Cashion is prowling for another A-3 title

One down.

The big one to go.

Cashion pulled away last Friday from one potential obstacle en route to a desired district championship by defeating Crossings Christian School 44-24.

The Wildcats are now 8-0 overall and 5-0 in District A-3. The only other unbeaten team in the district is Minco, which Cash-ion hosts this Friday night.

“It’s going to be a big one again,” Cashion coach Lynn Shackelford said of the upcoming matchup. “One of our goals is to win a district championship, so this is one we have to win to achieve it.”

To put itself in position this week, the Wildcats had to take care of business last week.

They did it with their ground game.

The Wildcats rushed 47 times for 220 yards.

“We felt we would be able to run the ball going into the game, so we focused on that,” Shackelford said. “Plus we’ve got a couple of really good backs to give it to.”

Those backs are Caden Harrell and T.J. Roberts.

Harrell got the call 19 times, four of which ended in touchdowns.

He had a 16-yard run in the first quarter to tie up the game after Crossings was able to strike fi rst.

He added scoring runs of 4 and 3 yards in the second quarter as Cashion built up a 22-7 advantage.

Crossings cut it to 22-10 with a 22-yard Michael Morris field goal in the third quarter, but Cashion answered right back with Sam Brown’s 86-yard kickoff return for a score.

The Knights wouldn’t go away as they got a 58-yard pass from Drew Wood to Hunter Johnson in the third.

But, again, Cashion had an answer.

Harrell got his fourth TD, this time on a 4-yard run. Before the quarter ended, Ben Harman found Alex Nabavi for a 15-yard strike to push the lead to 44-17.

CCSaddedafourth-quarter score, but Cashion also knelt down at the 3 as time expired.

Harrell finished with 111 yards and averaged 5.8 a carry.

Roberts added 65 yards on 14 attempts.

Harman completed 9 of 14 passes for 104 yards. Nabavi caught five of them for 67 yards.

Harrell also led the team with 10 tackles.

“I really felt we controlled the game from the second quarter on,” Shackelford said. “But I also felt we could have played a lot better.

“We made some mistakes that if we make this week, it could be tough to overcome.”

For starters, the Wildcats were flagged 10 times for 105 yards.

“Some of those were pass interference penalties and that’s going to happen,” Shackelford said. “But we have to limit that.”

Starting center Colton Southall was also out with injury. The sophomore backup sailed a few snaps, though Cashion recovered all of them.

“We’ll have Colton back this week,” Shackelford said.

Minco enters the game 9-0 overall. The Bulldogs are ranked third by The Oklahoman and sixth by Skordle.

Cashion has been ranked No. 1 in both polls all season.

“They’ve got a really good quarterback and some good receivers,” Shackelford said of the Bulldogs.

Cavin Russell has thrown for 1,869 yards and 26 touchdowns for Minco.

Minco averages 33.8 points a game.

Cashion has surrendered just 80 points all season, fourth best in Class A.

“We have to play well on both sides of the ball,” Shackelford said. “I still think we haven’t played that complete game to the best of our abilities on both sides of the ball.

“Now would be a good time to start.”