BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. – After winning District 9-A in dramatic fashion last week, the surging Cascade Champions (6-7, 3-3) ended the Loretto Mustangs’ (10-4-1, 7-2-1) season, 4-0, on Tuesday.

“When we played our first couple games of the district, we knew we had all the potential, but we just couldn’t put it together,” Cascade Head Coach Zack Spears said postgame about his team’s turnaround, “To have watched us struggle and be right there on the cusp was so tough. We watched people count us out, but these guys didn't quit. It’s beautiful to see some kids that don’t have quit in them. They just didn’t give up. It would have been easy to hit eject on this year.”

After starting the season 0-6 with two one-goal District 9-A losses against Chapel Hill and Community, Spears’ squad began to turn things around. Then, they won three of their final four district games entering the District 9-A Tournament before taking down Community on penalties and then Chapel Hill in the title game, 1-0.

On Tuesday, the Champions avoided any potential extra time by taking control of the game from the opening kickoff. Loretto forced just one true save as the Cascade backline prevented the Mustangs from putting much pressure on goal.

Cascade took the lead when Lando Martin opened the scoring in the 23rd minute. Martin pounced on a loose ball in the box, finding the back of the net from six yards out to give the hosts a goal that had felt inevitable for the previous five minutes or so. 

“There’s always going to be nerves, and that first goal helps so much because we found what worked,” said Spears, “To have Lando finish that one, it’s huge, and without it, it’s a different story in the second half.”

Cascade would carry its 1-0 advantage into halftime, but they continued to search for more as the second half began. 12 minutes into the half, the Champions doubled their lead when Briston Moore dragged his left-footed effort across goal, nestling the ball into the side netting to the keeper’s left for a 2-0 lead in the 52nd minute.

“We finally found the scoring touch, if we’re being honest,” Spears said, “We couldn’t put the ball in the net for the longest time. We played defense well enough, and finding out how to score has been huge.”

As the hosts continued to frustrate and disrupt seemingly every Loretto attack, Logan Haddock found the back of the net off of an assist on a free kick in the 74th minute, and then Carson Byford put the exclamation point on an empathic team performance with a direct free kick goal from 30 yards out on a knuckler in the 79th minute.

“We’ve been to this point in the past, but on Thursday, we get a chance to bring home a gold plaque instead of a silver one,” Spears said, “Chapel Hill is a good team, so it will be tough.”

Following Chapel Hill’s comeback win at Richland on Tuesday, Cascade is set to host the Region 5-A Championship on Thursday night against the Rockets. Kickoff time is TBD.