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Cascade knocks off St. Mary's, 26-0 Photo by Bob Pennell St. Mary's Brandon Emrick, right, breaks up a pass intended for Cascade Christian's Blaine Newfield. After slow start, rush game rolls By RANDY HAMMERICKSEN The Holy Bowl, the annual football collision between the area's Class 2A private high schools, is always a game of emotion, said Cascade Christian coach Andy Maurer. "We didn't come out ready to play and they (St. Mary's Crusaders) took it to us for a while," said Maurer. But after a halftime tongue lashing, Maurer's Challengers awakened in time to apply plenty of hurt to their rivals, winning 26-0 Saturday at Spiegelberg Stadium. "No matter which team has good players, we always struggle against St. Mary's," said Maurer, who annually matches coaching strategies against his brother, Crusaders' coach Dick Maurer. "As usual, they played us tough until halftime," said Andy Maurer. "It's a typical rivalry game when emotion makes the teams pretty even. "I let my kids know what I thought of that at halftime, and I think they got the message." Cascade's Christian's defense dominated for four quarters. "I'm real happy with our defense, but not pleased with our offense," said Andy Maurer. "I thought we should have moved the ball better against them." Nevertheless, the Challengers generated an impressive running game that netted 307 rushing yards on the way to scoring four touchdowns, all on the ground." Jordan Farrell ran 12 times for 91 yards, including touchdown runs of 5 and 1 yard. Fullback Brian Edwards gained 75 yards on 12 carries, including an 8-yard touchdown, and freshman Michael Sha scored the last Cascade touchdown on a 1-yard run. Halfback Brian Prins of the Challengers gained 80 yards on 18 carries against the overmatched St. Mary's defensive front. "Running the ball is about your line moving the defense out of the way," said Andy Maurer. "Our line did that real well." The Cascade defense, led by down linemen Scott Swanner, Andy Gifford, Nolan Roberts and Edwards and linebackers Rick Beard, Kevin Anderson, Prins and Jordan, did the rest. "We left everything out on the field," said St. Mary's coach Dick Maurer. "Our kids didn't have an ounce of energy left. But Cascade is just a faster, stronger team than we are. We couldn't move the ball against them." Cascade improved its Southern Cascade League record to 2-1 and its overall mark t 4-1. St. Mary's is 0-3 in the Southern Cascade League. After the teams battled to a 0-0 standoff through the first 19 minutes, Edwards put Cascade on the board. A 21-yard punt return by Will Vanderstoel set up the Challengers' second touchdown. Just over seven minutes into the third quarter, Farrell scored from the 1. Then Gifford, a transfer from Eagle Point High who earlier recovered two St. Mary's fumbles, stripped the ball from running back Chris Hurley and returned it 28 yards to the St. Mary's 20. Four plays later, Sha scored his first varsity touchdown. "Brian (Edwards) told me to just follow him," said Sha. "So I did, and he gave me plenty of room." Kelly said Cascade Christian's passing game was disfunctional for most of the game. "I thought it would work better in the second half, but it didn't," he said. "So we kept running it at them. We can play better offense, but I thought our pass and run blocking up front was pretty good." Cascade Christian travels to Bonanza next Friday night with the Southern Cascade League lead on the line. Bonanza goes into the game with a 3-0 conference record. "They have a couple of big stumps (lineman) and a good team," said Andy Maurer. "We will have to play better on offense. But I like our defense. You put a couple of big horses up front and throw in three or four good linebackers and a defensive end or two, and you have a defense." Cascade Christian ....0 13 7 6 -- 26 St. Mary's ....................0 0 0 0 -- 0 CC -- Edwards 8 run (Vanderstoel kick) CC --Farrell 5 run (kick failed) CC -- Farrell 1 run (Vanderstoel kick) CC -- Sha 1 run (kick failed) Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.