By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
TURNER, Ore.– The Cascade defense was tested to the max in the second half against Estacada on Friday night.
Over the course of the next 24 minutes, the Cougars had three defensive stops that ultimately helped play a factor in Cascade taking the game 34-20 at Cascade High School.
It started coming out of halftime, the Cougars led the Rangers 27-14 with Estacada receiving the opening kickoff. And over the next nine minutes of the quarter, the first nine minutes of the half, Estacada kept the ball as they slowly grinded down the field.
The Rangers were knocking at the door of scoring and making this a one possession game for the first time since the early part of the second quarter before Cascade’s defense dug their heels in. The Cougars defense stopped Estacada on the two-yard-line and got the ball back. With three minutes on the clock, Cascade got to possess the ball for the first time in the back 24 of the game. But it was short-lived as the Estacada defense clutched up and kept Cascade pinned inside their own five-yard-line.
The Cougars punted as Estacada closed out the third quarter possessing the ball for roughly ten minutes of the quarter.
“We knew that they were a good team, we knew that we would go head-to-head really well. We were going to run our stuff, our offense is as good as it gets and I thought we could do it as a defense,” said Estacada Quarterback Dane Carpenter.
Cascade’s defense made another presence soon after the punt when they recovered the punt and a play later added to their lead off a Madden Hughes-to-Jay Ericksen connection with 11:04 left in the game. Extending the Cougar lead to 34-14 at this point. The passing game was a huge factor for the Cougars Friday night as Hughes threw for four touchdowns in the game.
“We couldn’t get a push up front in the run game, but in the pass game, we had great pass protection throughout the night. Wide Receivers caught balls and made plays, it was good playing four quarters instead of two,” said Hughes.
Estacada responded on their next offensive possession, Carpenter found Cody Feil for a 13-yard strike that made it a 34-20 game with 7:02 left in the game. The Ranger defense got another stop to give them a chance in the closing minutes of the game.
True to form, the Cougar defense found a way to end an opposing team’s promising drive, this time it was by Ericksen, who picked up a big interception. That interception allowed Cascade to run out the clock in what became their sixth victory of the year and their closest margin of victory thus far this season.
“(Defense) has been huge. Defense wins Championships, we’re going to go out there. Defense is key to our team, we work hard and it’s nice to see it pay-off in the second half,” said Ericksen.
“We were just clicking as an offense, being a team, the brothers that we are. We have such good chemistry on our team, when we’re doing all that stuff, we’re clicking. Just a few mistakes, few little mistakes and we’re right in that game and that game is ours. Just so close,” adds Carpenter. “Sky’s the limit man. Once we clean those little things up, just play a few more times and we’re going to be great. We are already great, we’re going to be even better.”
And Cascade has things to work on too coming out of the victory: Penalties. The Cougars committed too many of them and it will be a focal point for them moving into this next week in preparation for Stayton.
“We can’t get as many penalties as we did that game. We probably had 200-yards in penalties and that kills us,” said Ericksen.
Estacada will travel to Molalla on October 16 before hosting Central on October 23.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
