No. 5 SIgnal Mountain challenges Cascade

Cascade wide receiver Tyler Bowen (33) pulled in his sixth touchdown reception from quarterback Jared Carkuff in the regular season finale. (T-G File Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

Tenth-ranked Cascade puts its season on the line when fifth-ranked Signal Mountain visits The Stable for second-round action in the Class 2A TSSAA state playoffs.

Kickoff is Friday night at 7.

The Champions (7-3) earned a bye last week after winning District 9-A and used the extra time to heal up and fine tune.

"We just worked internally," Cascade coach Kenny Parker said. "We worked on Cascade, making sure we knew our fundamental assignments both offensively and defensively."

With last Friday off, the Cascade coaching staff made the trip east on Interstate 24 to watch Signal Mountain (10-1) dismantle Silverdale Baptist Academy 63-23.

"There's good and bad about having a bye week," Parker said. "The good is you get a chance to rest, a chance to work on your stuff, a chance to watch your opponent. The bad thing is your opponent's already won a first-round playoff game. So, they've got some momentum and you're a little bit out of whack, out of chemistry, you're routine's broke."

There are plenty of similarities in this matchup.

Both teams' schedules were front-loaded with their most formidable opponents.

"I definitely think playing the tougher competition has helped us this year," Parker said. "We've just got to put it all together this week because what's happened in the past is in the past. We've really got to focus because Signal Mountain's got a good football team."

Each enters with a six-game winning streak and has outscored nearly all of those foes by a wide margin. Both teams defeated Eagleville and South Pittsburg was the last team to beat both.

"I don't really think you can get a whole lot of comparison, especially with scores, about how you did against this team and how they did against the same team. I don't think any of that bundles into the equation at all," Parker said.

Signal Mountain is in its first year of a full varsity schedule but have plenty of seasoned athletes from schools like Baylor, McCallie and Red Bank. The school is in the process of building first-rate facilities and is as close to a private school as a public school can get.

The Eagle offense is very multiple with its formations and spreads the ball around to its athletes. Seven different skill players touched the ball in the first half versus Silverdale in which they built a commanding 35-7 lead.

"Our kids are used to seeing that every day cause we're about the same way," Parker said of the Eagles' multiple looks. "That goes back to the preparation before the season with the different offenses of Fairview and DeKalb County.

"A lot of the stuff they do they're pretty balanced. So, it's hard to determine what side they're going to, especially when they get with their double slot, double wings. They're balanced all the way across."

This one could be a shootout with both offenses clicking on all cylinders coming in.

Cascade hasn't been held to less than 28 points since the 57-14 loss at South Pittsburg in Week 3. Signal Mountain's lowest output was 33 points since falling 48-20 to South Pittsburg in Week 4.

Quarterback Hogan Whitmire makes good decisions with the football and is an accurate passer. His receivers, led by Reese Phillips, Will Queen and Luke Locke, like to run routes close to the line of scrimmage and sit down in open space.

The Champs counter with signal-caller Jared Carkuff (1,148 passing yards, 18 touchdowns) running the show with weapons like Gerald "Happy" Johnson (26 receptions, 330 yards), Ricky Hord (25-259) and Tyler Bowen (23-374) out wide. Tailback Matt Henderson is 109 yards shy of the 1,000-yard plateau.

Neither defense is shabby by any means. The Eagles have four shutouts to their credit. The Champs have allowed seven points or less three times.

The playing field at The Stable had a full week to dry out after Cascade took down Huntland 34-12 in a mud pit in the season finale.

With little else going on in the Bedford County sports scene other than preseason basketball, the Champs are hoping to see a large crowd out in Wartrace.

"That'd be big, our kids would feed off it," Parker said. "That's one thing we were telling our kids, 'Be proud of what you've done, don't be satisfied, but be proud.' There's not a whole lot of football being played around us right now on the high school level."