Stockton boots Cashion to 2OT victory

A freshman’s right foot delivered Cashion its second win of the season on the last play of the game.

Andrew Stockton booted an extra-point attempt in the second overtime to lift the Wildcats past Velma-Alma, 27-26, in a dramatic road win.

The winning kick was set up by a 15-yard pass from Kellen Smith to King Underwood, their second scoring connection of the night.

And that had come after the Comets put themselves on top with a Kolin Smith 3-yard TD run on the first possession of the second extra period.

However, in his celebration, Smith chucked the ball far into the chilly September sky, which drew an unsportsmanlike penalty and backed the Comets up from the 3-yard line to the 18 as they went for two points.

The conversion failed. Cashion answered with its score on third down after the first down carry lost five yards and the second down pass fell to the grass.

“We tried to get it to King, but it was incomplete, so we just tried it again,” said coach Lynn Shackelford of passing it to his 6-foot-4 sophomore wideout.

After Underwood tied the game, Stockton put his third point-after attempt of the night through the uprights.

It was a tale of two attacks as Cashion threw for 239 yards in the game and the Comets ran it for 217.

They had 61 carries on the night and attempted just four passes.

“I knew it had a chance to be a game like that where we had limited possessions if we couldn’t get them off the field,” said Shackelford.

That came to fruition in the third quarter when the Wildcats snapped it just four times.

But the time of possession domination in the quarter only led to eight points for the Comets and just 14 points in regulation.

“I thought we did a pretty good job against the run overall,” said Shackelford, noting the Comets managed just 3.6 yards a carry.

“They were able to move the chains, but we really were good in the red zone and not letting them score too many times. When we needed to, we got stops.”

Cashion took a 7-0 lead when Smith and Underwood made a 25-yard connection in the second quarter. The Comets answered with their first touchdown, a 9-yard run by Slade Strickland.

Smith’s 5-yard scoring run - and Stockton’s extra point - gave the visitors a 14-6 halftime lead.

Velma-Alma’s first possession of the second half chewed nearly seven minutes off the clock, but came up empty.

Cashion mustered only a three-and-out on its possession and the Comets came back with their lone pass completion of the game, a 25-yard connection from Strickland to Joe Savala.

Strickland tied it up 1414 with his two-point run. It stayed that way until overtime.

Cashion got the ball first and Smith found Grayson Davis for a 10-yard strike.

It was decision time for Shackelford.

“I knew they would go for two if they scored a touchdown, so that shaped my decision,” said Shackelford.

But the two-point pass was no good, giving the Wildcats only a six-point lead.

It was enough. Though Velma-Alma scored on its first OT possession, Cashion was able to keep the game going with a stop on the twopoint conversion.

That set up the final sequence of the game.

Smith finished 13 of 28 for 239 yards.

“We were just a little off in the passing game,” Shackelford said. “We had some drops that would have made a big difference.”

Cashion going up by more than one score would have provided a bit more discomfort for the Comets’ offense, Shackelford said.

“If you can get on top of a team like that by a couple of scores, especially in the second half, you can make them try to do things on offense they don’t want to do,” Shackelford said. “But that didn’t happen.”

Underwood, Davis and Rival Fields all had four catches. Underwood’s covered 83 yards, Davis’ 66 and Fields had 62 receiving yards.

Fields led the team with 43 yards on nine rushing attempts. On defense, Smith had 14 tackles, nine of them solo.Gavin Layton added 11 and Austin Compton nine.

The win gives Cashion a 2-0 mark as it heads to Ringling next week in what’s guaranteed to be a similarly- styled game.

Shackelford said his team has some areas to clean up, but is encouraged to get a win despite not playing up to expectations.

“We could have played better,” he said. “But there’s something to be said about not playing your best and still being able to find a way to win. That’s one we didn’t get last year.”