Carkuff's five TDs lead Champs to quarterfinals

Champion freshman receiver Jared Carkuff (10) lays out to haul in an 8-yard touchdown pass from Jacob Carkuff midway through the third quarter. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

Cascade scored on eight straight possessions, including a 27-point second quarter, and soundly defeated McEwen 55-20 at The Stable. The Champions improved to 12-0 and advance to the TSSAA state quarterfinals. Both are firsts for the Wartrace/Bell Buckle school.

"It's great; these kids have worked hard," Cascade coach Kenny Parker said. "They were loose and came out and played. That's a good football team we played tonight. Weather conditions didn't seem to affect us much."

That matchup in the quarters pits the Champs against Region 5-A rival Jo Byrns, who took out Region 6-A champion Wayne County 33-6. The game is at The Stable on Friday night at 7. The victor gets the McKenzie/Lake County winner in the semifinals.

The temperature is supposed to drop quite a bit this week but the turf should be significantly dryer. Rain clouds huddled around the field early into the first quarter against McEwen, leaving Parker wondering how his team would respond.

"I was concerned," he said. "I watched the weather all week because I wanted the field dry because I felt like our speed would be an advantage for us.

"We probably sucked 100-200 gallons of water off that field in the last two days because it just doesn't drain well."

The Warriors forced a three-and-out on Cascade's first series and blocked a punt to set up an Ethan Tummins 1-yard score three plays later.

That seemed to wake up the Champs just as the rain started to settle in. They weren't kept out of the end zone from then on and outgained McEwen in total yardage 398-243.

Seniors Jacob Carkuff and JaVour Taylor saddled up and danced all over the Warrior defense.

Gerald 'Happy' Johnson (7) comes down with one of two Cascade interceptions. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge]

Carkuff completed 7-of-11 passes for 110 yards and three TDs to go with five carries for 43 yards and two more scores (1, 24). Taylor, who moved from fullback to tailback earlier in the year before going back to fullback following the season-ending injury to Caleb Chavis, took full advantage of the opportunity, galloping for 126 yards and three TDs (12, 5, 10) on 14 attempts.

"JaVour's a competitor. He's done a good job for us all year," Parker said.

The Cascade firepower forced McEwen (9-3) to have to play catch-up, which got them out of their comfort zone of running the football and controlling the clock.

"We talked about trying to get them out of their game plan. (McEwen) wants to keep it close so they can run the football. They're a time-managing team. That's their offense," Parker said.

The defense did their part as well, holding all-everything tailback Ethan Tummins to 57 yards before the senior busted out a 46-yard scoring run early in the fourth quarter.

Some big hits in the early stages set the tone for the night.

"Marcus McBee made a couple big licks there at the first of the game on (Tummins)," Parker said. "He hit him 2-3 times solid."

The Warriors had no success when they turned to their passing game. Tummins and Blake Leegan were a combined 0-for-6 and had balls picked off by Tyler Bowen and Gerald "Happy" Johnson.

"They came out, were hitting people and punishing them," Parker said. "We told them we wanted them to be physical, and they were."

A Carkuff sneak into paydirt followed by Josh Molder's first of seven extra points tied the game at 7-all in the first quarter.

Tummins blasted up the gut from 6 yards out and Seth Schuman booted the PAT to give the visitors their last lead with 10:24 to go in the second quarter.

Cascade's JaVour Taylor tripped to the end zone three times. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

Following a 28-yard run by Taylor, Ricky Hord caught a 23-yard pass from Carkuff to knot the game at 14-all.

Two TD runs by Taylor and a screen pass turned into a 46-yard score by Matt Henderson left it 34-14 at halftime. Cascade needed but 13 plays from scrimmage to accumulate their 27 second-quarter points.

"The difference was that the defense got us the ball back," Parker said. "We felt like we had a little better athletes than they did. If we could get them in space, we felt like it could hurt them.

"We saw some things in their defense just by spreading the ball out. They had to spread and when they did, you get those angles in the open field. Our guys took advantage of it."

Cascade went 65 yards on nine plays and took 4:52 off the clock to start the third quarter. The drive was capped by Jared Carkuff's diving catch in the end zone, his first grab since being injured in Week Five.

Taylor's third score came from 10 yards away with 1:22 remaining in the third period. Jacob Carkuff sprinted 25 yards up the middle for the last score at the 7:34 mark of the fourth.

It was one of the more impressive performances of the season by the Champion offensive line. They cleared a path for 293 rushing yards on only 34 attempts.

"I'm really proud of our offensive line. They stepped up and executed well. We were able to run the football," Parker said.

McBee's nine tackles paced Cascade defensively. Anthony McPheron followed with seven.

McEwen ran for 243 yards on 41 carries. Tummins finished his career with 14 rushes for 103 yards.