Cashion gets another crack at title

Here we go again.

This Saturday will be a familiar setting for the Cashion football program and its fans in more ways than one.

The Wildcats play the final high school football game in Oklahoma in 2020 when they taken on Thomas at 7 p.m. at Edmond’s Wantland Stadium in the Class A state championship.

It’s the second straight year for Cashion to reach the title game and fourth time since 2014.

“I hope we never get to the point where it’s kind of expected and you don’t soak it all in for what it’s worth,” said Cashion head coach Lynn Shackelford, whose team enters with a 15-0 record and is coming off a 7-6 victory at No. 1 Pawhuska in the semifinals.

“It’s really, really hard to get here.”

Thomas knows a little something about “getting there.”

The Terriers are owners of 10 football state championships.

The most recent was in 2014 when Thomas beat you guessed it - Cashion, 28-0 in the title game in Enid.

“(Thomas coach) Bob (Ward) is a great friend and Thomas is a great program,” Shackelford said. “They kicked our butt in the 2014 finals. Maybe we’ll get to return the favor.”

The familiarity for Cashion and Thomas doesn’t limit itself to the coaches’ friendship and the 2014 meeting.

The teams met Sept. 18 in Cashion, which resulted in a 28-7 Wildcat victory.

“It was a lot closer than that score,” Shackelford recalls.

Cashion used its passing attack to score on its first two possessions. Once Thomas’ defense adjusted, the game was more of a battle.

Cashion led 14-7 entering the fourth quarter, which started with a Caden Harrell short touchdown run.

The Wildcats added a highlight-worthy 33-yard touchdown reception by Mason Manning with 7:57 to play.

Ben Harman threw for 267 yards in the game, but was also picked off twice.

Thomas - with mountainous lineman like the 280-pound Oklahoma State commitment Aden Kelley and the 270-pound Camden Billy - limited Cashion to 88 rushing yards.

Cashion’s defense was also up to the task.

It held Thomas to 57 yards on 31 rushes. The Terriers managed just 170 total yards

“I thought our defense controlled the game on that side of the ball,” Shackelford said at the time.

It remains the only loss for Thomas this season.

The Terriers enter the championship with a 12-1 mark and are coming off back-to-back thrilling come-from-behind wins.

That included a goal-line stand in a 35-34 quarterfinal win against Pawnee and then last week’s 28-27 triumph over defending state champ Ringling in which the Terriers trailed by two scores in the fourth quarter.

Landon LaGasse, who caught the game-winning touchdown in Cashion’s own one-point semifinal victory, managed four receptions for 109 yards and a touchdown in the September matchup.

“It would be everything,” he said of Cashion winning a state title this week. “We’ve been so close so many times; just to put the icing on top would be everything.”

Shackelford and his staff have been a part of multiple close calls. On top of the 2014 loss to Thomas, Cashion was runner-up in 2015 and last season.

“Getting there is tough; winning it is even harder,” Shackelford said. “We’re going to give it our best shot.”