Wildcats dominate Thomas to win Class A title, put end to runner-up finishes

Back in 2014, a group of Cashion sixth graders were preparing to do battle in their league’s version of the “Super Bowl” in Crescent.

Before they won their third straight year-end championship, the Wildcats were addressed before the game that Saturday morning by Lynn Shackelford, Cashion High School’s head football coach.

Last Saturday night inside a silent locker room at the University of Central Oklahoma’s Wantland Stadium, Shackelford again stood before many of those same players before the biggest game of their life.

“I was there that day. I watched those little bitty faces in those little bitty helmets that were bought-in to play Cashion football,” Shackelford said just before his team took the field to battle Thomas in the 2020 Class A state championship game.

“Now I can stand here and I can look at your grown faces in big helmets and see that you’re bought-in to Cashion football and I want nothing more than for you guys to finish what you guys started that day in Crescent.”

The Wildcats did just that.

In more ways than one, Cashion made history before a crowd of about 3,000 onlookers as it defeated Thomas 34-7.

It’s the fourth football state title for Cashion, but the first since 1981 and the first since it joined the 11-man ranks.

It’s the first for Shackelford as a head coach as the Wildcats had to settle for silver in 2014, 2015 and last season.

The first and last of those runner-up finishes saw Cashion enter the state title game undefeated, much like it was this year.

It was time, he said, to reverse that trend.

“If you’re a grown man and you want to be responsible and you want to take responsibility of yourself as a man, you finish. We have an opportunity tonight to finish,” he said.

Then he challenged specific Wildcats in the locker room about impending hardships awaiting them over the next few hours before adding:

“You don’t finish anything in life by hoping somebody else gets it done for you,” he said. “Grown men take it upon themselves to get the job done.”

What followed was a near mirror-image of the Week 3 matchup that saw Cashion knock off the Terriers 28-7: The Wildcats got some big plays on offense, chewed up a lot of time with their run game and absolutely shut down what Thomas wanted to do when it had the ball.

“I thought they would have a really, really hard time scoring on us, especially after going back and watching the film from the first time we played,” Shackelford said.

“I knew they’d have a hard time moving it because I didn’t think they’d do anything dramatically different because that’s not who they are.”

He was right.

Thomas, which hadn’t lost since that September defeat to Cashion, relies heavily on the run to set up its pass. The Terriers netted 62 yards and averaged 2.3 yards a carry on the Wantland turf.

Outside of their first drive of the second half, the Terriers were never able to consistently move the chains.

They had nine first downs and although Jaxon Ward completed 16 of 22 passes, they only covered 127 yards.

“We just didn’t need to over-coach and over-think it,” said defensive coordinator Tony Wood, who joined the Cashion staff in 2013 and helped turn the Wildcats from yearly hopefuls to legitimate contenders.

“We just needed to let our kids play because they’re pretty good at it.”

He was right as Thomas collected 189 total yards and was forced to punt five times. The Terriers took 23 fewer offensive snaps than Cashion and were a combined 5 of 15 on third and fourth downs.

That put the onus on Cashion’s offense.

“I was confident if we could find a way to score just a few times,” Shackelford said. “If we could just get in there a couple of times, I knew we’d have a great chance.”

The first strike came early as Brexten Green returned the opening kickoff 39 yards and set the Wildcats up at the Thomas 37. It took 10 plays and a drive-extending penalty by Thomas, but the Wildcats went up 6-0 on quarterback Ben Harman’s 2-yard touchdown run at the 8:46 mark.

They got the second score - the one that proved to be enough - early in the second quarter when Green caught a perfectly-placed ball from Harman over his shoulder and raced into the end zone for a 48-yard score.

Green’s two-point run gave the Wildcats a 14-0 lead with 11:06 to play in the half.

That score stuck until halftime, one which had Shackelford feeling confident.

“I thought we’d be able to run the ball and milk the clock and they wouldn’t be able to get it enough in the second half to come back,” Shackelford said.

Thomas had other ideas coming out of the break.

The Terriers marched 72 yards in 11 plays and took 4:55 off the clock to cut their deficit instantly in half.

Ward gave them the TD on his 1-yard plunge at 6:58 of the quarter.

But that was it for Thomas and Cashion all but made sure of it on the next possession.

The Wildcats chewed up 59 yards and consumed 5:05 off the clock before Hannan ran it in from 1 yard away for a 21-7 lead with 1:53 to go in the third.

Harrell rushed for 46 yards on the drive, including a 31-yard spurt that put the Wildcats in striking distance.

