The Cascade Champions went on the road to open the season at Moore County on Friday night for the first game in Jared Carkuff era, but the hometown Raiders were simply too much to handle, pulling away with 26 unanswered points to win comfortably, 33-7. 

The Raiders, coming off of a 12-1 season that ended in heartbreaking fashion in the third round of the state playoffs, still showed that they are a force to be reckoned with in Class 1A.

Cascade’s freshman quarterback, Peyton Wireman, showed positive flashes throughout the evening, finishing 14/24 for 143 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. Junior wideout Christian Casey was Wireman’s favorite target, leading all receivers with nine catches for 112 yards. 

Moore County’s damage was primarily done on the ground, as out of their 426 total yards on offense, 256 of those yards came in the run game. Despite losing Dawson White, last year’s TSSAA Class 1A Mr. Football, at quarterback, Gavin Wise didn’t seem to miss a beat. Wise created more than a few chunk plays in both the pass and run game by extending plays with his legs outside of the pocket. He only completed six passes on 16 attempts, but he made those six completions count, tallying 143 yards and one touchdown. Cole Taylor led the hosts with two catches for 79 yards, including a 37 yard touchdown in the final minute of the first half to put Moore County ahead for good, 14-7.

 On the ground, Cascade’s sophomore tailback Max Smith scurried for 78 yards on 11 carries. For Moore County, Isaac Petty, Chris Merical, and Gavin Wise all rumbled for at least 69 yards. Petty led all rushers with 99 yards and one touchdown on just 15 carries, Merical tallied 74 yards and one touchdown on 13 carries, and Wise added 69 yards on 11 carries. 

Despite the high yardage numbers, neither team managed to puncture the scoreboard in the first quarter. Cascade’s defense forced a turnover on downs after stuffing Petty on 4th and 1 in the red zone, but Moore County’s defense was even more stifling against Jared Carkuff’s new-look Champions’ offense. 

As the first half wore on, the Raiders started to create some plays against Cascade’s defense with Gavin Wise escaping the pocket and scrambling for key first downs to keep drives alive. Despite Cain Harden and others making plays in the front seven at times, Wise was able to overcome that more times than not. The hosts also decided to force feed Petty on their second-to-last drive of the first half, marching down the field for the first score of the game on a one-yard plunge from Petty with less than five minutes to go. 

With the deadlock broken, Cascade began a scoring drive of their own. After an incredible 42-yard catch-and-run screen from Christian Casey on 3rd and 11 got the ball down inside the red zone for the first time, Max Smith ran it in from six yards out for Cascade’s first and only score of the game with 2:31 left in the first half.

Perhaps invigorated by their touchdown drive the previous possession, Wise led the hometown Raiders right down the field, breaking the Champs’ back on 4th and 6 with a 37-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Cole Taylor down the middle of the field with 33 seconds to go. 

In the second half, Moore County looked like they finally found their rhythm on both sides of the ball. Wise orchestrated another touchdown drive in the third quarter, capping it off with a 10-yard touchdown run of his own with 4:51 left in the period. Although the extra point doinked off of the upright, the Raiders still held a 20-7 lead. Cascade just could not find any consistency offensively in the second half, finishing with just 194 total yards and finishing 4/14 on third downs. 

Meanwhile, Moore County continued to pound the rock, and their experienced offensive line continued to open up holes as the fourth quarter wore on. Chris Merical scored a pair of touchdowns in the final frame. His first came from 16 yards out with 9:51 left, and his second came with 3:29 to go on a three-yard plunge for the final exclamation point on a season-opening 33-7 victory.

Moore County improves to 1-0, and is scheduled to hit the road to play at Fayetteville in a non-region matchup on Friday night.

Cascade falls to 0-1, but will play their home opener against non-region foe Richland on Friday night, live on WZNG The Zinger 100.9.