MARYSVILLE — Four shutouts and counting.
The opportunistic Cascade Bruins forced four fumbles, intercepted a pass and blocked a punt en route to a 14-0 victory over the Marysville-Pilchuck Tomahawks in a Western Conference North Division football game at Quil Ceda Stadium Friday night.
“When you do that you should win a football game,” Cascade coach Jake Huizinga said. “We stayed mistake free and that was the key.”
With the triumph, Cascade improved to 4-2 in the division (5-2 overall). M-P, which saw its four-game winning streak come to a halt, dropped to 4-3 in the division and overall.
“Our defensive staff and players have done a great job,” Huizinga said. “(M-P) did a nice job moving the ball in the first half. Their quarterback (Denay Stell, nine carries, 94 yards) did a great job, but once we contained him everything fell into place.”
In a game dominated by each team’s hard-hitting defenses, the telling plays were made by the Bruins.
One came midway through the third quarter when Cascade’s Andrew Faung took advantage of a bad snap by M-P and rushed in from his outside linebacker position to block a Tomahawks punt. The Bruins recovered the ball at the M-P 24-yard line.
“They fumbled the snap and I was able to get there in time,” Faung said. “We practice that all the time and I was glad to get one.”
“We saw they were having trouble (with snaps),” Huizinga said. “We practice that and it’s just nice to see that sometimes it pays off.”
On fourth-and-3 Cascade’s Nick Morrison, normally a tight end, burst up the middle for a 17-yard touchdown run to break up what had been a scoreless tie.
“They called my number and I just knew I had to score,” Morrison said. “Our offensive line is just doing a great job for us.”
“(Morrison) is just a great football player,” Huizinga said. “As a tight end, an inside linebacker, as a (fullback) — the more options you have with your players the better your football team is going to be.”
It turned out a single touchdown would have been sufficient, but Morrison capped the Bruins’ only sustained drive of the game — a 10-play, 64-yard march that included a 26-yard run by quarterback Aaron Frye — with a 1-yard TD plunge in the fourth quarter to punctuate the victory.
On the ensuing kickoff, Morrison’s low kick bounced off an M-P player and caromed straight to Faung who pounced on the ball near midfield.
Through two quarters M-P’s defense dominated. The Tomahawks had a sack and four tackles for loss, limited Cascade to three first downs and forced four punts.
Cascade did make a foray into M-P territory late in the half when Frye fired a pass over the middle to tight end Clint Walker, who rambled 25 yards to the Tomahawks’ 40-yard line, but the drive stalled.
The Cascade defense picked up the struggling offense, by holding M-P in check. The Tomahawks did cross midfield twice.
On M-P’s first possession, quarterback Denay Stell swept down the right side with a 30-yard run to the Cascade 33-yard line. But on the next play, the Tommies lost a fumble at the Cascade 20.
Later in the first quarter Caleb Posey had runs of 11 and 7 yards, before Stell’s 20-yard run again brought the Tomahawks to the Cascade 33-yard line. From there, a penalty and the Bruins defense forced a turnover on downs.
Cascade’s Lorne Bridgford rushed 18 times for 72 tough yards.
At Quil Ceda Stadium
Cascade0077—14
M-P0000—0
Cascade—Morrison 17 run (McDonald kick)
Cascade—Morrison 1 run (McDonald kick)
Records—Cascade 4-2 in league, 5-2 overall. Marysville-Pilchuck 4-3, 4-3.
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