Forrest storms past Champs

CHAPEL HILL -- A perfect storm of disaster struck the Cascade boys on Thursday night as Forrest brought the thunder and defeated its District 9-A rival 64-24.

The Rockets netted a mere seven points in the second half of Tuesday night's 53-39 loss to Middle Tennessee Christian, which meant they were out for blood in this one.

Both teams had but one day of preparation time, but Cascade was riding high off an emotional five-point victory over neighbor Community and was due for a letdown. Piece all that with it being the team's first time on the road after five straight home wins and it was a recipe for calamity.

"It was the perfect storm, everything fell right," said Cascade coach Charlie Pope, whose team defeated the Rockets 42-34 earlier this month. "We had a target on our back, and they hit it right square in the middle. You have to tip your hat to them, shrug this one off and come to work to try and get better."

The loss drops Cascade to 13-9 overall and 9-3 in 9-A, which leaves no margin for error with two more road district games coming up next week if the Orange and Black want the top seed in the tournament for the second straight year. Eagleville is 10-1 in league play.

"The silver lining is it's just one loss," Pope said. "That is the only silver lining to take out of this one. It's embarrassing. We were outcoached, got outplayed.

"This is the worst district loss we've had since I've been here -- seven-plus years now. Where we go from here? We have to have short memories."

A free throw by Cascade's Christian Edmondson for the first point of the game was answered by an 11-0 Rocket run.

A Ricky Hord 3-pointer was the lone Champion field goal of the first quarter. Forrest's Mark Pope countered with half of his team-leading 18 points to help his team to a quick 16-4 advantage.

Zack Hitchcock's trey as the buzzer sounded gave the visitors some hope heading into the half down 26-13.

The Rockets (8-15, 7-5) turned the game into a laugher in the third quarter by draining four of their nine 3-pointers. Meanwhile, Hord finally sank the Champs' first bucket inside the 3-point line, but they only had the one field goal the whole period and entered the fourth trailing 44-17.

A 12-0 Forrest scoring run pushed the advantage to 32 before both coaches allowed substitutes to play the final five minutes.

"We probably had more turnovers tonight than we had points and that's never a good thing," Charlie Pope said. "I love my kids. It's my responsibility to have us ready. So, this loss sits squarely on my shoulders, nobody else's."

Mark Pope knocked down four 3-pointers. Kyle Gugger backed his teammate's effort with 15 points.

A game after having four players score in double-figures, Hord led the team with nine points.

The threat of severe weather caused officials to cancel Saturday's matchup with top-ranked Clarksville Academy. So, Cascade's next game is at Middle Tennessee Christian on Tuesday evening at 7:30.