Cloverdale eliminated by Cadets

Friday, October 27, 2006

Cloverdale's 2006 football season came to an abrupt end Friday night as they were thoroughly dominated by an experienced Cascade group, 55-0 in a Class 2A Sectional 29 semifinal.

In a game characterized by deplorable playing conditions, the Cadets won the turnover battle and methodically picked apart the Cloverdale defense en route to a sectional championship match up with undefeated North Putnam next Friday night.

"I thought our kids played hard, but Cascade is a very experienced football team. Any time you start that many seniors, you should be good, and they were," stated Cloverdale Head Coach Jamie Steffy after he addressed his ball club at the conclusion of the contest.

With temperatures hovering at around 40 degrees, and the playing field a total disaster, neither team was able to really do what it wanted to offensively. After Cloverdale fumbled the ball away on their first possession, the Cadets surprisingly came out passing on their first offensive play.

A 10-yard completion from Cascade quarterback Jordan Stephenson to Michael Galyan was the only successful pass play Cascade had all evening, but it did initiate a five-play, 40-yard drive that culminated in a Travis Short three-yard TD run at the 9:17 mark of the first quarter. After Joel Fisher's successful extra point attempt, the Cadets led 7-0 and never looked back.

When Cascade wasn't returning Cloverdale miscues for scores, they were grinding out yardage on the ground, completely dominating the time of possession.

After Galyan picked a Zach McCallie pass and returned it 51 yards for a touchdown at the 6:16 mark of the second quarter, the Cadets led 48-0, and the end result was, for the most part, academic.

Cloverdale's Christian Cheatham, who last week dissected the South Vermillion Wildcats for 170-plus yards, was keyed on all evening and ended his career as a Clover with 60 yards on 13 carries.

Cascade was content to simply run clock in the second half, putting together two sustained drives that ate up nearly 18 minutes, the latter ending in a six-yard touchdown run by Nick Hensley to make the final score 55-0 Cadets.

Cloverdale ended its season at 3-8. Cascade takes its 10-1 record into Friday night's sectional championship with undefeated and third-ranked North Putnam.

At Cloverdale

Cascade 21 27 0 7 -- 55

Cloverdale 0 0 0 0 -- 0

Cloverdale finished the season at 3-8

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