The Cascade Champions struggled to get the offense going on the road in Chapel Hill against the Forrest Rockets on Friday night, falling 48-0 in extreme weather conditions to begin Region 5-2A play. 

The rain and wind were a major factor all night long, and it’s effects weren’t only felt on the scoreboard, but with field position as well. Cascade finished with just 22 yards of total offense, and they all came on the ground. 

Braxton Burris got the start at QB for the Champions, allowing Christian Casey to move back outside to his natural position at WR. However, in the extreme conditions, attacking through the air was basically impossible. Burris finished 3/13 with 0 net yards and 1 INT. 

Meanwhile, Chapel Hill got their ground going late in the first quarter thanks to standout freshman Quincy Mitchell. His 38-yard TD run showcased his vision and speed to put the hometown Rockets up 6-0 after a doinked extra point with 2:50 left in the opening quarter. 

Chapel Hill finished with 373 yards on the ground on 37 total carries despite the Champs’ defense bottling up their running attack early on. Mitchell finished with 14 carries for 187 yards and 3 TDs, and he also intercepted Burris in the second half just for good measure. 

Mitchell was the catalyst for Forrest’s second TD drive as well, scampering for 38 yards to get into the red zone before punching it in from 2 yards out to go up 12-0 in the second quarter. 

Chapel Hill found themselves driving once again in the final minutes of the first half, but sophomore safety sensation Delonte Clay came up with his 4th INT of the season to shut down the Rockets’ drive, sending the game to halftime at 12-0. 

Coming out of the locker room, the Rockets took the opening kickoff and drove down the field, finishing it off with Mitchell’s third TD of the night from 15 yards out to go up 19-0 with 10:38 left in the third quarter.

After forcing a three-and-out, Forrest finally was able to complete on a 27-yard TD pass to Isaac Cruse to extend the lead to 26-0 with 6:28 to go in the quarter. Mitchell picked off a Burris deep ball three minutes later, and less than one minute after that the Rockets found the end zone for the fifth time to go up 33-0. 

After Cascade gave up a safety trying to punt the ball away at the end of the quarter, the Rockets’ lead grew to 35-0 before two fourth quarter touchdowns capped off the dominant performance at 48-0.

Forrest improves to 5-1 (2-0).

Cascade falls to 1-5 (0-1) and are scheduled to host non-region foe Monterrey on Friday, LIVE on WZNG The Zinger 100.9 starting at 6:45 p.m.