The tradition continues

Lynn Shackelford has had some throwing and catching duos in his days at Cashion.

Cayden Cochran to Jeremy Seaton.

Matt Harman to Josh Hampton.

Griffin Lamb to Seth Brown.

Ty Reasoner to Nate Lee…or Joe Neece.

Add Ben Harman to Landon LaGasse to the list.

The pair last Friday connected seven times for 199 yards and four touchdowns as Cashion throttled Minco 48-6 at Maxon Field.

LaGasse scored on passes of 7 and 15 yards in the first quarter as the Wildcats burst to a 21-0 lead.

He had scores of 40 and 73 yards in the second quarter as the lead swelled to 34-0.

Impressive as it was, it wasn’t even his best outing this month.

LaGasse hauled in 13 catches for 286 yards and five scores the week before at Perry.

“I said when he was a sophomore he had a chance to be one of the best ones we’ve had here,” Lynn Shackelford said of LaGasse. “He can run and jump and catches the ball effortlessly.

“He just needs a QB who can get him the ball.”

Harman is just that guy. The fellow senior is now a three-year starter and has had his own amazing twogame stretch.

Against the Bulldogs, Harman was 20 of 31 for 427 yards and six scores.

In two weeks, he’s thrown 64 passes without an interception, amassed 816 yards and 12 touchdowns.

“It’s great having guys like Landon to throw the ball to, knowing he’ll come down with it,” Harman said.

LaGasse isn’t his only weapon.

Mason Manning caught five passes for 101 yards against Minco.

That included a 66-yard touchdown in the second quarter.

Max Brown scored on a 29-yard play in the first quarter and a 16-yard run in the third. The latter gave the Wildcats a 48-0 advantage.

“It’s nice being able to throw our quick routes to Mason because he’s so good in traffic,” Harman said. “And then it’s nice to have Max because he’s one of the fastest guys on the team.

“Have guys like this on the team make my job so much easier.”

Cashion’s defense was also at its best, though the season is early.

The Wildcats switched to a four-man front after struggling the first two weeks of the season.

The result was surrendering a paltry 111 total yards.

That included giving up 26 yards on 30 Minco rushing attempts.

“The switch helped free up our linebackers and our defensive ends,” said defensive coordinator Tony Wood.

Jackson Vandruff led the way with six tackles while Kaleb Duran and Nick Nabavi had five apiece.

Nabavi also picked off a pass.

It was one of three takeaways by the Cashion defense, which also forced six punts while giving up only seven first downs.

LaGasse added an interception to his night as well, but it was the passes he caught for an offense that racked up 527 total yards that stole the show.

LaGasse recalled the summer circuit of 7-on-7 camps the Wildcats attended.

“We competed with a bunch of 5A and 6A schools and Ben and I were still pretty dominant,” he said.

“So that gave us a lot of confidence that we had a great chance to be the best in Class A this year.”

Harman and Brexten Green had a similar connection a season ago, one in which Cashion won the state championship.

Green caught 94 passes for 1,638 yards and 18 TDs to earn All-State honors.

LaGasse has those numbers in mind…and then some.

“I told him I was going to surpass all of his stats and hopefully the school record for receiving yards in a year,” LaGasse said.

Hampton holds that mark as he caught 146 passes for 1,946 yards in 2015.

LaGasse currently sits at 562 yards through three games while Cashion has managed a 2-1 record.

“They’ve been doing well,” Shackelford said of his latest QB-WR duo. “But they’re going to need to continue to do it for us to get to where we want to go.”