UNIONVILLE, Tenn. – With both teams eliminated from postseason play, the 2026 edition of the ‘Battle of Bedford’ on the gridiron came down to a primal battle for pride. With that in mind, in the final Region 4-AAA matchup of the season, the Cascade Champions (4-6, 1-4) came out on top over the winless Community Vikings (0-10, 0-5) in a 56-0 win on Thursday night.

The Champions took a 53-0 lead in the first half, and promptly pulled the majority of their starters for the entire second half. Sam Bradley finished his high school career by going 5-for-7 through the air for 148 yards and two touchdowns while also running for 31 yards and another score on three carries. Nate Zimmerman also saw his high school career come to a close on Thursday night, tallying 58 yards rushing and three touchdowns on six carries.

To start, Cascade returned the opening kickoff to the Vikings 33-yard line, and two plays later Xykaiah Dixon found the end zone from 25 yards out on a screen pass to take a 7-0 lead with 11:15 to go in the first quarter.

On Community’s ensuing possession, after going three-and-out, the Vikings snap sailed through the punter’s hands, eventually resulting in a safety to give the visitors a 9-0 lead.

Both teams traded punts before trading fumbles, eventually allowing the Champions to take over at the Community 43-yard line. Two plays later, Bradley swung the ball out to Lendon Gordon for a 46-yard touchdown on another screen pass, giving the visitors a 17-0 lead with 4:29 left in the period.

After another three-and-out resulted in a Community punt that was muffed, Cascade took over at the Vikings five-yard line. This immediately resulted in a Nate Zimmerman touchdown run to grow the lead to 25-0 after lineman Isaac Rimes converted on a direct snap for the two-point conversion to take a four-score lead with 2:02 remaining in the first.

Following yet another muffed punt attempt gave Cascade the ball at the one-yard line, senior Brett Heunik scored his first touchdown of the season on a one-yard touchdown run to take a 32-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

On the ensuing drive, Community managed to put together easily its best drive of the entire game, moving the ball on the ground from its own 33-yard line to the Cascade six-yard line before being stuffed around the goal line. Gunnar Harden recorded carries of 28 yards and 11 yards to help get the Vikings into scoring position as well as runs from Adriel Rodriguez – he tallied 82 yards rushing on 20 attempts for the game – but the ensuing 23-yard field goal attempt from the right hash was yanked wide-left. 

Cascade promptly drove 80 yards down the field in 1:03 and reached the end zone on a 29-yard Nate Zimmerman scamper to take a 39-0 lead with 6:33 left in the first half. 

Following a Vikings turnover-on-downs at its own 29-yard line, Sam Bradley took a designed quarterback run 29 yards to the end zone to take a 46-0 lead with 3:52 to go in the half.

Then, a Community punt was blocked, allowing Nate Zimmerman to eventually find the end zone from 17 yards out for Cascade’s final touchdown of the night with 55 seconds to go in the half and take a 56-0 lead heading into the halftime locker room.

With the game and result well in hand and the running clock set to begin, Cascade pulled their starters for the second half. On its second drive of the half, Diego Torres Perez drilled a 23-yard field goal with 10:30 to go in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, the Vikings ended all four second-half drives with fumbles. 

Community finishes a turbulent 2026 campaign at 0-10 overall.

Cascade wraps up the 2026 slate at 4-6 overall.