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Champs fall in region finals

By CHRIS SIERS ~ sports@t-g.com
Posted 5/19/22

By winning a Region 3-A semifinal earlier this week, the Cascade Champions made school history by reaching the region finals for the first time. While a second-half equalizer tied the game at one, …

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Champs fall in region finals

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By winning a Region 3-A semifinal earlier this week, the Cascade Champions made school history by reaching the region finals for the first time.
While a second-half equalizer tied the game at one, Chattanooga School of Arts and Sciences rattled off three unanswered goals in the second half to claim the Region 3-A championship.
At this stage of the game, everyone playing is a quality opponent and both teams battled through a close first half in Wednesday’s final.
“We finally played somebody that spread us out a little more than we’ve been used to. We never matched their intensity fighting for balls and things like that. We’ll spend the next two days getting ready for Saturday,” Champion coach Glenn Tidwell said.
After a back-and-forth battle through the first 24 minutes, Cascade’s Drake Hodge nearly put the Champs up early on an indirect kick that was swatted away by the CSAS goal keeper.
The Patriots responded in swift order and laced home the game’s first goal in two minutes later.
That 1-0 lead held through the remainder of the half.
Barely three minutes into the second half, Cascade was awarded a free kick from outside the box, which Hodge played perfectly to the back of the net, giving the Champs a much-needed shot of momentum.
The back and forth play continued with both teams coming close on the go-ahead goal.
CSAS broke the stalemate with a 60th minute goal, seizing all of the game’s momentum.
After that score, the Patriots fired two more shots to the back of the net in the following four minutes.
That 4-1 lead held through the end of regulation, giving the Patriots the Region 3-A title.
While the loss dings what’s been a stellar run by the Champs, it’s not the end of the road.
Cascade advances to the Class A state sectional, just one win away from the state tournament.
“We’ve talked about it all year. We just have to believe in each other and believe they can play with anybody. We’ll go back to the drawing board tomorrow and put this one behind us,” Tidwell said.
Cascade will face the winner of STEM Prep Academy and Merrol Hyde on Saturday.

CSAS 1 3 — 4
Cascade 0 1 — 1

First Half
CSAS — Goal, (18th minute).
Second Half
C — Drake Hodge goal, (43rd minute).
CSAS — Goal, (60th minute).
CSAS — Goal, (62nd minute).
CSAS — Goal, (64th minute).