Cascade's Ricky Hord races toward the end zone on his way to a 65-yard punt return late in the third quarter. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

To make matters worse, a 1-yard touchdown plunge by Cougar quarterback Scot Bartilson on fourth down compounded the issue by putting the hosts up 21-14.

Cascade showed they weren't quite ready to conceded a changing of the guard at the top of the region race by putting three unanswered touchdowns on the board to win 35-21 and improve to 5-0 overall and 4-0 in 5-A.

After a punt was allowed to fall and subsequently roll roughly 25 yards to back Cascade up to their own 8-yard line, Ricky Hord was told not to let the same thing happen again the next time MTC punted.

Apparently nobody told the Cougar coaches that Hord had plans to get his hands on the next punt, which usually spells disaster for opponents. The game-changing junior settled under the sinking rock and cruised nearly untouched 65 yards to the end zone to tie the game at 21-all with 25 ticks left in the third quarter.

"I thought it was going to be short again, but they kicked it really deep," Hord said. "They told me to catch it and just get what I can get. So, I just got what I got and it turned out to be a good punt return for the team.

"It was a big play because it changed momentum for the whole team. The defense started coming out and playing together. I started playing better. Jake (Carkuff) started playing better. It was a good turnaround for the team."

Wide receiver Tyler Bowen (33) celebrates a 7-yard touchdown pass from Jacob Carkuff to give Cascade their go-ahead score in the fourth quarter. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

Cascade kept momentum on their side with another special teams play when Caleb Chavis come from out wide to block a Chris Beasley punt the very next series.

"Special teams is big, and we won that battle tonight," Champion coach Kenny Parker said. "That's something we work on every week. We feel like (Chavis) has a good burst, and we feel like we can use him on the edge. He just happened to get a good jump and time it up tonight. He almost had two others."

Five plays later Jacob Carkuff took advantage of a soft cushion out wide by tossing a dart to receiver Tyler Bowen for the go-ahead TD from 7 yards away with 7:44 to play.

Bartilson completed 8-of-11 passes for 89 yards and stretched the field with teammate Eric Compton, including a 24-yard TD hook-up in the opening quarter. That prompted the Champion defense to make some adjustments.

Cascade decided to get physical with Compton and other wideouts at the line of scrimmage and bring more pressure on Bartilson. The result showed as the senior hit on just 4-of-18 passes for 50 yards the rest of the way.

"It's hard for a quarterback to throw when people are hitting him, and he's laying on his back," Parker said. "A lot of their throws are timing, and we challenged our guys at halftime to get in there in their face and break them off their routes. There's no use in letting your linebacker set back there and read when they're throwing stuff on time. So, we said we were going to bring an extra backer, and I thought our guys did a good job of getting the pressure to him. We sacked him, we hit him and we hurt him."

A pass slips through the hands of Cougar Chip Dunn as Jacob Carkuff looks on. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

The Champs went with their "jumbo package" late to grind out clock and keep the chains moving. A steady diet of tailback Matt Henderson and fullback Tyler Carter put the final touches on the 'W' with Carter blasting up the middle from 9 yards out to paydirt with 1:23 left.

Carter led the team in rushing with 76 yards on nine carries. Henderson toted the pigskin 13 times for 62 yards, including an 11-yard TD in the second quarter that gave his team their first advantage.

Jacob Carkuff wasn't quite as sharp throwing the ball for the victors, completing 3-of-10 passes and tossing a pair of interceptions. However, along with the dart to Bowen, he dropped a 59-yard bomb to Gerald "Happy" Johnson on the opening play of the second quarter.

Michael Martin paced the victors defensively with a career-high 15 tackles (12 solo).

MTC (3-2, 1-2) came out and owned the line of scrimmage in the earlygoing. Twenty of their first 27 offensive plays were handoffs to running back Dillon Wade, who wound up with 112 yards on 26 rushes and a 9-yard TD.

Cascade defensive tackle Justin Bass (27) puts a hit on MTC quarterback Scot Bartilson. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

"Good teams have to respond," Parker said. "When a team makes a play and they score, if you've got what you're supposed to have, you'll come out and you'll respond.

"I've been proud of our guys. It seems like a lot of times when we get in adverse situations, a lot of times we come back and respond."

The competitiveness of the game just goes to show how tough the 10-team Region 5-A is these days.

"That's what I told coach Shadowens the other day when we swapped films," Parker said. "I said, 'Ded gum, you had to come in here and make this thing that much tougher.'

"I told someone a couple years ago that this was going to be a program up and coming because they made a commitment to their athletics here (at MTC)."