The Terriers’ next two drives were a combined seven plays.

The game was sealed on a 10-play, 60-yard march that ended with Green’s 8-yard touchdown run with 4:58 to play.

Cashion didn’t attempt a pass on the drive as Green and Harrell ran behind an undersized line that kept clearing enough of a path for the Wildcats to gain 285 yards on the ground for a night.

This despite Thomas featuring the 275-pound Aden Kelley, an Oklahoma State University commit, and the nearly equally-large Camden Billy.

Shackelford wasn’t confident before the season such an accomplishment would be feasible.

“I knew our defense was going to be really good,” he said. “I didn’t even know who our offensive line was going to be.”

It ended up being book-ended by two seniors: Colton Southall at left tackle and Kyler George on the right side.

Left guard Camden Maroney, a sophomore, was a backup quarterback a year ago.

Next to him was junior Joey Wilson at center and then another junior, Guilianni Martinez, started at right guard. Nick Nabavi and Jackson Vandruff also lined up in their tight ends sets.

“There’s very little experience there and the ones who did, we moved around,” said Shackelford. “But the way they turned out is a testament to coach (D.L.) Robertson and his ability to coach and get them to believe they are good. It’s also a testament to them for continuing to work and get better.”

Cashion controlled the ball for 8:46 of the fourth quarter. The Wildcats put the exclamation point on the win when Harman hit Landon LaGasse for a 19-yard score with 20 seconds left.

A junior, Harman accounted for four touchdowns. He was 11 of 17 through the air for 99 yards and added another 53 yards on 14 carries.

Harrell moved to Cashion as an eighth grader. Not only had he heard stories of the runner-up seasons, but also the near misses from snake-bitten teams before them.

“I had just heard about how we haven’t brought home a gold ball and just silver,” he said. “So I made it my ultimate goal to bring gold home to the community and for past players.”

He delivered 134 rushing yards on 22 carries and three tackles on defense.

“Being a part of (winning state) was amazing and I’ll never forget the friends and family that I made here in Cashion on the way there,” Harrell said.

Justice Broadbent, who missed half the season with a foot injury, did what he’s done many times since returning: Led the team in tackles.

The senior’s 10 tackles included seven solo and 1.5 for a loss.

George, Vandruff and Nabavi had five tackles each while Mason Manning picked off a pass.

In all, Cashion had six tackles for a loss and two sacks.

The Wildcats got four tackles out of Green, who, like his teammates, endured last season’s 20-14 loss to Ringling in the title tilt.

“Getting to come back to the finals after getting beat by Ringling was such a great feeling because I knew we were the best team in the state and all I wanted to do was prove that,” he said.

He made it happen with four catches for 52 yards and another 94 yards on 15 carries. Combined with his returns, Green had 185 all-purpose yards.

“The feeling is pretty surreal,” he said of winning gold.

“I’ve been so blessed to be able to watch so many great athletes and teams come before me and wear the Cashion jersey. It’s just so crazy that we were the team to finally get to bring home the gold. We wouldn’t be the team we are without all the leadership from the guys that came before us.”

Even before the game, Shackelford said he and other coaches noticed a calmness about Green and Harrell and other Wildcats.

“They had this confidence about them that the rest of the kids fed off of,” Shackelford said. “And you could tell as the game went along, just the way our kids carried themselves that they knew we were the better team.

“And that’s not a knock on Thomas because they’re obviously very good. But our kids just knew.”

And in doing so, the Wildcats reversed the trend of bringing home silver.

“It hit me yesterday that it’s kind of a weird feeling to have a football season end and not have disappointment,” Shackelford admitted. “You always replay what you could have done or what should have happened for a different result.

“There’s none of that this year. It’s an odd sensation.”

And in another first Cashion became the first Oklahoma high school team ever to win 16 games in a single season.

In a year many didn’t think would ever get started and even more thought it would never finish due to the coronavirus pandemic, Cashion managed to play 10 regular season games.

Then, due to the sporadic schedules played by most teams statewide, the OSSAA moved earlier this fall to include everyone in the playoffs, which meant an extra week.

While some teams opted out, nobody set before the Wildcats in their portion of the bracket ever did.

So they faced six playoff foes...and won them all, becoming the first Oklahoma team to ever go 16-0.

“It’s never been done before and I can almost guarantee you it never will again,” Shackelford said. “And if someone does play 16 games, they’re not winning them all.

“This was just a great way to end a crazy year and make history with a group that’s special in so many ways.”