MANNING AMONG BOYS

Sometimes the best decisions are the ones you never have to make.

Lynn Shackelford was one play away from having to deliver one of the more difficult calls of his professional life.

With 16 seconds left and the score tied in last Saturday’s Class A football state championship, Shackelford’s Cashion Wildcats were facing a 3rd-and-7 at the Ringling 9 yard line.

If Cashion didn’t score on the play, decision time loomed.

Try again or trot out field goal kicker Brycen Hogan – who has nailed many an extra-point, but attempted and missed only one field goal all year – to try to win the state championship?

“I was nervous, but ready,” Hogan said. “I knew I had one job to do.”

Defensive coordinator Tony Wood, who also works with special teams, was rushing to get members of the field goal unit ready… just in case.

“You dream of this as a kid,” he told Hogan.

And then he heard the roar.

• • • Cashion closed out yet another momentous season with yet another state championship.

This one just happened to be in dramatic fashion.

Ben Harman lofted a perfect fade to fellow senior Mason Manning in the back left corner of the end zone on that third-down play.

Manning leapt over his defender, secured the catch and then landed safely in bounds.

The 9-yard touchdown with only eight seconds remaining lifted Cashion to a 21-14 victory over previously unbeaten Ringling at Chad Richison Stadium on the campus of the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond.

“Words can’t explain the rush of emotions,” said Harman of the score, which capped a nine-play, 67-yard drive to give Cashion its second consecutive state title and put an exclamation point on an epic career for the current crop of seniors.

The touchdown came after a bevy of near misses for the Wildcats on previous drives and helped avenge a loss to Ringling in the 2019 title tilt.

In that game, Ringling was the same team it was in 2021: Big, strong, physical. The Blue Devils run at you time and again, chew up the clock and wear you down physically.

“Two years ago, we had the kids who could handle that,” Shackelford said. “They (Ringling) just were able to pop a couple of big plays on us.”

But this year?

“That’s not us,” he said, noting the much smaller stature of the 2021 version of the Wildcats across the board.

“This year going into it, we knew if we were lucky, it was going to be a war and we were going to have to do something we don’t normally do well in Cashion,” Shackelford continued.

“That’s stand up to the bully and make it a fistfight.”

• • • Gavin Phippen began preparing for the brutality of playing against Ringling just moments after Cashion defeated Pawhuska in the state semifinals.

“Honestly, throughout the week you mentally prepare yourself for a fistfight,” said Phippen.

“You can’t match their physicality in practice, but you just have to trust your teammate next to you to do their job every play.”

That mentality was preached all week.

“We told the guys we were going to be aggressive on defense,” Wood said. “They want us to cower down to them, but we’re going to deliver the blow and show them we’re not going to be afraid of them and they’re not going to bully us.”

Cashion did deliver the first blow in the game.

After disaster was diverted - officials originally called a forward pass a fumble which Ringling returned deep into Cashion territory, but eventually ruled it correctly - Harman and Manning connected for their first score of the day.

Manning had single coverage, blew past his defender and hauled in a 31-yard strike from Harman to put the Wildcats up 7-0 at 5:09 of the first quarter.

Ringling had an answer.

The Blue Devils promptly drove 67 yards in seven plays - all on the ground.

They tied it when Kaden Barron bulled and spun his way into the end zone from 12 yards out with 2:27 left in the first quarter.

Momentum stayed on Ringling’s side as it forced a three-and-out. The Blue Devils started their next possession near midfield.

Barron got the carry on the next play, but never completely secured the handoff.

The pigskin hit the turf and bounced into the waiting arms of Cashion’s Max Brown.

“He basically had a head start,” Shackelford said. “You’re not going to catch him.”

Nobody did. Brown raced 50 yards for a touchdown, Cashion’s first defensive touchdown in a state championship game with its current staff.

“It came at a pretty good time,” Wood said.

The marathon first quarter ended with Cashion up 14-7 and stayed that way until 6:43 of the second.

After a Cashion drive stalled, Kanyon McGahey returned a punt 24 yards to the Cashion 25.

