By Travis Chapman
The red September sun set across the beautiful campus of Glenbrook Friday night and led us into the very first home game of the 2024 season for your 2-1 Apaches. The cul-de-sac of Country Club would run red with Cedar Creek Cougar blood as the Apaches speared the Cougars, 36-16.
Your Apaches would start on defense for the night and looked a good deal stronger with their starting line backers, Duelin’ Dawson Day, and Rowdy Ryan Reagan back from injury the week prior. The Cedar Creek Cougars would dawn their traditional triple option threat they run to perfection year in and year out. The challenge is, the defense MUST play disciplined assignment football and try their hardest to not bite on the play action fakes and smoke their assigned man every play, and Coach Pat Thomas had the Apaches ready! Huddy Glasscock led the charge from the first play and completely leveled the Cougar full back for a short gain that forced a 3rd and 9. The Cougars executed a perfect reverse but in the pursuit, a few Cougars came off the sideline to block our Apaches that propelled the Cougar wingback to the end zone, but the penalty for “illegal participation” would bring back the TD. The Apaches’ defense forced two fumbles in a row and drove the Cougars back behind the chains and forced a punt from a 4th down and a cab ride. The Cougars’ punter would flip the field and give the Apaches the ball on their own 6-yard line.
The Apaches’ offense struggled early with some errant snaps that forced a quick punt. A 4th consecutive faulty snap over Seth Mangrum’s head looked to give the Cougars the possibility of a TD but the quick, smart thinking of Mangrum kicked the ball out of the back of the end zone for a safety instead of a TD. The Cougars took the early lead 2-0. From the free kick, the Apaches dominated on defense and did not allow a first down and received another punt from the Cougars. The offense went to work with great running by Sonic Seth, that set up a bullet fired from the Red Rifle, Sanders and found the sticky hands of Dime-Darron Hollingsworth for a huge gain. In the effort of gaining extra yardage, it appeared that Hollingsworth was down by contact, but the ball came out and the Cougars returned it for a quick TD. The Apaches trailed early in the first quarter, 10-0. Ladies and gentlemen, that’d be the last time the Cougars would even sniff the end zone until late in the 4th quarter. Your Apaches’ offense came out blazing with Sonic Seth Mangrum reeling off a gain of 15-yards on his first carry of the series, Rage Gage White made a great reception for a gain of 25 yards and the Apache offense set up threatening very quickly. On the next play, the short memory of Dime Hollingsworth beat his defender and the rifle he calls an arm of Easton Sanders fired a bullet to the front corner pylon where Hollingsworth made a SportsCenter Top 10, NFL catch (pictured) for the first Apache TD of the night. The Apaches tightened the Cougar lead, 10-6 with 8:44 left in the first.
The Apaches’ defense came back out blowing up the Cougar front and forced a fumble that Duelin’ Dawson Day would recover to set up the Apaches’ offense on the Cougar 6-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage the Apache offense line showed their dominance and pushed the Cougars’ D-line back to the goal line where Sonic Seth found pay dirt for an Apache TD. The Apaches would never look back from this point in the contest as they took the lead 12-10 with 6:56 left in the first.
On defense the Giant Brayson Cummings, who had a stellar night on defense as the Cougars had no answers for him, made a huge tackle for loss that put the Cougars on their heels. The very next play the Cougars felt the need for a deep ball, but Connor Bolton was in great position and plucked the ball out of the air from the Cougar QB. The Apaches would take over on the Cougar 49. Two quick plays later, the O-Line opened a hole big enough a Kenworth Haulin’ Hogs could blow through, and Vicious Vining made his presence felt as he ripped off 37 yards. Then the Red Rifle, Sanders fired a bullet over the middle that found Rowdy Ryan Reagan for another Apache TD. The Apaches stretched the lead to 18-10 with 4:08 left in the first half. The Apache defense continued their complete dominance as they forced a quick punt after only giving up 1-yard gained and stopped a fake punt with 1 minute left in the half. The Apaches would fail to convert a 4th and 6 and would give the ball back to the Cougars with 7 secs left. But Vicious Vining would make the Cougars pay with a traumatizing tackle for loss to close the first half with the Apaches on top, 18-10.
