JONESVILLE — Now past the first round of LHSAA 1A playoffs, Block high coach Benny Vault hopes the Bears are also past some of the rain that hampered them all last week.

In a 26-20 win against Desire Street Academy on Friday, the Bears were unable to throw more than eight passes and missed a few long runs because of a wet and muddy field.

“There came a rain right about 6 p.m., right before we played,” Vault said. “The playing surface was real sloppy. We didn’t put the ball on the ground that much — we had no turnovers — but as far as footing and being able to cut, we just lost it.”

That rain plagued Block all week, as the Bears had to hold much of their practice inside. That showed on special teams, which Vault said he worked on for a good part of last week.

The Lions ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown against the Bears, and they also scored on a 55-yard fake punt.

Vault hopes to remedy that this week before the Bears take on Cedar Creek in Ruston, La.

“We’ll get outside today,” Vault said Monday. “We usually dedicate Mondays to special teams, so we’ll be doing some recognition, showing the defense what they’ll be doing and putting in our new scheme for the week.”

Cedar Creek (5-6, 3-2) upset St. Edmund, the leader of District 6, 21-6 this past Friday in the first round.

Despite the No. 4 ranking in District 2, the Cougars won four of their last five games, only losing to Ouachita Christian by 8 points.

“They’re better than their record shows,” Vault said. “They had a lot of injuries early in the season, and they’re getting some of those players back. They’re big up front.”

The Cougars have a 6-foot-1-inch, 328-pound defensive tackle in Hunter Bennett and a 220-pound fullback as well.

Vault said Cedar Creek is one of the only teams he knows of in 1A — besides Block — that does not play anybody on both offense and defense.

“I took a lot of flack about trying to do that over here, but we’ve got 25 to 30 kids that have good athletic ability,” he said. “We have a 53-man roster. My thing is, if I can take a kid who is playing 100 percent on one side of the ball as opposed to a kid that’s switching to the other side and only playing 70 percent, I’ll take the 100 percent.”

Vault said the Cougars will throw the ball 30 to 40 times on Friday, and he hopes quarterback Curdarius Johnson can do the same for the bears.

Johnson completed 6-of-8 passes against Desire Street for 120 yards and two touchdowns.

“We’ll throw it because they will start putting everybody up in the box,” Vault said. “With all the film we’ve got out, we’ve been fortunate that people aren’t putting eight or nine people in the box because they know we can throw.”

Vault also wants Johnson to run the ball more, something he’s been preaching to him all season. Johnson had two rushing scores for the Bears Friday as well, and his coach said it looked like he had fun doing it.

Vault said Johnson runs a 4.5-second 40-meter spring, and as an athletic player he should be able to get outside the pocket and use his legs.

“We want him to get outside, where’s he’s got the option to throw or run,” Vault said. “He realized Friday that once he gets out there he can get 20 yards. Throwing is great, but if you can get an easy 20 yards, why not?”