On the next play, Coltin Fincher ran in the game-tying TD.

The teams traded possessions the rest of the half, but one thing was certain.

Adjustments needed to be made.

Ringling had 148 yards of offense in the first half…139 of them had come on the ground.

“We knew the formations and what they like to do, but you still have to see how they’re going to attack what you do,” Wood said.

Essentially the defense switched from a 5-3 to a 6-2 look and flipped the line inside out…sort of.

Wood moved some of his smaller, quicker linemen like Joey Wilson and Aidan Williams to the inside and some of the bigger ‘Cats like Chase Ritter, Culianni Martinez and Preston Cotter to the outside.

“We started slanting the guys inside and that helped us get some movement there,” Wood said. “And the bigger bodies on the outside made it harder for Ringling to wash them down or kick them out.”

It worked, especially as the game wore on.

“They were able to move the ball some on a couple of drives, but for the most part, we were shutting them down,” Wood said.

Cotter, Wood guessed, hadn’t played defense in the last six or seven games.

He picked up two tackles in the state final.

“You never know when it’s your turn,” Wood said. “He came in and played his butt off.”

Still, Cashion’s offense was unable to break the tie.

After scoring in the first quarter, Cashion punted four times, Harman was picked off twice and the Wildcats had a turnover on downs.

Harman’s first interception was a desperation heave to end the first half.

His second came at 4:51 of the third quarter after the Wildcats had driven into Ringling territory.

Harman went for the score, but McGahey made a great defensive play to pick it off in the end zone.

The Wildcats started a drive at their own 20 with 7:51 to play.

Three pass plays to Manning - and Manning drawing a pass interference penalty - helped Cashion reach the Ringling 20 yard line.

However, two straight incompletions saw the Wildcats turn it over on downs with 3:28 left.

It appeared that may have been the last opportunity.

But Cashion’s defense - once again - rose to the occasion.

Two Karson Daniel passes to McGahey fell incomplete and they sandwiched Manning tackling Fincher for a minimal gain.

Ringling was once again forced to punt.

In the fourth quarter, the Blue Devils took 11 snaps and gained 20 yards.

“Tony made halftime adjustments that won us the game,” Shackelford said.

Still, the game wasn’t won.

Ringling’s punt put Cashion at its own 33 with 2:26 left in regulation.

On 2nd-and-9, Harman hit Nick Nabavi with a screen pass that netted 14 yards.

“On a two-minute drive, if you can just get that initial first down, it really gives you momentum,” Shackelford said.

Next came a 10-yard pass to Manning. Two plays later, Harman scrambled for 20 yards.

On the next snap, the screen pass to Nabavi struck again, this time for a 13-yard gain to the Ringling 12.

“We really haven’t been a good screen team this year,” Shackelford said. “We’ve called it a few games and it never seemed to work.”

However, with the way Ringling was attacking, Shackelford had a hunch it might work.

Cashion was pushed back by an illegal motion penalty and after two Nabavi runs, the clock showed just 16 seconds.

Wood said the drive was a master class and Shackelford was the professor.

“We’ve been in a lot of games together and I’ve watched him call games, manage drives and manage the clock the last nine years,” Wood said.

“His play calling on that drive was amazing. Knowing what to do in every situation and making sure to get the playmakers the ball…it was surreal to watch.”

Only Wood wasn’t watching on the next play.

He was busy making sure his special teams guys were ready, especially Hogan.

While he was doing that, Shackelford was talking to his offense after calling his last timeout.

“Mason can you win on a corner?” he asked Manning.

The answer was simple.

“Yes.”

The plan was set. If Ringling played press coverage as Shackelford predicted, Landon LaGasse was going to run a slant to help occupy a safety and it was up to Manning to beat his man and make the play.

“If it’s anything besides press coverage, we throw it away,” Shackelford said.

Manning knew soon after he began his route that he was going to make the play on his end.

“I had the confidence I was going to make the catch because I had a full step on my man from my cut,” he said.

Harman put the perfect amount of loft and distance on the ball.

Manning made the catch…then time froze for just a moment.

