Carkuff shines as Champions win opener

Cascade safety Gerald "Happy" Johnson (right) goes up to pick off a pass in front of Moore County's T.J. Beasley and teammate Jacob Carkuff. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

LYNCHBURG -- Nearly two years ago exactly, a skinny sophomore strapped on the pads for the first time as Cascade's quarterback. He needed just nine pass attempts to account for 181 yards en route to leading his new team to a 43-7 win at Moore County.

Friday night took on a little more meaning for that particular signalcaller, knowing it was his last trip to the site where it all started. Thus, Jacob Carkuff admitted to having some butterflies before the opening kickoff.

"It's big, I don't even want to get off the field 'cause this is the last time I get to play here," said Carkuff, who completed 10 of 15 passes.

The jitters didn't show up in the box score of a 40-21 win over Moore County. Carkuff ran for three touchdowns (1, 22, 36 yards) and threw for one more, a 16-yard TD to Marcus McBee.

With only seven starters returning between both sides of the ball -- not including breaking in a new kicker and punter -- and a road trip to a fierce rival, it was tough to tell just how this one would come out. Cascade coach Kenny Parker schooled his squad on what the rivalry means and the Champions responded by forcing three turnovers and didn't have to punt once.

"Ask the guys that played back in the years when it wasn't as good and those guys that played back in the days when we used to always get thumped in this game," Parker said. "It means a whole lot. This is a pride game. Yeah, it's not a region game anymore, but there ain't never been a Cascade-Moore County game in any sport that didn't mean something."

The Champs have now won the last three meetings with the Raiders by a combined score of 111-28.

Ricky Hord was dynamic every time he got his hands on the pigskin. On top of aiding the field position with consistent, quality kick returns, the Cascade wingback scampered for 117 on a mere three carries. His 53-yard run on the second play from scrimmage set up a Carkuff 1-yard plunge into the end zone.

"This team's balanced, I'm tellin' ya," Parker said. "There's some weapons out there. We've just got to protect for 'em and play good defense. You're not going to be able to key on one guy on this team."

After a pair of stalled drives from the visitors resulted in missed field goals, Moore County marched 80 yards on 10 plays and got a 3-yard TD run from Kohl Rogers with 6:02 left in the first half.

It didn't take the Orange and Black long to respond.

On fourth-and-four at the Raider 22, Carkuff dropped back to pass but ended up weaving through traffic for a score.

The Champion 'D' then forced a three-and-out, and the offense went to work with 1:09 on the clock. Carkuff completed a pair of passes for 28 yards before deciding to go back to work with his legs. He avoided the urge to jump out of bounds to stop the clock during a long run and raced through the defense 36 yards for a score with 49 ticks to go.

"They were playing our twins really tight and had like a triangle on them," said Carkuff, who totaled 62 yards on six rushes. "They were looking for the pass the whole time. And, they rolled the safety over too. We were running a smash, and Ricky (Hord) wasn't there. So, I was just like, 'I got to take over.' So, I just pulled it down and got a good block from Anthony McPheron. They thought I was going to run out of bounds cause I was. But, when I saw them slow up, then I just cut up on them."

Carkuff dropped a perfectly-placed ball into the corner of the end zone to McBee to put Cascade up 26-7 following their opening series of the third quarter.

Hord struck again on their next offensive play, juking and cutting his way 66 yards to paydirt. Josh Molder added the point after to make it 33-7.

"Everybody can do everything," Carkuff said. "Last year, we had pretty much the same thing.

"We're just solid. We've got stuff to work on, but there are no bad spots that we have to worry about."

Cascade's Matt Henderson breaks free from the grasp of a Moore County defender. The junior tailback ran for 82 yards on 14 carries. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

The visitors had 344 yards rushing on 41 carries. Matt Henderson followed Hord in rushing yardage with a total of 82 on 14 attempts. Caleb Chavis toted the rock eight times for 43 yards.

Tyler Carter rounded out the Champion scoring by bursting in for a TD from 2 yards out with 5:34 left in the game. Molder added his fourth extra point in five attempts.

Cascade didn't finish as strong as they would have liked. A pair of backup tailbacks fumbled the ball away on their only attempts.

"We turned the ball over some there at the end, and we can't do that," Parker said. "We've got to finish, got to fine tune. We're just not finishing. We're a young ball team, and we're a little bit away. We've got to have some reps."

Matthew Hammers and Montrell Berry both tallied fourth-quarter touchdowns for the Raiders against the Champions subs.

"The thing about this is that the kids aren't satisfied with the way they played," Parker said. "They know there's some things we've got to work on. By being able to win that good and making the mistakes that we made, it's going to be momentum. I think we'll be a little more focused next week."

Gerald "Happy" Johnson came up with a pair of big defensive plays, recovering a fumble and intercepting Raider QB Dakota Matlock at the end of the second quarter.

Tyler Bowen came up to help with run support from his cornerback position, totaling 12 tackles. Carter and McPheron had eight stops apiece. Chavis and Michael Martin had seven. They held the hosts to 292 rushing yards on 51 carries.

Cascade opens up their Region 5-A schedule next Friday with a home matchup versus McEwen at 7:30 p.m.