Cashion’s Instant Classic

As he sat outside his team’s locker room overlooking the turf that is Pawhuska’s football field, Cashion head coach Lynn Shackelford was quite frank.

“If they’re as physical as they are athletic, we are in big trouble,” said Shackelford just prior to his team’s much-anticipated Class A semifinal with the No. 1-ranked Huskies.

Turns out Pawhuska was just as physical and Cashion was in trouble.

However, as championship-caliber teams do, Cashion found a way.

Stifled all night long, Ben Harman finally connected on a deep throw as he found Landon LaGasse for a 52-yard throw late in the fourth quarter.

Lance Christensen, who hadn’t touched the field since the game’s opening kickoff, calmly drilled the impending extra-point with 3:28 to play.

That proved to be the difference as Cashion got two more defensive stops to prevail 7-6 and advance to this week’s state championship game.

“That was the most fun I’ve ever had on a football field,” said LaGasse, who also had an interception on the game’s final play.

“We never get to play four-quarter games, but we did tonight.”

Neither Cashion nor Pawhuska starters were accustomed to going late into contests.

The Huskies averaged a state-best 66.4 points a game, had scored 60 or more in eight of their 12 games and twice reached the 90s.

“Everyone, including myself, questioned their schedule and questioned how they’d respond when they played someone as athletic as them,” Shackel-ford said. “I thought coming in we had a chance to be more physical than them, but I was probably proven wrong.”

Cashion was no offensive slouch as it put up 47.4 points a game, but the Wildcats were never able to consistently move the ball.

“We couldn’t run the ball. Their nose guard is a phenomenal player,” Shackelford said. “And they’re super aggressive on the outside with their man coverage and they were in Ben’s face all night.”

On top of struggling to move it, Cashion faced poor field position most of the first half.

“That really affects the kinds of plays you call,” Shackelford said.

Meanwhile, the Wildcat defense was keeping the team in the game.

Pawhuska was able to move from red zone to red zone, but the Wildcats on three different occasions denied the Huskies inside the 20.

The lone exception was a 17-yard drive that was set up by a 23-yard return by Dalton Hurd after Cashion was forced to punt from its end zone.

The Huskies capitalized when Jack Long scored on a 1-yard run with 6:56 to play in the first half. As they’ve done all season, the Huskies went for two, but the conversion was denied, which eventually proved to be a pivotal play.

However, it wouldn’t have mattered if Cashion’s offense didn’t get on track.

“We did our defense a complete disservice in the first half,” said Shackelford, who calls the offensive plays.

“We put their back against the wall the whole time and they just kept delivering. I told the team that holding them to six points at the half was a win for us.”

The trend continued in the second half. While field position wasn’t as detrimental, the Wildcats weren’t piecing together long drives.

“We just never could get any kind of rhythm,” Shackelford said. “Credit them. They get all the credit in the world.”

But as good as Pawhuska’s defense was, Cashion’s was better.

The Huskies featured quarterback Bryce Drummond, who will be an early enrollee at the University of North Texas next semester. They also had a pair of 1,000-yard receivers in Hurd and Mason Gilkey, the latter of which has multiple gold medals in the state track meet.

“We had to add another secondary player to defend the pass,” said defensive coordinator Tony Wood. “We tried to make sure we didn’t give up the big shot vertically down the field.”

Drummond was 24 of 47, but most were dumps over the middle or short passes to the sidelines.

“We tried to mix up what we showed them in the back end,” Wood said. “We didn’t want to make his reads easy.”

Drummond averaged 320 passing yards a game, but managed just 174 against the Wildcats.

With less than half a quarter to play, Cashion’s defense got yet another stop before Drummond dropped a perfectly-placed punt inside the Wildcat 10.

Suddenly Cashion’s offense found a spark. On back-to-back plays, LaGasse caught a screen pass and Mason Manning made a highlight-reel catch near the sideline to get the Wildcats near midfield.

Shackelford called a play, but justbefore the snap, the officials blew the play dead due to a clock issue.

It was during that stoppage that Shackelford tweaked his play, which initially called for LaGasse to run a post pattern.

“Their safety that was lined up over our tight end was backed way off and I was afraid he wasn’t going to do anything, but stay there and be in the way of our post pattern,” Shackelford said. “So during the clock issue we just checked the play and I said to throw a fade and see what happens.”

Magic happened.

Harman, who had been hassled all night and had been the victim of a couple of drops, laid up the pass for LaGasse down the Cashion side of the field.

LaGasse was being covered one-on-one by Gilkey.

“I jabbed inside, beat him deep and that was it,” LaGasse said.

He made the catch, got through the tackle and raced to the end zone.

“I’ve said it since last year when he came out for football,” said Shackelford of LaGasse, who hadn’t played since elementary. “He’s got more raw talent and ability than just about anyone I’ve coached. When he wants to be - and he wanted to be right there he’s legit.”

Still, an offense as explosive as Pawhuska’s had plenty of time to reclaim the lead.

They drove down to the Cashion 43 before Cashion’s defense stiffened again.

Jacob Farrow sacked Drummond and then the Wildcats denied three straight passes to force a turnover on downs. LaGasse and Max Brown got hands on two of the passes.

“Our guys really executed our plan pretty well,” Wood said. “We did drop four interceptions that we would have liked to have, but we also had three stops in the red zone, so we can’t be too picky.”

Brexten Green broke some big runs to get Cashion deep in Pawhuska territory in the waning moments. The Huskies were willing to let Cashion score to get the ball back with more time on the clock, but Green wisely took a knee on multiple plays.

Cashion couldn’t quite run out the clock, giving the Huskies the ball back for one last play, but Drummond’s last gasp fell into LaGasse’s hands.

“Coach Wood’s game plan was perfect,” LaGasse said. “That was the funnest game.”

LaGasse had four receptions for 85 yards.

Green caught four for 22 yards, but also added seven carries for 73 yards. Many of those came late as Cashion flipped the field on the Huskies.

Harman ran for 41 yards and was 11 of 23 passing for 142 yards.

Caden Harrell added 45 yards on 15 carries.

Most important, Cashion didn’t turn it over.

The Cashion defense - on top of multiple turnovers on downs - forced two of them.

Farrow, who was injured on the late sack, led the team with 13 tackles, including 10 solo. He had three tackles for a loss overall.

Justice Broadbent added 11 tackles while Manning and Nick Nabavi added eight apiece.

Despite giving up just 9.3 points a game entering the night, the Cashion defense was a bit overshadowed coming into the game thanks to the hype of the two offenses.

But it was the defense that won the day.

“Full credit to our defense,” Shackelford said. “They kept us in a position where one play mattered...

“And one play mattered.”