Cascade plays well enough to win again

By KEVIN BREIWICK

Herald Writer

EVERETT – Cascade coach Rollie Wilson doesn’t care what the critics have to say about Bruin football.

The team may not be rolling over every team week-after-week as in years past, but they continue to win.

And after Friday’s 28-21 Western Conference 4A victory over Oak Harbor at Everett Memorial Stadium, Cascade moved to 3-0 in conference, 4-0 overall, while Oak Harbor dropped to 0-3, 0-4 in another game where the Wildcats could of just as easily been the winner.

Cascade had to withhold a late Wildcat threat to escape with the victory, though Wilson said it was their own fault the game was as close as it was.

“It was more our mistakes,” Wilson said. “We kept it close because of what we did.”

Oak Harbor started its threat as soon as the Bruins kicked off in the second half, Tony Hall returned Cascade’s kickoff 91 yards for the touchdown, making it 28-14 Cascade.

Oak Harbor shut the Bruins out in the third quarter after yielding 14 points in each of the first two quarters.

Cascade’s big mistakes came in the fourth quarter.

Oak Harbor’s Brett Lang intercepted Andy Fortino’s pass after Fortino was hit throwing. That started Oak Harbor’s first scoring drive of the game. Tom McMickles connected with Lang on a 14-yard touchdown pass on fourth down.

The Wildcats’ defense sparked on Cascade’s ensuing drive, stopping the Bruins’ ground attack, which had been so effective in the first half, but failed to do much in the second.

“We were pleased with our lead (going into the second half), and we weren’t focused on what we needed to get done in the second half,” Cascade running back Joel Crawford said. Crawford led the team with 168 yards on 15 carries, and two touchdowns, but would sit out the fourth quarter due to a calf injury.

The Wildcats would force Cascade to punt, but the Bruins defense would return the favor, and running back Jerrell Jenkins broke out for 34-yard gain. Jenkins finished the game with 19 carries and 120 yards, matching Crawford with two touchdowns.

Cascade was poised to score, but its drive faltered, and Evan McNeley missed a 25-yard field goal, though he was perfect on his extra points.

Oak Harbor took over on its own 20-yard line and looked to be capable of tying the game after it picked up a big gain on a defensive pass interference.

Cascade ended the threat on the next play.

Michael Howard intercepted McMickle’s pass and Cascade took a knee, wearing the clock down.