Cascade picks up home win over Stanfield, 27-6

The Cascade Kodiaks are off to 1-1 start on the season after picking up a win in the home opener against Stanfield last Friday in Peshastin. Cascade opened the scoring in the first quarter as Teague Duncan ran 16 yards for the score. 

Cascade increased their lead to 14-0 as Jose Valdez scored from 10 yards. The Kodiaks led 14-0 at half. The Kodiaks kept rolling in the third quarter as Valdez broke free for a 40 yards run for touchdown. 

With 2 minutes to go in the third quarter, Duncan scored from 1 yard, but the extra point was missed. Cascade led 27-0. Standfield managed their only score mid-fourth quarter. They made the two point conversion. 

Cascade won 27-8. 

“It was a crazy time being inside with the smoke. The game was delayed two hours. We were excited to come out with the ‘W’ with everything going on,” said Cascade Head Coach Dom Coffin. 

The game started two hours late because the Stanfield bus broke down. Cascade racked up 299 yards of offense versus just 61 for Stanfield. 

“Our defense really stepped up. I don’t think they had a first down until the third quarter. We played lights out, swarming. On offense, we had a lot of penalties. The kids were flying around doing their job,” Coffin said. 

Cascade was penalized 13 times for 100 yards. Quarterback Jose Mendoza was 4-for-14 for 63 yards. Valdez had 7 rushes for 82 yards and 2 touchdowns. Duncan had 8 rushes for 62 yards and 2 touchdowns. Duncan also caught three passes for 46 yards. 

Teague and Jose are our two main backs right now. Both have had big games. It will be exciting to see them go as the season goes on. Hopefully, we can balance out the pass and the run attack,” Coffin said. 

On Friday, the team travels to Oregon to play Hepner, a team they beat last season. 

“They are a good team. Made it to the state semifinals. Did not lose too many kids. It will be a long trip down. Should be fun. We broke their long win streak last year. I know they will be looking for revenge, so excited to see what we can do,” Coffin said. 

East Valley 34, Cascade 26

Cascade opened the season on the road at East Valley on Sept. 1. East Valley scored first with an 85 yard run. They two point conversion failed. Duncan ran 14 yards for the score, but the Kodiak conversion failed. It was 6-6. 

In the second quarter, Dunan ran 76-yards for the score. The two point conversion was good as Mendoza passed to Dillon Samuel. Cascade led 14-6. Just before half, Mendoza found Quinn Ashcraft for a 5-yard score. The two point conversion run by Valdez was good. 

Cascade led 26-6 at half. 

Unfortunately, East Valley rolled to 28 unanswered points in the second half to seal the win. The Kodiak offense was stymied by turnovers. 

“We came out ready to go. In the second half, we turned the ball over four times. It’s tough to win games when you turn the ball over that many times, especially in one half. Their quarterback was really good. He could throw the ball and run. He got us. We did not do a very good job of tackling,” Coffin said. 

More than anything, Coffin said the turnovera stood out. 

“Our offense put up 420 yards of total offense. We did not have a bad game offensively, but when you can’t hold onto the ball, it makes it tough,” Coffin said. “We were still moving the ball. I think we punted once in the game. We were moving the ball, it wasn’t anything special they were doing. We just killed ourselves.”

Cascade had 419 yards of total offense versus 524 for East Valley. Mendoza was 9-for-14 passing for 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. The EV quarterback passed for 281 yards and rushed for 235 yards. 

Duncan led the Kodiaks with 14 carries for 170 yards and 2 touchdowns. 

“He really stepped up and played really well. For them, their main focus was Jose Valdez because he was our main guy last year. Jose still had a great game. He was doing a great job of blocking to get Teague around the edge, which was huge,” he said. 

Coffin felt the new offensive line performed fairly well. 

“Very good. That was our big question mark for the team this year. They stepped up. We still have a lot of work to do on our passing. For a first game, it was a good start,” Coffin said. 

Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.