By Aaron Coe
Herald Writer
EVERETT — For the Cascade Bruins, if you can’t go to the playoffs yourself, you might as well spoil things for someone else.
Cascade ended its season and Snohomish’s too with a 42-21 Western Conference North Division victory Friday night at Everett Memorial Stadium.
Snohomish would have made the district playoffs with a victory, but the Bruins rolled up over 600 yards and displayed a passing game no Cascade team in recent memory has possessed.
Cascade quarterback Paul Curtiss completed nine of 18 passes for 304 yards, the only 300-yard passing performance Rollie Wilson recalls in his 20-plus years with the program.
"There are no tent-folders in this senior class," Wilson said. "They decided if they only had one game left to play, they might as well play it the best they can."
Cascade’s Andrew McGuire rushed for 187 yards on 17 carries, and put the game out of reach with a 55-yard touchdown run with 2:15 remaining. He also caught three passes for 122 yards.
Snohomish fell to 5-3 in the North Division and 5-4 overall and out of the playoffs. Cascade improved to 4-4, 4-5 in the last game of the season for both teams.
After Snohomish tied the score at 21, Cascade came right back to take a 28-21 lead.
Curtiss kept the drive alive with a third-and-10 completion to McGuire, and Tony Snow capped the 71-yard drive with a 1-yard plunge with 40 seconds left in the third.
Andy Fortino intercepted a Snohomish pass and returned the ball 69 yards to set another Snow’s third TD of the game with one minute left.
"We’ve been talking about knocking them out of the playoffs all week," Curtiss said. "We came into the game knowing we could pass, but I never expected this."
There may have not been much action on the scoreboard in the first half, but that changed dramatically in the third quarter.
The teams combined for 36 points in the third period, and Cascade emerged from the offensive onslaught with a 28-21 advantage.
On a night of many big plays, Ross Fay gave the Panthers a 14-6 lead by returning Cascade’s second half kickoff 81 yards for a TD. It was the third play of 80 yards or more in the contest.
Cascade responded with a miracle play on its next possession.
Curtiss’ fourth-down pass from the Snohomish 32 bounced off the hands of a Cascade receiver and a Snohomish defender before being caught by Cascade’s Mike Skoor in the end zone. Curtiss then ran in the two-point conversion to tie the score at 14.
Skoor, who caught three passes for 105 yards, later turned a short pass into a 47-yard TD and a 21-14 lead with 4 1/2 minutes left in the third.
Snohomish answered with a 69-yard drive capped by Snohomish quarterback Jeff Rodland’s 5-yard option keeper. Rodland carried 10 times for 130 yards and completed five of nine passes for 82 yards.
Snow turned what looked to be a short gain into a 90-yard rumble to give Cascade a 6-0 lead with 1:25 remaining in the first quarter.
Snow, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound fullback not known for blazing speed, ran up the middle into the teeth of the Snohomish defense, then broke a pair of tackles and out-ran the Panthers for the score.
Snohomish’s first scoring drive was much like the Cascade’s.
Rodland gave Snohomish a 7-6 lead with an 80-yard TD run with 4:56 left in the half.
"We didn’t talk so much about knocking Snohomish out of the playoff this week as we did playing our best in our last game," Wilson said. "This is a great group of kids, and they did that."
Snohomish |
0 |
7 |
14 |
— |
21 | |
Cascade |
6 |
0 |
22 |
14 |
— |
42 |
Cascade—Snow 90 run (kick blocked)
Snohomish—Rodland 80 run (Bennion kick)
Snohomish—Fay 81 kickoff return (Bennion kick)
Cascade—Skoor 32 pass from Curtiss (Curtiss run)
Cascade—Skoor 47 pass from Curtiss (Togerson kick)
Snohomish—Rodland 5 run (Bennion kick)
Cascade—Snow 1 run (Togerson kick)
Cascade—Snow 1 run (Togerson kick)
Records—Snohomish 5-3 in league, 5-4 overall. Cascade 4-4, 4-5.
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