Cashion vs. Crescent rivalry heated
Call it what you want. The War On 74. The Cimarron River Rivalry. The Tigers vs. the Wildcats.
When teams from Crescent and Cashion get together, it typically means one thing.
"Pride is on the line," Crescent coach J.L. Fisher said. "I think it getspeople pretty worked up from both towns."
For the past 10 years, the football rivalry between Crescent and Cashion has only continued to intensify.
The two towns separated by 15 miles on State Highway 74 seemingly have more in common than they do dividing them. But every year, whenever the schedule is released, this is one of the first games circled by each fan base.
"Probably just how close we are makes it that much more intense," says Cashion coach Lynn Shackelford. "It's rivalry for the sake of rivalry. Everybody can be great friends every other week, but this one week out of the year is different."
Most think the heat from the rivalry stems from years of not playing. Cashion made the jump from 8-man football to 11-man football in 2008 following of years of success and three state titles in Class C. Crescent won a Class A state championships in 1990.
Crescent fans and former players admit they would often boast to the
Cashion faithful about how they should feel grateful they didn't have to play the bigger, badder Tigers.
“Back then we used to always tease them,” said Fisher, who also played for Crescent. “We would say, 'If you all played 11-man we’d beat you.' They would fire back about how they would beat us. It was always fun.”
But then it got real. Cashion won the first football meeting between the schools 32-29 in an epic shootout that earned Cashion quarterback Cayden Cochran Player of the Week honors.
From there, Cashion ran off nine-straight victories against Crescent, several of them heartbreakers and one 84-0 blowout.
Fisher said that record against their rival fueled his team heading into last year's matchup at Cashion. The Tigers were out for blood.
“I feel like we’ve got two top-notch programs,” Fisher said. “When you are that close and that competitive and things keep going their way ... It just festers.”
Crescent dismantled Cashion 54-14, earning the Tigers their first win in the series. Quarterback Hunter Bowers accounted for five touchdowns.
“It was really cool to be the first team that beat Cashion,” Bowers said. “It was much better that we blew them out instead of beating them by a touchdown or two.
“But to me I don’t make it out to be a big deal. I think it’s cool for that team last year, and this year we are refocused.”
Cashion will make the short trip to Crescent on Friday night as the two teams prepare to face off again. Crescent lost 12 players from its Class A state runner up team from a year ago, but it has Bowers back and several young up and comers.
Cashion is lead by quarterback Griffin Lamb, who has passed for more than 500 yards and eight touchdowns in three games this season.
“We try to tell the kids that this is another game, another team on our schedule,” Fisher said. “But I think the fans and community stretch that a little bit. The football rivalry is huge.”
Shackelford said he's excited to see how his guys play this year after getting beat by Crescent last season. But mostly he likes to stress to his players to savor these moments.
“A guy from Crescent and a guy from Cashion could meet in college and probably get along pretty well because they are from similar everything,” Shackelford said. “But they’ll talk about the games you played against your rivals forever.
“They just mean more.”