Fast splurge, special teams boost Cascade Middle

Cascade Middle jumped on top of rival Community Middle with 28 quick points, got some unexpected production from its special teams and held on for a 42-14 win on Thursday night at The Stable.

Ty Seibers foreshadowed an explosive night for the Champions scoring the football as the eighth grader returned a kickoff 70 yards for the game's opening score.

In an unconventional move for middle school football, Cascade coach David Parker sent in the kicking team for an extra-point attempt. Seventh grader Trent Sutton made good on the try and finished 6-for-6 on PATs.

"(Sutton)'s been kicking the whole year," Parker said of his new weapon. "He came up to me earlier in the year and just wanted to kick. So, we're just now putting it in. We've been working on getting the blocks down and getting the placement down. We scored on the first play and I said, 'Alright, let's kick it.' He did a good job, got the ball up in the air and kicked well. It's big boost for us."

Creed Rose started, stopped and dashed 53 yards to give Cascade (4-0) a two-touchdown lead midway through the first quarter.

Seibers gave his team excellent field position by tackling the Viking punter on fourth-and-long shortly before the second stanza but the Champs coughed the football up the next play from scrimmage.

Tavis Campbell raced 51 yards to paydirt and Rose bulled his way into the end zone from 11 yards out to make it 28-0 at halftime.

Austin Bryant breathed life into the Vikings (1-3) by returning the opening kickoff of the third quarter. Corey Mooneyham ran in the two-point conversion to shrink the deficit to 28-8.

Cascade answered immediately with Seibers darting past purple and gold defenders for his second kickoff return for a touchdown. Sutton's fifth PAT made it 35-8 with 7:27 showing in the third.

Zack Demonbreum provided the final Champion score on a 24-yard run with 21 seconds left in the game.

Mooneyham hit fellow Viking Chad Neeley on a swing pass that resulted in a 53-yard TD as time expired.

"I feel like they got a little better in the second half, and we got a little bit worse," Parker said. "They've got a good little team, got two good running backs. They got the momentum in the second half. We just didn't play smart."

First place in the Duck River Valley Conference standings is on the line next week as Westwood Middle comes into The Stable in a battle of undefeated teams.

Community returns home to battle Middle Tennessee Christian.

Kickoff for both games is on Thursday night at 6:30.