“I was wondering if I was in because I tapped (my foot), but I didn’t look down,” he said.

Then he saw the referee’s signal, which sent the Cashion faithful into a frenzy.

Wood, trying to calm his kicker’s nerves, heard the roar.

“I think we just scored a touchdown,” he said.

Cashion did.

Shackelford’s dilemma was taken out of his hands.

“I’m glad I didn’t have to decide,” he said.

Hogan did have to trout out to the field, but only to kick a less pressure-filled extra-point.

He then nailed a kickoff to the sideline that left Ringling just one second left on its final snap.

Manning knocked down the Hail Mary pass and Cashion celebrated.

“The excitement of all the work we put in over the summers and throughout the seasons had all come together,” said Manning.

Did they ever for him.

Manning played perhaps his finest game as a Cashion Wildcat.

The game-winning TD was his 14th catch of the game. They covered 195 yards.

For the year, Manning had 104 catches for 1,830 yards and 16 scores.

He added 11 tackles against the Blue Devils, two for a loss, one pass break-up and a quarterback hurry.

“When he’s dialed in, there aren’t too many out there that are better than him,” Shackelford said. “I thought he dominated on the defensive side of the ball in the second half and, offensively, for four quarters they didn’t have an answer for him.”

Safe to say Manning was dialed in.

“You don’t get to see those types of games very often in person,” Wood added. “It was a sight to see him perform at that level on both sides of the ball.”

Cashion’s defense essentially gave up one scoring drive.

After the Blue Devils scored on one play just about midway through the second quarter, they didn’t see the end zone for the final 30-plus minutes of the game.

They were allowed just five drives after that, excluding the final play of the game. Four of them ended in punts and the other with a turnover on downs.

Fincher ran the ball 25 times for 149 yards. Barron added 67 more.

Daniel was just 2 of 11 through the air for 13 yards, none in the second half.

“It feels really good knowing we completely shut them down in the second half,” said Phippen, who led the team with 12 total tackles.

“Everyone knows that defense wins championships.”

Bryce Burke, the team’s leading tackler for the season, added 11 tackles.

Nabavi was in on nine tackles.

“They delivered some blows, but we stepped into them with full force,” Wood said. “They had just a couple of drives where they got some headway, but we shut them down pretty good.”

Cashion’s offense produced only 57 net yards on the ground.

Harman ran for 33 and Nabavi 24 on 25 combined carries.

“They are such a strong and physical team, we knew we needed to match their physicality and toughness to keep up with them,” Harman said. “But I also knew if they were selling out to stop the run, then we could hit them on the edge with Mason and Landon.”

LaGasse caught an early pass for 31 yards. He ended his senior season with 89 catches for 1,692 yards and 29 touchdowns.

Seth Gilbert hauled in one pass for 32 yards and Nabavi’s two netted him 27 yards.

Harman ended 18 of 33 for 285 yards. For the season, Harman threw for 4,124 yards and 52 touchdowns.

A career that saw him start three years behind center saw Harman throw for 10,696 yards, which is fifth all-time in Oklahoma high school 11-man history (one spot behind his brother, Matt).

His 145 career touchdowns are second all-time (one spot ahead of Matt).

Those stats are part of an amazing run for Cashion’s seniors.

They finished their final season with a 14-1 record and won their last 14 games.

In four years, the Wildcats were 54-3, played in three state championships and won the last two.

They never lost a district game and had three unbeaten regular seasons.

In other words, they’ll be Cashion legends forever.

“It’s something you dream about growing up and for it to become reality is definitely something you won’t forget,” Phippen said.

However, he added, it’s more than that.

“I feel like it’s easy to get caught up in how successful we were instead of just enjoying being around your best friends and making memories you won’t forget.”

Harman also said it’s more than just the results on the field.

“It’s awesome to be walking through the halls and see a younger kid just completely light up when he sees a football player,” he said. “That makes me feel like we have done it right.

“Winning back-to-back titles is awesome - don’t get me wrong - but this isn’t about that. This is about those who set the way for us and what we can do for those to come after us.”