Wildcats secure Shack 200th win at Ringling

Ask Lynn Shackelford how he’s achieved 200 wins as a head football coach and he’ll rattle off a laundry list of reasons.

Lynn Shackelford won’t be one of them.

The milestone victory came last Friday night as the Cashion Wildcats got off to a great start, then finished strong in a 40-16 victory at Ringling.

Cashion led 25-0 at half before giving up 16 points in the third quarter to the Blue Devils, but scored the game’s final two TDs in the fourth.

“I was pleased with our response after the third quarter,” said Shackelford. “We weren’t very good that quarter and they had a lot of momentum.”

But early in the fourth, Cashion stymied that momentum with a turnover on downs.

The Wildcats then pulled away with a 4-yard touchdown run by Jayden Bolton and a 25-yard scamper by quarterback Kellen Smith down the stretch.

“To get them to turn it over on downs and then pull away from them was definitely a good sign,” Shackelford said.

“This team is still learning how to win.”

Cashion has done a lot of winning in Shackelford’s tenure.

Now in his 20th season as head coach, the program has averaged more than 10 victories a season with him at the helm.

“It’s not me,” he will say. “I’m just steering the ship.”

That ship has been steered to five state championship games in those previous 19 seasons.

Cashion was the runner- up in 2014, 2015 and 2019 before breaking through and winning backto- back crowns in 2020 and 2021.

The 2019 silver ball and 2020 gold ball came against the Ringling program that Cashion faced on Friday.

The Wildcats were somewhat able to flip the script on the team that prides itself on a physical run game and a bruising defense.

Cashion ran it 45 times for 267 yards while limiting the home team to 161 yards on 50 attempts.

“We ran it when we needed to,” Shackelford said. “And for three quarters we did a really good job of stopping the run. In the third quarter, we weren’t very good at it.”

Smith ran it 11 times for 86 yards.

His 5-yard TD run got Cashion on the board in the first quarter.

He added a 12-yard touchdown pass to Rival Fields as the Wildcats led 12-0 through 12 minutes.

They added to it in the second.

Grayson Davis added a 28-yard scoring run and Smith tossed a 66-yard touchdown pass to Fields to give the Wildcats their 25-0 halftime lead.

In the third, Ringling started to re-emerge as Nate Roberts scored on two touchdown runs and the Blue Devils carried that momentum with a possession into the fourth.

But it was Cashion the rest of the way, securing the game with the two fourth quarter rushing TDs.

Davis and Fields both ran for 72 yards. Fields got his on a team-high 19 attempts while Davis needed just six carries.

Bolton added another 33 yards on seven attempts.

Smith was 7 of 14 for 168 yards.

Fields caught two for 78 yards, King Underwood two for 59 and Davis three for 31.

Smith also led the team with 11 stops on defense.

Austin Compton added nine while Underwood and Gavin Layton had eight tackles apiece.

After the game, Shackelford was presented with a game ball commemorating his 200th victory.

He posed with a photo with his assistant coaches, one of the groups he credits for his success.

“Here’s what it means,” he said of win No. 200. “I’ve been lucky to coach at a place that puts an emphasis on athletics. I’ve had incredible assistant coaches who I’d argue are the best in the state.

“And we’ve been fortunate to have really good players who allow us to coach them and parents who allow us to coach their kids.”

One of those assistants by Shackelford’s side the longest is defensive coordinator Tony Wood.

“He’s a great motivator,” said Wood, starting off his own list of Shackelford’s qualities. “And he has a tremendous ability to plan and prepare an offense based on film study, then has a really good ability to make adjustments when needed in the game.”

Wood said Shackelford isn’t just great in coaching players.

“It’s the way he leads. He lets his coaches coach and grow,” said Wood, who himself coached the Cashion girls track team to a 2A state title in 2018. “I learned more about football in the first couple years here than I had at my previous school.

“I’ve grown so much under his leadership.”

Wood wasn’t done. “Lastly and most important to me is the friendship we have established,” Wood said. “You know they say you never work a day in your life if you have a job that you enjoy going to and that’s how I feel because of him and the staff we have here.”