Roberts scores 4 touchdowns as Cashion whips Crossings Christian

As this football season progressed, it became clear Cashion would have a challenging two-part finish to the regular season, with games against a pair of top-five foes to decide the District A-3 title.

Part one on Friday proved quite successful for the second-ranked Wildcats, as they used a dominant second half to down No. 4 Crossings Christian 37-14 on the Knights’ senior night. Junior running back T.J. Roberts was the bellcow for Cashion, carrying 40 times for 200 yards and four touchdowns.

Next up for Cashion (9-0 overall, 7-0 District A-3) will be another tough road game, at No. 5 Minco next Friday. Cashion could clinch the outright district title with a win, while Minco (8-1, 6-1) would grab a share of the title and — depending on tiebreaker points — the top seed out of the district for the postseason by beating the Wildcats.

“This group kind of does a really good job of just going week to week and not really looking ahead all that much,” Cashion coach Lynn Shackelford said. “They’re young. These guys haven’t experienced having opportunities to play for district championships and being 9-0. This is a new experience for this group.

“I’m proud of the way they’ve been able to be narrowly focused week to week. I think it paid off tonight and hopefully it will pay off again next week.”

Crossings Christian (8-2, 7-1) — which had won seven straight games and would have won the outright district title with a win over Cashion — is off next week and is assured of a playoff spot, but might end up going on the road in the first round. The Knights fell to 0-8 all-time against Cashion.

Cashion won with a dominant second half, in which the Wildcats outscored the Knights 20-0 and limited Crossings Christian to 45 yards of offense and three first downs.

“I thought more than anything, our offensive line did a really great job tonight in the second half of imposing their will and kind of taking over the game,” Shackelford said. “We challenged them this week. We told them it was going to be a game where we really wanted to lean on our offensive line and lean on our running back.”

Cashion led 17-14 at halftime and gradually extended that margin throughout the second half.

Roberts capped a 62-yard scoring drive with a 1-yard run with 3:49 left in the third quarter and a 58-yard interception return by Alex Nabavi to the Knights’ 10 set up a 5-yard scoring run by Roberts early in the fourth quarter.

Quarterback Griffin Lamb ended the scoring with a 9-yard run with 6:37 left. He finished with 56 yards on 19 carries, and Roberts hit the 200-yard mark with a 4-yard gain on his final carry.

The Roberts show lasted the entire game for the Wildcats.

His 3-yard scoring run on Cashion’s first series gave the Wildcats a 7-0 lead. Crossings Christian’s Cade Garoutte recovered a fumble at the Cashion 34 to set up the Knights’ first score, a 2-yard run by Jacob Snyder, who had 71 yards on 12 carries.

Hayden Aaron kicked a 34-yard field goal to put Cashion back ahead before the Knights went up 14-10 on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Owen Crotts to Cole McMurphy.

Cashion answered with a 47-yard scoring drive, with Roberts scoring from six yards out with 4:02 left in the first half.