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Champs dominate Battle of Bedford

By WILL CARTER - Sports Writer
Posted 9/27/22

BELL BUCKLE — It was a dominant performance from start to finish for the Cascade Champions as they cruised to a 46-0 shutout victory over the Community Vikings in Friday night’s Battle of …

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Champs dominate Battle of Bedford

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BELL BUCKLE — It was a dominant performance from start to finish for the Cascade Champions as they cruised to a 46-0 shutout victory over the Community Vikings in Friday night’s Battle of Bedford.
The Champions (3-3) totaled 409 yards of offense while holding the Vikings (1-4) to only 46 total yards.
And for the first time this season, Cascade committed no turnovers throughout the game – a key to winning for head coach Jake Tyre.
“If we can play good football without having any turnovers, then I like our chances against anybody,” Tyre said.
“It was about as perfect a night as you can get offensively and defensively. The kids get up for this game every year, and we need this to carry over into next week.”
Community received the opening kickoff, but quickly handed the ball to Cascade with good field position after a high snap on special teams.
Shortly after, the Champions scored their first points of the game with eight minutes and 54 seconds left in the first quarter when quarterback Xamarion Dixon found the end zone from 15 yards away.
Running back Connor Huie punched in the two-point conversion to make it 8-0.
On the ensuing drive, the Vikings found themselves in trouble again as another high snap led to a safety and a 10-0 advantage for the Champions.
It didn’t take much time for Cascade to score on the drive that followed the free kick as senior Chance Brown sliced his way through the Vikings’ defense for a 42-yard touchdown with five minutes and nine seconds remaining in the first quarter.
The two-point conversion was no good and left them with a 16-0 lead.
After a couple defensive penalties on the following drive, the Vikings found themselves inside the Champions’ territory for the first time of the night, but it was short-lived as Dixon intercepted a pass for a touchback with two and a half minutes left in the first quarter.
Less than a minute later, running back Sawyer Lovvorn turned on the jets for a 70-yard touchdown, his first of the season.
The Champions’ ground game couldn’t be stopped Friday night as they totaled 340 yards on the ground with 10 different ball carriers and three touchdown scorers.
“We blocked who we needed to block and ran the ball well,” Tyre said.
“I don’t know how many people touched the ball tonight, but it was a great team effort.”
Two of the Vikings key players were sidelined due to injury Friday night which forced them to change their gameplan on both sides of the ball.
Offensively, they just couldn’t get much going in the positive direction.
“We just didn’t execute,” Vikings head coach Chris Grooms said.
“We came out here with injuries, so we had to put some guys in different positions and make the offense more simple.”
The Champions, however, showed no signs of letting up as Dixon scored from four yards away with eight minutes and 20 seconds left in the first half for his second touchdown of the game.
Dixon converted the two-point conversion to make it a 30-0 game.
They scored their final touchdown of the half when Dixon connected with wide receiver Hayden Dowell on a seven yard pass that Dowell turned into a 36 yard score.
At the half, the Champions led the Vikings 38-0.
Cascade was set to receive the second half kickoff, but Community kicked it onside and recovered it to try and spark some momentum.
That spark was once again short-lived as the Champions forced a turnover on downs.
With four minutes and 40 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Brown scored the final touchdown of the game for the Champions, and Huie punched in the two-point conversion to bring the game to its final score of 46-0.
Brown totaled 75 yards on four carries with two touchdowns on the night.
Cascade made substitutions on both sides of the ball for the remainder of the game as the clock continued to wind down.
While rivalry games can mean a little bit more than the average non-region game, the focus for Grooms and the Vikings is winning region games and making the playoffs.
“The goal is to make the playoffs, and we have three region games left,” Grooms said.
“We just gotta show up to practice, work on our game plan, and execute it. That’s what it takes to win games, and that’s what we’re focused on.”
Both teams have important region games coming up as the Champions will travel to Chapel Hill to take on the Forrest Rockets while the Vikings will host the Sequatchie County Indians this upcoming Friday night.
 
Cascade           22 16 8 0 – 46
Community           0   0 0 0 –  0
First Quarter
Cascade – Xamarion Dixon 15 run (Connor Huie 2 pt.), 8:54.
Cascade – Defensive safety, 7:22.
Cascade – Chance Brown 42 run (2 pt. failed), 5:09.
Cascade – Sawyer Lovvorn 70 run (2 pt. failed), 1:38.
Second Quarter
Cascade – Dixon 4 run (Dixon 2 pt.), 8:20.
Cascade – Hayden Dowell 36 pass from Dixon, (Huie 2 pt.), 2:14.
Third Quarter
Cascade – Brown 2 run (Huie 2 pt.), 4:40.