Varsity 541

PREP FOOTBALL

Challengers fall short

No. 1 Cascade Christian loses in Class 3A state semifinals to No. 2 Amity

COTTAGE GROVE — The passing game had not been Cascade Christian's friend for three and half quarters.

And nothing changed when the Challengers really needed it in the final minutes of a Class 3A football semifinal game against Amity.

Top-ranked Cascade Christian (11-1) stalled on its last drive deep in Warriors territory and dropped a 21-17 decision to second-ranked Amity (12-0).

The Warriors advanced to the state title game against Rainier, a 36-35 overtime winner over Vale.

Cascade Christian jumped out to a 10-0 lead, trailed 21-10 at halftime, then scored on the opening possession of the second half to pull within 21-17.

The score hadn't changed when the Challengers took over at their own 34-yard line with 6:30 to play. Nine plays later, they were at the Amity 21 with a first down and three minutes to play with.

But quarterback Jake Gettman was smothered after barely getting off a first-down throw. After a run was stopped for no gain. Gettman attempted two more passes and failed to connect.

On fourth down, he had Wes Litton open over the middle and threw behind the receiver.

"We were so close," said Gettman, "and turnovers killed us. Just stupid passes killed us, stuff like that. We've been a second-half team all year, and I really felt like we had that game in hand."

Amity took over, gained one first down, then ran out the clock.

The Challengers turned the ball over four times, including three interceptions. Gettman was 7-for-18 for 69 yards.

One interception and a fumble by workhorse running back Brandon Grissom were turned into touchdowns by the Warriors.

"That's a very good football team we played today," said coach Joel Magill of Amity, which won five state titles from 1997 to 2003 and will get a shot at another next weekend. "We were fortunate to get some turnovers there. Our defense played really well for us, but I wish we could have put some more points on the board in the second half. I don't like being that close."

In a hard-hitting contest between two teams that rely on power running, each had success on the ground.

Amity rushed for 256 yards on 45 attempts, getting 168 yards on 19 tries from Cody Porter, including an 80-yard touchdown run.

Grissom had 76 yards on 20 tough carries, helping the Challengers to 152 yards on 42 tries.

As well as the ground attack worked at times, said Cascade Christian coach Andy Maurer, the Warriors are too strong to allow a constant diet of rushes.

"We got ourselves in a bind where we had to pass," he said. "You have to run those pop passes, run some of those things. You can't run it into the teeth of their defense all the time. We were even. There was no advantage. Their linemen and our linemen were just about equal, as far as toughness. That's why we were pushing and shoving and trying to find mismatches."

At the outset, it appeared the Challengers were in for an easier time than they ever expected. They forced a punt on Amity's first possession, then drove 45 yards for a touchdown by Tyler Stickler from the 2 only six minutes in.

Amity botched the ensuing kickoff and Grissom recovered at the Warriors' 9, leading to a Drew Davis 24-yard field goal to make it 10-0 at 4:59 of the opening quarter.

"We came out real hard and got it rolling at the start," said Grissom. "I think our guys just got lazy. We thought it was gonna be another easy game and we could cruise, and they came back and punched us in the mouth. We didn't know how to respond until we came out in the second half. We thought, we've really got to pick it up here."

The 10-0 lead didn't last long.

On Amity's first play from scrimmage following the kickoff, the bruising Porter hit a hole in the middle and went 80 yards.

Then came one of Gettman's interceptions, which led to a 31-yard scoring pass for the Warriors from Bobby Hatch to Jeremy Boyd less than a minute into the second quarter.

The Challengers looked like they might make it to halftime trailing only 13-10, but Amity got the ball on Grissom's fumble at its own 45 and with 1:30 showing.

Relying mostly on running plays, it scored with 4.9 seconds left, with Porter going in from the 1.

"We just didn't have any tough games like that," said Maurer. "So when you get in these tough games, I don't know if we responded really well."

The Challengers showed they weren't going away, however.

Grissom took the second-half kickoff 52 yards to the Warriors' 44, then Tyler Stickler immediately popped a 20-yard run.

Faced with a third down at the 10, Gettman lofted a perfect pass to Colton Cochran in the corner of the end zone to make it 21-17 following Davis' PAT kick. Cochran faked a slant and was wide open on a fade route.

Neither team threatened again until the Challengers' final drive.

"I was watching the clock going tick, tick, tick, tick, tick," said Magill. "That was a great stand by our kids."

And it ended when Gettman's pass to Litton hit the turf.

"We had that last pass," said the senior quarterback. "It was just a matter of a bad ball. It was my fault. It was a post and he was wide open."

It was the second straight season Cascade Christian came up one win shy of the finals.

"It was a great season," said Maurer. "We worked our tales off. We worked hard. We worked and worked and worked and got here. If you look at the team we started with in July and look at the team tonight, we've made light years of improvement."

Amity 7 14 0 0 — 21

Cascade Christian 10 0 7 0 — 17

CC — Stickler 1 run (Davis kick)

CC — FG Davis 23

A — Porter 80 run (Hutchins kick)

A — Boyd 31 pass from Hatch (kick failed)

A — Porter 1 run (Chitwood run)

CC — Cochran 10 pass from Gettman (Davis kick)

Reach sports editor Tim Trower at 776-4479, or e-mail ttrower@mailtribune.com