BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. – Missing star senior quarterback Sam Bradley due to an injury sustained in the loss to Watertown, Cascade (3-6, 0-4) fell to Marion County (9-0, 3-0) 42-7 on Friday night in its final home game of the season.

Lendon Gordon, who had started at wide receiver all season before this game, stepped in to fill Bradley’s absence. He finished 3-of-6 through the air for 44 yards and one touchdown. Nate Zimmerman chipped in on the ground, finishing with 25 carries for 70 yards while registering a team-high seven tackles in the final home game of his career.

Marion County’s Zaieden Humphrey had his hands all over this contest for the Warriors. He finished with 108 yards rushing and two touchdowns on just six carries while adding 100 yards and one touchdown on three receptions. Taedyn Bibbs also reached the 100-yard mark, tallying 102 yards and one touchdown on eight rush attempts.

After Cascade opened with a three-and-out, Marion County took an early lead with Humphrey taking the first play from scrimmage 55 yards to the end zone on a bubble screen to give the Warriors a 7-0 lead with 9:49 left in the first quarter.

The Champs fumbled away their next possession at their own 21-yard line, and Humphrey, who is committed to Austin Peay for football, found the end zone from two yards out on the ground to take a 14-0 lead with just over eight minutes left in the period.

Cascade managed to pick up a pair of first downs on the ensuing drive, but ultimately was forced to punt again. This resulted in Colin Beason finding Quincy Mills in the back of the end zone on a 14-yard touchdown pass to swell the lead to 21-0 with 50 seconds left in the quarter.

When the hosts returned the short Marion County kickoff to their own 49-yard line, they were able to move the ball 24 yards into field goal range, but the 43-yard field goal attempt from Diego Torres Perez just missed with 9:50 left in the half.

Despite trading punts on the next two possessions, Cascade held Marion County scoreless in the second quarter. On the first play of the second half, Ty Hazelwood picked off a Beason pass, but Cascade turned the ball over on downs and came away with zero points.

Humphrey promptly found a crease to pick up a 64-yard rushing touchdown to take a 28-0 lead with 7:23 to go in the third quarter. After a Cascade punt, Bibbs got in on the action with a 51-yard scamper to paydirt to grow the lead to 35-0 with just under four minutes left in the third period.

One final Cascade punt led to a 36-yard touchdown run by TJ Starkey to start the fourth quarter.

On the ensuing Champions drive, Cascade finally managed to find the end zone thanks to a beautiful 31-yard touchdown pass with 6:11 remaining from Gordon to Xykaiah Dixon down the left sideline to reach the final margin of 42-7.

Cascade falls to 3-6 overall. The Champions take on Community to close out the season in the ‘Battle of Bedford’ on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m.