Lake Creek High School is synonymous with softball, right?
Having won back-to-back State Titles and being named the nation’s top softball team in the country, softball has been the toast of the town.
For now.
The Lion football team would have something to say about that. Lake Creek is off to a banner year (sixth year playing varsity), going 6-0 under the direction of coach Pat Kennedy, who has built the den into a Class 5A power.
Kennedy was the defensive coordinator for The Woodlands for years before taking over Montgomery ISD’s newest school.
“Coming from a big 6A, it was eye-opening when I first got here,” Kennedy said. “Coming from a place where the expectations were challenging for State, to a new school that was just starting with a handful of kids was an adjustment. The expectations were on both sides of the spectrum. It changes the way you practice, the way your coach, the way you manage expectations… every day was a new experience. Now, the expectations are back to being aligned.”
The Lions sit atop the VYPE Class 5A rankings with four remaining games where they will be favored to win and complete a perfect regular season. Their success hasn’t been without its challenges, however.
“We are learning to be more resilient as a program,” he said. “We have been bitten by the injury bug more this season, so we have more of a next-man-up mentality this year.
“In the last couple of years, we have become more of the hunted than the hunters. We were climbing the mountain as we built this program. We still are, but we aren’t sneaking up on anyone now. Everyone is trying to prove a point to us, and we get everyone’s best game. That’s where we want to be of course, but that is something our kids have to be prepared for.”
Case in point. The Lions were taken to the wire against Montgomery in the “Mo-County Showdown” as the 0-6 Bears were a last-second field goal away from upsetting the mighty Lake Creek, 35-34. Of note, leading RB Tyvonn Byars sat out the game due to injury.
“It was a packed house and a great atmosphere if you were a fan,” he said. “Not if you were the head coach of Lake Creek. What is setting us a part is that the kids kept making plays and we made one more play than they did. Even though we won, there were lots of lessons for us to learn from. So many teaching opportunities to make us better.”
Byars will return as the motor of the offense. The junior has rushed for over 700 yards and 17 scores, giving the Lions that go-to back that moves the chains.
Junior QB Eli Morcos has made huge strides in his first year as a starter with 1,400 yards combined and 18 TDs. His top target is Sam Lee (1,000 all-purpose yards) is a dude on the outside and returning kicks. He is complemented by Kade Yeary. The offensive is “piece-mealed” with a senior Jaxon Sayers and sophomore Hunter McKinney leading the way.
“The defense has been really steady with some solid secondary play led by Leighton Scott and Wyatt Davis,” he said. “The whole unit has been a pleasant surprise.”
The Lions are still licking their wounds from last year’s third-round playoff loss to FB Marshall, 55-18. It was a learning process.
“It was our first time that deep in the playoffs and we just got off-schedule,” he said. “They were fast, and we couldn’t emulate that in practice. We just got off our process and tried to make the ‘big play’ instead of just grinding it out four yards at a time. We learned a lot.”
As the learning process continues at Lake Creek, the Lions steadily climb the state rankings as they build their brand.
Could this year that Lake Creek steps into the limelight and out of the shadows of softball? Stay tuned.