During halftime, the Cougars’ dance line entertained the fans with a great performance, followed by your Apache Sundancers and Cheerleaders who never missed a beat in their performances and “Called Baton Rouge” for the Apache faithful. Lastly the Apache drumline received a standing ovation from beating the fool out of the drums as Mrs. Bryan showcased the multitalented trickeration of Treat Miller as he swapped to the toms and dazzled the crowd with his lightning speed. If you weren’t in attendance, you missed an outstanding performance from the Apache Spirit teams.
In the second half, it was ALLLLLLL Apaches as Big D-Boy Daivari Jackson would put on a highlight reel performance on both sides of the ball. D-Boy, Vicious Vining, and Rowdy Reagan would combine for multiple tackles for loss that forced a Cougar punt. The Cougar punter apparently made his own decision to tuck and run instead of flipping the field with a punt and Rowdy Reagan made him pay for it with a huge tackle to set the Apaches up on the Cougar 9-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, Sonic Seth nearly broke the plane of the end zone but was brought down by the back just before getting in. The offensive line stepped up and literally pushed the Cougar defensive line out of the back of the end zone where Vicious Vining walked into the end zone. The Apaches’ lead grew to 24-10 with 5:56 left in the 3rd quarter. The Apaches’ defense continued the impressive assignment football and had CP-10, Carson Powell nearly intercepted the Cougar QB on the first play. Sonic Seth made great tackles on the edge, but the Cougars somehow ate up the rest of the 3rd quarter and into the 4th quarter without really moving the football with very much success. The Bad Man, Jonathon Bryant continued to blow his man up just as he did all night long and forced a 4th down and a cab ride for the Cougars. Your Apache defense stepped up big time and shut the cougars down to take over their own 19-yard line with 8:03 left in the contest. Sonic Seth planted his feet and stayed HOOOWWNNGRYYY. The Apaches forevermore fed the man as he mirrored Christian McCaffery, making MVP NFL cuts and reeled off 40 yards in 2 carries, followed by another 12 yards from Vicious Vining. Big D-Boy Daivari Jackson poured an entire bottle of Mrs. Buttersworth Syrup all over the Cougars as he laid an entire STACK of pancakes on the way to Sonic Seth’s second touchdown of the night! The score stretched to 30-16, all Apaches.
The defense continued their dominance and shut the Cougars down and found themselves with the ball yet again. Sonic Seth hadn’t had enough to eat and revisited the buffet for a second helping of haul-(insert slang for posterior here, if you wish) as he took off behind monster blocks by Carson Powell and Slaid Lollar on the edge and outran everybody in the stadium for his THIRD TUDDY OF THE NIGHT, this time from 41-yards out! The Apaches led 36-16. It’s only fitting that the defense made the Cougar QB run for his life for another huge sack by Bad Bryant. Easton Sanders closed the game out laying the wood on a massive hit on 4th down for the Cougars to end regulation.
Although the Apaches struggled early and got behind the scoreboard, this was a dominant team win to open up district play. Your Apache defense did not allow a single offensive touchdown on the night. Bad Byrant, Big D-Boy, the Giant, Brayson Cummings, Rowdy Reagan, Vicious Vining, Huddy Glasscock all had multiple tackles for loss on the night. On offense, the Apaches were without their leading producer, Action Jackson Waller, who was out with a tweaked ankle. Waller being absent was for sure missed, but Sonic Seth, Vicious Vining, Rowdy Reagan, Lightning Lollar, Rage Gage, and Dime Hollingsworth all stepped up big time behind the OUTSTANDING offensive line play that gave the Red Rifle, Easton Sanders the ability to run the offense. Sonic Seth had another career game for the Apaches in consecutive weeks with over 100 yards on the ground and 3-TDs. What a great complete team win. Next week, your Apaches will travel to the rolling hills of north Bossier Parish as they take on Coach Thurman’s former team, the Plain Dealing Lions. Let’s continue to show up and show out for our outstanding Apaches on the road as we look to expand to 4-1 on the season in another district contest!!
IT’S A GREAT DAY TO BE AN APACHE!!!
