Game Recap below

Cascade Christian Claims 1A Title in Overtime Shootout with Colville
By Steven Dion

Day two of the 2014 Gridiron Classic started with the 1A title game which was a classic East vs West showdown of Cascade Christian from Puyallup and the Colville Indians. Each team entered the contest with a blemish-free 12-0 record. This game marked Colville’s first appearance in the championship game whereas Randy Davis had led his team to 4 of the previous 6. The senior class had knocked on the door of a state title for years and according to Coach Davis, the upperclassmen demonstrated a high level of commitment to vie for the hardware one final time. Colville’s dream season was 48 minutes away from the perfect ending, but could they complete the job?

The Cougars started the game as they have many times before by leading a long touchdown drive that eats up nearly an entire quarter of game clock. The 16 play, 81 yard march was capped off by a 5 yard run by Riley Ramos. Colville responded by leading a scoring drive of their own which ended on a Colton Vining run. The pendulum would swing back and forth several more times. The Cougs regained the lead midway through the second frame when Ramos found the endzone again. This score was made possible by a Russell Wilson-like escape by Jaelin Goldsmith who was in the middle of a collapsing pocket but kept the play alive and found an opening receiver for a big gain. At the break, Cascade Christian held a 13-8 lead.

Colville would receive the ball to start the second half and wasted no time getting back to business. Less than three minutes into the third, the Indians were back on top as Vining recorded his second of four touchdowns of the day. The Cougars started to look sluggish and lost some of the edge they carried in the first half. Colville was able to stop CCHS on a fourth down attempt in the Indians’ red zone but were stopped. Moments later, Ben Knight connected with Journy Young for 50 yards to set up Vining’s third TD. Colville held a 7 point lead with 11 minutes remaining. That changed quickly when Goldsmith tied it back up on a 59 yard keeper to the house. In the final minutes, Cascade Christian was moving the ball well to potentially set up the winning score, but Tyler Ward intercepted Goldsmith. We headed to overtime!

The Cougars received the ball first and proceeded to move the ball 25 yards in 6 plays ending with a Robert Terhune run from one yard out. It took Colville seven plays to punch the ball in by who else but Colton Vining. Instead of kicking the extra point and forcing a second overtime, Coach Cornwell decided to put the fate of the title into one play. The decision came up half a yard short as the Cascade Christian defense stuffed the run and in doing so, won the game. An exciting game from start to finish with tremendous fan support for both teams.

The FinalScore – Cascade Christian 27, Colville 26.

Top Performers:
Cascade Christian
Robert Terhune- 21 rush, 133 yds, 1 TD, 4 rec, 44 yds

Colville
Colton Vining- 23 rush, 136 yds, 4 TD