Black Bear ‘run’ stops with Cashion

A big game can turn on a number of things.

A huge offensive play. A turnover. An adjustment.

In the case of Cashion’s Class A semifinal against Pawnee last Friday night, the matchup tilted in the Wildcats’ favor on an incident that’s annoying to coaches, but largely innocuous in the grand scheme of things.

A holding penalty.

A yellow flag late in the second quarter was the metaphorical signal that took Cashion from danger’s wake and into this week’s state title game.

The top-ranked Wildcats scored 20 unanswered points to derail third-ranked Pawnee 34-16 at Cushing High School.

Cashion plays No. 5 Ringling at 1 p.m. Saturday at the University of Central Oklahoma’s Wantland Stadium for the Class A championship.

Such an appearance appeared in doubt during Pawnee’s third drive of the game.

The Black Bears had answered each of Cashion’s touchdown drives with marches of their own. Their multiple run looks out of the Wing-T had proven unstoppable.

Pawnee led 16-14 and was marching toward the end zone on a drive that was already approaching six minutes long. Making matters worse for Cashion, the Black Bears were going to receive the second-half kickoff.

“I was pretty concerned that if they scored, they were going to get it back to start the second half and if they score again, we’re two scores down,” Cashion coach Lynn Shackelford said. “They’re a team that even if you hold them to a three-and-out, they burn three or four minutes off the clock.

“Eventually you run out of time.”

Even when Cashion appeared to be in good shape, Pawnee marched on. It had already converted a 3rdand-12 and a 4th-and-4 for first downs on this drive.

And, seemingly the trend continued as Pawnee got past the sticks on a 3rd-and-7 run with 3:35 left in the half.

But then the flag flew.

Holding.

That set the Black Bears back 11 yards. A false start meant another fi ve more.

Even Pawnee’s potent attack couldn’t get the necessary yardage on a 3rd and 23 and, for the first time that night, Cashion’s defense got a stop.

“I don’t think it’s overstating it one bit,” said Shackelford of the importance of the penalty. It was a huge momentum shift.”

Cashion never gave it back.

The Wildcats marched 58 yards in under two minutes and got a 9-yard touchdown run from T.J. Roberts with 24 seconds left in the half.

Cashion scored on its only two drives of the second half while the defense held the Black Bears to just 38 yards.

After starting the game with two scores, Pawnee’s final four drives ended with a punt, two turnovers on downs and an interception.

As much as Cashion prepared for what Pawnee did on offense, there’s no practice like the real thing. That’s why CHS coach preached patience.

“We told them last Sunday to not be surprised if they have a lot of success their first couple of drives,” Shackelford said. “We told them it might take us two or three possessions before it starts to look OK to us.”

Added defensive coordinator Tony Wood: “You can’t emulate them in practice. I felt really comfortable coming and we had a good week of preparation, but they scored two (touchdowns) right off the bat.”

But the coaches’ words and some adjustments did the trick.

“We knew we were going to have to withstand the fi ght and figure out how they were trying to attack us,” Wood said.

At halftime, Wood tinkered with his defensive front and linebackers.

“They were trying to hit us on the strong side A gap and in the fi rst half we were playing too wide, so we slid a defensive lineman into that gap,” Wood said.

He also went from four linebackers to three and put Caden Harrell, slowed by an injured ankle, right in the middle of that group.

“We let him play straight downhill,” Wood said. “We told him to get his read and go.

“Moving him really helped.”

Harrell ended the night with nine tackles, one of six Wildcats with at least that many.

Justice Broadbent led the way with 16.

Jacob Farrow added 12 and picked off a Blake Skidgel pass with 10:00 left in the game after Cashion had taken a 26-16 lead.

Pawnee hadn’t attempted a pass in the last two games and Skidgel had thrown just 20 all season.

“Once we got up two possessions, I knew that would affect their offensive decision-making a little,” Shackelford said. “And on top of that, we got them out of their comfort zone because we were a lot better defensively on fi rst down.”

Cashion’s offense kept Pawnee out of its comfort zone all night.

The Wildcats took the opening possession 72 yards in just over two minutes.

They scored on T.J. Roberts’ 6-yard run, a sign of things to come. He also caught the two-point pass from Ben Harman for an 8-0 lead.

After Pawnee, answered, Cashion marched 50 yards in a shade under four minutes.

Harman’s 16-yard keeper gave the Wildcats a 14-8 advantage near the end of the fi rst quarter.

Pawnee’s rebuttal was a quick one as Skidgel burst through the line and raced 52 yards for a Black Bear touchdown just 53 seconds into the second quarter. Trevor Mitchell ran in the two-point conversion for the two-point Pawnee lead.

Cashion had no answer this time and was forced to punt. It was Cashion’s only fruitless possession of the night other than running the final 3:16 off the clock in the fourth quarter.

After taking advantage of Pawnee’s miscues on defense and a poor punt, Cashion took possession at its own 42 with 2:12 left in the half.

Instead of going to the air, the Wildcats largely stayed patient on the ground.

They were rewarded. Roberts had a 22-yard run down to the 23 with 1:00 showing on the clock. He added a 6-yard run to the 9 and then took care of the rest on the next play.

After Pawnee ate more than six minutes off the clock to start the third quarter, Cashion forced an incomplete pass on fourth down.

The Wildcats pushed their lead to 26-16 when Roberts snatched a Harman pass near the sideline and found the end zone for an 11-yard score.

Farrow’s interception put Cashion in business at the Pawnee 48. That drive ended with a 7-yard Roberts touchdown scamper with 4:12 to go.

Roberts had 137 yards on 23 carries. He had three rushing touchdowns and another through the air.

“He ran it as well as he has in two years,” Shackelford said of Roberts.

“We felt like in the fi rst half we were already breaking them down a little bit,” said Roberts. “We just said, ‘Hey, we’re going to keep running it’ and our offensive linemen did great.”

Overall, Cashion punished the Black Bears for 243 rushing yards on 34 attempts.

Harman ran 48 while Alex Nabavi tallied 50 on just four carries.

“I was kind of surprised at how well we ran it from the end of the first half all the way through the rest of the game,” Shackelford said. “We had some stuff we thought would hurt them in our passing game, but we never really had to get to it.”

Harman was still an effective 6 of 8 for 40 yards.

Pawnee averaged 366 rushing yards a game, but had only 232 against Cashion’s defense.

The Wildcats also got nine tackles apiece from Austin Vandruff and Colton Ogletree.

Wood said the team played great complementary football.

“Shack’s plan was phenomenal and the guys executed it really well,” Wood said, noting the lack of turnovers by Cashion in the game.

“When you play good defense, continually drive on people and don’t turn it over, you’re going to win these types of ball games.”

Winning this one put Cashion back into the state championship game for the third time since 2014.

“I can’t wait for next week,” Wood said. “I’m ready right now.”