The Cascade Champions emerged victorious after more than three hours of gametime in the annual “Battle of Bedford” against cross-town rival Community, 49-34, on Friday night. 

After last year’s 68-0 embarrassment on their home field in Unionville, the visiting Vikings came into this season’s matchup ready to air the ball out offensively to try and spoil the Champs’ homecoming night, and that game plan gave the hosts all they could handle. Sophomore quarterback Nyles Barnett finished 23/41 for 357 yards with 3 TDs and 2 INTs while his two star wideouts, Isaac Jacobs and Charles Haskins, each had over 100 yards receiving and 3 TDs between them. 

Charles Haskins (3) finished with 3 catches for 119 yards and 1 TD on Friday.

Community struggled to get anything going on the ground when the did try to run the ball, finishing with 64 yards rushing as a team. Barnett was the Vikes’ leading rusher with 47 yards and 1 TD on 7 carries (excluding sacks).

Meanwhile, Cascade utilized a more balanced attack with a lot of damage coming on the ground in the run game. Kaden Hill led the Champs in rushing with 79 yards and 1 TD on 15 carries despite not playing in the second half due to a lower-body injury. Marquis Hayes Jr. filled in for Hill nicely in the second half, finishing with 8 carries for 37 yards and 1 TD while Christian Casey chipped in with 7 carries for 13 yards (including sacks) and 1 TD. 

Cascade's Kaden Hill (6) finished with 79 yards rushing and 1 TD on 15 carries in just the first half on Friday night.

Through the air, Cascade created just enough big plays at the right times to find the end zone. Casey finished 6/10 for 134 yards with 3 TDs and 1 INT. Sophomore wideout Braxton Burris had only two receptions, but they were both for touchdowns of 43 and 65 yards. Delonte Clay chipped in with one catch for a 16-yard TD and Corey Gooch added a reception for 12 yards.

Cascade took a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter after Casey found Clay 1-on-1 with a perfectly thrown back shoulder fade to the end zone from 16 yards out with 9:49 to go in the first half. After being bottled up in a choppy first quarter by a feisty Champs’ defense, Community immediately responded 3 plays later with an 86-yard TD pass from Barnett to Charles Haskins on an out-and-up down the right sideline. After a failed two-point conversion, the Vikes trailed 14-6 with 8:42 left in the second quarter. 

Nyles Barnett (4) finished with over 400 total yards and 4 total TDs on Friday night.

After Cascade recovered Community’s ensuing onside kick attempt, the Vikes’ defense got a fourth down stop just outside the red zone to get the ball back. However, on the very next play, Champs’ senior linebacker Andrew Dowell came up with a pick-six down the left sideline to extend their lead to 21-6 with 6:11 to go in the first half. 

Community would not relent, immediately responding with another Barnett bomb down the left sideline to Isaac Jacobs for a 65-yard TD to make it 21-12 with 5:42 left. On each team’s ensuing possession, the defenses each came up with a couple of stops, ending with Delonte Clay’s second INT of the season to get the ball to the Vikes’ 27-yard line with 40 seconds left in the half. After a 16-yard Hill run got Cascade into the red zone, Hayes Jr. punched it in from 2 yards out to go into the halftime locker room with a 28-12 lead. 

To start the second half, the visitors forced a three-and-out, following it up with a TD drive that ended with a Barnett 11-yard TD run to make it 28-20 after a successful two-point conversion.

However, Cascade showed some championship mettle in response with Casey finding Braxton Burris wide open down the right sideline with a 43-yard TD pass to extend the lead to 35-20 with 3:44 to go in the third quarter. 

Braxton Burris (0) finished with 167 total yards on just 3 offensive touches against Community.

24 seconds into the final frame with Community facing a 3rd-and-20, Delonte Clay came up with his second INT of the night to end yet another promising Vikings’ drive. Cascade would put the game away for good after a 5-yard Casey TD run was followed with a 65-yard TD pass to Burris as the lead ballooned to 49-20 with 8:01 left in the fourth quarter. Community would tack on two garbage-time touchdowns to make the final score a respectable 49-34. 

Community falls to 0-4 but does not play Friday because of their bye week. 

Cascade improves to 1-3 and is set to travel to Watertown on Friday night, LIVE on WZNG The Zinger 100.9 starting at 6:45 p.m.