BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. – Chapel Hill (8-0, 3-0) superstar Quincy Mitchell ran for 222 yards and four touchdowns on 10 carries in a 63-28 win to spoil homecoming for the Cascade Champions (3-4, 0-3) in a Region 4-AAA contest on Friday night.

Cascade quarterback Sam Bradley accounted for more than 400 total yards on the night, finishing 20-for-34 for 277 yards and two touchdowns with one interception while rushing for 158 yards and two touchdowns on 13 attempts. Braxtyn Burris was his leading receiver, tallying eight receptions for 172 yards and one touchdown. Nate Zimmerman was held in check, accumulating 46 yards on 15 carries.

Early on, there were plenty of fireworks to start the game. First, Quincy Mitchell weaved his way through the Cascade defense for a 56-yard touchdown run on the opening drive, and then the Rockets recovered a fumble at the Cascade 25-yard line. Shortly after, with 10:14 to go in the first quarter, a number of flags were thrown against Cascade, and two of them were unsportsmanlike conduct fouls against the Champions’ head coach Jared Carkuff, resulting in an ejection.

“It’s frustrating, and it’s embarrassing for me as well,” Carkuff said, “The first penalty on one of our players I thought was pretty soft, and I said that. I guess they thought I was calling them soft, so they threw a flag on me for that. Then the white hat tells me to back up and not to say another word, I clap and give him a thumbs up, and then the second flag comes.”

Eventually, Chapel Hill would punch it in from one yard out thanks to Mitchell with 10:06 to go in the quarter, taking a 14-0 lead in the process.

Cascade’s ensuing possession saw the Champions put together a handful of first downs, but the drive stalled out at the Rockets’ 33-yard line, resulting in a turnover-on-downs. Chapel Hill quarterback Micah Morgan, who finished 6-of-8 for 138 yards and three touchdowns through the air with seven carries for 64 yards and one touchdown on the ground, found room to run for a 46-yard touchdown to take a 21-0 lead in the opening period.

On the next Champions’ drive, the offense was finally able to respond with a touchdown as Bradley found Burris on a beautifully thrown football down the left sideline for a 51-yard touchdown to trim the score to 21-7 with 3:24 to go in the quarter. Chapel Hill was flagged for a personal foul after the touchdown, allowing Cascade to kick-off from the Rockets’ 45-yard line. Lando Martin, who also helped lead Cascade’s soccer team to the State Tournament in the Spring, delivered a perfect onside kick that Xykaiah Dixon recovered. Unfortunately for the hosts, they once again were stopped just short of a fourth-down conversion in Rockets’ territory.

Immediately afterwards, Mitchell found his way to the end zone for the third time – this time on a reception – to make it 28-7 with 8:52 left in the first half. 

Then, Bradley provided a jolt of electricity to the Cascade crowd with a 71-yard touchdown scamper, accelerating through the Rockets’ defense to trim the deficit to two scores at 28-14 with 8:05 remaining in the half.

However, Mitchell was not finished. This time, he found the end zone from 64 yards out for his fourth touchdown of the night, extending the lead back up to 35-14 with 6:21 to go in the second quarter.

Then, Cascade put together its best drive of the night, taking just over five minutes off the clock before an eight-yard run by Bradley found the end zone on third-and-goal to get back within two scores.

Unfortunately for the hosts, Mitchell needed just one play, weaving his way through and around Cascade defenders on a 62-yard catch-and-run touchdown to send both teams into the halftime locker room after a high-scoring first half at 42-21.

Cascade got the ball to start the second half, but a Mitchell interception resulted in a Braiden Bourne touchdown reception from 24 yards out, growing the Rockets’ lead to 49-21 with 7:44 left in the third quarter.

After a Champions’ punt, Mitchell ran into the end zone from 27 yards out for his sixth total touchdown as the lead ballooned to 56-21 with 6:39 left in the third quarter.

A couple of drives later, Bradley found Lendon Gordon for a 32-yard touchdown pass over the middle of the field for the Champions’ final points of the night. Chapel Hill would tack on a fourth-quarter touchdown to reach the final score of 63-28.

The 28 points scored by Cascade is the second-most points scored against the Rockets all season, behind only the 36 points scored by Sequatchie County two weeks prior.

Cascade falls to 3-4 overall after dropping its third-consecutive game. The Champions will travel to Watertown on Friday night with the No. 4 seed in the playoffs on the line for Region 4-AAA. Kick-off is set for 7:00 p.m.