The Cascade Champions’ offense was unable to get going on the road against the Class 3-A Watertown Purple Tigers on Friday night, with the hosts scoring 13 points in the fourth quarter to win 20-3.

Cascade finished with 52 yards of total offense on the night, and their only points came off of a defensive turnover giving the visitors possession at the Watertown 5-yard line. The sheer size and strength of the Purple Tigers in the trenches was just too much to overcome as the hosts’ held the Champions to -7 rushing yards, including sacks, and just 59 yards through the air.

Max Smith led Cascade in rushing with 9 yards on 12 carries. Christian Casey went 5/14 for 59 yards and 1 INT. 

Meanwhile, Watertown, who came in averaging just under 80 yards rushing per game as a team, ran for over 300 yards on the night, led by sophomore quarterback Kaden Waldorf. Waldorf accounted for nearly 200 total yards by himself with 134 of them coming on the ground on just 13 carries. Landon Harper only played in the the first half but still totaled 70 yards rushing on seven carries. Landon Oliver came in for Harper in the second half and tallied 61 yards on 11 carries, and Garrett Davis tacked on 62 yards and 1 TD on nine carries. Jesse Bratcher added a one-yard rushing TD.

Watertown came out and marched down the field in less than five minutes to take the lead at 7-0 with 7:23 left in the opening quarter after Bratcher’s one-yard TD run. Waldorf led the drive going 4/4 for 41 yards through the air, but would only complete two more passes the entire game after the opening possession thanks to an admirable effort on the back end by the Cascade secondary in coverage. 

The Purple Tigers would hold that 7-0 lead into the second quarter until Christian Casey split a couple of blocks on the perimeter to jump the WR screen and pick the ball off, getting all the way down to the Watertown five-yard line to set up a 1st-and-goal. However, Cascade could only go backwards, and were forced to settle for a 27-yard field goal by Gabe Perez-Rubio to make it 7-3 with 8:58 to go in the half.

Both defenses traded stops, and then Watertown started to run the football with Landon Harper and Waldorf, getting down into the red zone with less than two minutes left to go. However, Waldorf put the ball on the ground trying to fight for extra yards inside the 10-yard line, sending both teams to the halftime locker room in a low-scoring affair.

Cascade would get the ball to start the second half, but the Champions could not move the ball, going three-and-out immediately. For the remainder of the third quarter, neither team was able to threaten the opposing team’s end zone, sending the game into the fourth quarter with Watertown still in front, 7-3.

However, the Purple Tigers would finally break through the Champs’ resistance 36 seconds into the fourth quarter on a 5-yard plunge from Garrett Davis to stretch the lead to two possessions, 14-3.

On the ensuing drive, Casey found Andrew Dowell over the middle of the field for a big gain to get into Purple Tigers’ territory, but the very next play he threw an INT to Marcus Reynolds to give the ball back to Watertown with 10:38 to go in the final frame.

Once again, both defenses exchanged stops before Braxton Burris forced Waldorf’s second INT of the night. His return got him down to the Watertown 12-yard line after a late hit, injecting Cascade with new life late with five minutes left in the game.

However, penalties and a lack of protection for Casey meant the Purple Tigers were able to push Cascade out of the red zone. This forced the Champs to have to settle for a field goal on fourth down to try and make it a one possession game, but a bad snap withheld Perez-Rubio from ever having a chance to get a kick off leading to the holder, Burris, heaving it to the end zone and into the arms of a Watertown defender. 

Garrett Davis would tack on his second rushing TD of the night from 10 yards out with 1:36 left to put an exclamation mark on Watertown’s first win of the season.

Watertown improves to 1-4 (0-1).

Cascade falls to 1-4 (0-0) and are scheduled to begin Region 5-2A play at Chapel Hill on Friday, LIVE on WZNG The Zinger 100.9 starting at 6:45 p.m.