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Champs’ offense comes to life in loss at Cannon Co.

Posted on Saturday, October 19, 2024 at 9:31 am

Quarterback Braxtyn Burris stands tall after picking up a block and fires a throw downfield. (Post Photo by Chris Siers)

By CHRIS SIERS
csiers@bedfordcountypost.com
WOODBURY — Cascade head coach Jared Carkuff isn’t one for moral victories.
Even though Friday night’s Region 4-2A game at Cannon County ended with a 48-21 loss, Carkuff and the Champion coaching staff saw the best offensive output in weeks and have high hopes for the trajectory of the program.
After falling behind 28-0, Cannon County (6-3, 1-2) held all the momentum and appeared to be heading towards a second-half running clock after scoring its fourth touchdown 7:03 left in the first half.
But with time dwindling in the second quarter, Cascade (1-7, 0-2) had its best offensive possession at that point in the game that pressed into Lion territory, sparked by a 40-yard jaunt by Kadin Hill.
Once inside the 20-yard line, sophomore quarterback Braxtyn Burris hit Christian Casey on a 13-yard pickup that pressed to the 1-yard line.
Three plays later, Burris peeled left, lowered his shoulder and plowed his way into the end zone and following Gabe Perez’ kick after, Cascade was on the board, still trailing 28-7 heading into the half.
Although the first Lion possession of the second half ended with a 20-yard touchdown run by Brayden Smithson, Cascade settled in through the second half and appeared to flip a switch from the first half.

Christian Casey makes an acrobatic catch down to the Lions’ 1-yard line to set up the Champs’ first touchdown of the night. (Post Photo by Chris Siers)

“Really, adjustment was, it wasn’t anything. It was just our mentality. We talked about it before the game. You can’t react negatively to anything. Unfortunately, we made too many mistakes in the first half to let it get out of hand. But they (Cascade) responded pretty awesomely like we’ve asked,” Carkuff said.
Responded well, indeed.
Following Smithson’s second score of the night, Cascade’s game-plan shifted to attacking the right side of the offensive line, which yielded immediate results.
“It was kind of a game-plan we didn’t want to make too obvious early, and then we kind of just said let’s attack it as much as possible,” Carkuff said.
Following Smithson’s touchdown on the first Lion possession of the third quarter, a 20-yard pickup by Burris once again set Cascade up in plus-territory.
Max Smith added another pickup of 20 yards, which pushed the Champions to the Cannon County 15-yard line.
This time, Casey’s number was called and he powered is way into the end zone on a 1-yard push to cut the Lions’ lead to 35-14 with 5:49 left in the third.
While the Champs snuffed out a bit of momentum to start the third quarter, the Lions padded their lead with another touchdown on a 10-yard pass from quarterback Eli Garrett to Matt Bane for the second time in the game.
The back-and-forth affair continued with Cascade once again barreling well into Lion territory and after moving the chains to the Cannon County 8-yard line, a false start set up third and eight from the 13.
But the Lions’ defense stood tall and recorded back-to-back pass breakups to force a turnover on downs with 49 seconds left in the third.

Hayden Dowell goes high to haul in a pass from Braxtyn Burris. (Post Photo by Chris Siers)

Six plays later, Kolby Miller connected with Zae Odom on a 66-yard touchdown pass to bump the Lions’ lead to 48-14.
After a return to the 34-yard line on the following kickoff, the Champs were treated with a 66-yard touchdown strike of their own when Burris connected with Landon Kling for his first-career touchdown reception with 7:59 left in the game.
Following the quick-strike on the lengthy touchdown pass, Cascade’s defense answered the bell and forced a punt with 5:34 to go in regulation.
Having settled into a rhythm, Burris methodically moved Cascade into the red zone again, highlighted on a 41-yard pass to Casey that set Cascade up on the 18.
But Cannon County avoided the threat and came up with the second interception of Burris in the game, which allowed the Lions to run out the remaining clock.
Even with a couple of mistakes in the pass game, Carkuff was plenty pleased with the progress and decision-making of Burris, who has settled in nicely at quarterback for the Champions.
“The first interception was definitely on me. He (Burris) made some awesome decisions, got the ball out quick and steps up in the pocket like he’s been doing it his whole life,” Carkuff said.
It wasn’t just Burris that shined once the Champions settled into the game.
Casey, along with Andrew Dowell, provided consistency in the receiving corps, while Burris and Hill kept the chains moving from the Cascade ground attack.
“We put in our triple option stuff for him that we got to use. We’re getting Christian Casey the ball in space, which was our goal in the preseason. We’re getting back to our identity is. Unfortunately it’s Week 8 that we finally got there. But we’ve got a young team, so it’s very promising,” Carkuff added.
Friday’s game snaps a three-game skid of where Cascade’s offense simply struggled to stay ahead of the chains, and marked the highest offensive output since the September 13 “Battle of Bedford” county clash against Community in which the Champs unloaded for 49 points.
Had it not been for a turnover on downs in the third quarter and an interception in the closing minutes, Cascade could well have pulled even closer of the Cannon County lead on Friday night.
With the final road game of the year in the books, the Champions return to the Stable for the final two Region 4-2A games of the year, hosting Fayetteville on Friday night before closing the season against Marion County on Halloween.

Cascade 0 7 7 7 — 21
Cannon Co. 14 14 13 7 — 48

First Quarter
CC — Matt Bane 16 pass from Eli Garrett, (Jacob Rogers kick), 11:33.
CC — Dustin Keller Jr. 9 pass from Garrett, (Rogers kick), 2:26.
Second Quarter
CC — Brayden Smithson 5 run, (Rogers kick), 9:24.
CC — Kolby Miller 36 run, (Rogers kick), 7:03.
C — Braxtyn Burris 2 run, (Gabe Perez kick), 3:36.
Third Quarter
CC — Smithson 20 run, (Rogers kick), 5:56.
C — Christian Casey 1 run, (Perez kick), 5:49.
CC — Bane 10 pass from Garrett, (kick failed), 3:32.
Fourth Quarter
CC — Zae Odom 66 pass from Kolby Miller, (Rogers kick), 9:20.
C — Landon Kling 66 pass from Burris, (Perez kick), 7:59.