BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. – The Cascade Lady Champions (16-1-2, 8-0) are heading back to the TSSAA Class A State Tournament for the fourth-consecutive season following a hard-fought 3-0 win over Huntingdon (15-5, 2-1) in the sectional round on Saturday night in front of a raucous home crowd.

“I’m going to have to process [four in a row],” Cascade Head Coach Wendy Williams said postgame, “It’s crazy to go back again. I’m just so proud of them. They’ve set the standard for themselves, and it’s becoming what they expect and what they work towards.”

Cascade took down Culleoka in the Region 5-A championship game, 1-0, thanks to a second-half Kaylee Martin penalty, but Saturday’s contest turned out to have a little more breathing room.

In total, the visiting Mustangs were shown four yellow cards, including one to their sideline late in the contest in what turned out to be a heated affair.

“I think the fact that we’ve played such physical games leading up to this really was the factor that helped us to push through,” said Williams, “We’ve talked all year about mental toughness and to stay tough, and they had to have a lot of mental fortitude tonight to push through against a good team.”

The hosts looked up for it from the opening kickoff, as in the fifth minute a chip-shot from Adalyn Nelms landed just inches wide of the post.

However, just three minutes later, Brinlee Collet found an opening through the Huntingdon backline to play Kyla Pulley into space. Pulley would make no mistake, taking a couple of touches to reach the penalty area before smashing her sixth goal of the season past the Mustangs’ keeper into the back of the net at the near post to give the Lady Champions a 1-0 lead.

Cascade continued to control possession for much of the remaining first half, limiting the opportunities for the Mustangs in attack. Olivia Winnett nearly doubled the hosts’ lead on the stroke of halftime, but her free kick careened off the crossbar back into the field of play to keep the scoreline at 1-0 heading into halftime.

Shortly after the second half began, Cascade won a penalty thanks to a handball in the box by a Lady Mustang defender. Kaylee Martin stepped up, and for the fifth-consecutive postseason game, Martin smashed the ball into the back of the net in the 45th minute to give her team a 2-0 advantage.

As the game grew older and the Huntingdon team became more desperate to get back into the match, the Mustangs began to rack up yellow cards. In the 59th minute, 74th minute, and 78th minute, a total of four yellow cards were handed out, including one shown to the sideline.

Cascade continued to absorb the pressure without really conceding any stonewall chances, and then Kaylee Martin secured her brace with a looping free kick from the right wing that found its way into the back of the net in the 78th minute to put the final nail in Huntingdon’s proverbial coffin at 3-0.

“I felt like we were in control of the whole ball game,” said Williams, “They’d get a breakaway here and there and generate some half-chances, but I felt like our girls were in control the whole game.”

With the win, Cascade returns to the State Tournament for the fourth-consective season. Before 2022, the program had only advanced as far as the sectional round, but under the guidance of Wendy Williams, this class of Lady Champion seniors are set to see all four years of their career end in Chattanooga, an unthinkable accomplishment just four years ago.

Cascade is set to take on the champions of District 14-A and Region 7-A, Madison Magnet, in the TSSAA Class A State Quarterfinal at 4:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday at Boyd-Buchanan School in Chattanooga. The Lady Champions are the 3-seed and the Mustangs are the 6-seed. The winner of this game will take on the winner of 2-seed Merrol Hyde against 7-seed CSAS on Wednesday night at 6:00 p.m. ET.