GRAMBLING 18: The Kittens fought back from a 24-6 third quarter deficit to make it close against the state’s No. 3 ranked Class 1A team.
• DELHI CHARTER 45, CEDAR CREEK 20: The Cougars had a brief lead early on (14-8 in first quarter), but the Gators scored 24 points in the second quarter.
• RUSTON 19, WEST OUACHITA 14: The Bearcats used a second half comeback to prevent an upset win by the Chiefs, who led 14-0 after the first quarter.
Star Watch
• XAVIER KIRKPATRICK, GRAMBLING: Had pass receptions of 22 yards and 39 yards to help set up two of the Kittens’ touchdowns.
• ROCKESE GOREE, GRAMBLING: Passed for 158 yards, including an eight-yard touchdown hookup to tight end Quinton Salsberry.
• AUSTIN GINN, CEDAR CREEK: Gained a club-high 46 yards rushing on six carries.
• JORDAN SCELFO, CEDAR CREEK: Passed for 261 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 44 yards.
• JA’REN JOHNSON, RUSTON: Led all ground gainers with 218 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries.
• QUINTIN CROWE, RUSTON: Finished as the Bearcats’ leading tackler with 10 and also broke up a pass and registered another stop for a negative eight yards.
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