Mekhai Goodloe made the most of his eight carries for 30 yards last Friday night in Cashmere.
The senior tailback rushed for three touchdowns, and quarterback Alex Long passed for two more as the Blackhawks overcame a first-quarter deficit to down the 1A Caribou Trail League Bulldogs 31-25 in non-league action.
“It was another example of this group having some grit and getting the job done,” head coach Bobby Byrd said of his team that ran its record to 4-0.
Byrd was worried heading into the game about how the Blackhawks would respond after a three-plus hour bus ride to Cashmere (2-3). Cheney got off to a slow start, falling behind 14-0 on the strength of two Sam Phillips to Mason Landdeck touchdown passes in the first quarter, one for 30 yards and the other for 59.
But the Blackhawks turned things around in the second. Goodloe scored from five yards out to put Cheney on the board, and pulled the Blackhawks within two at 14-12 with a seven-yard plunge later.
That might have been the way things stayed at the half if it hadn’t been for the feet of tailback Camden VerStrate. The senior snagged a Long pass near midfield, and with a no time on the clock and a little shucking and jiving, turned it into a 70-yard TD giving Cheney a 19-14 lead at the break.
The Bulldogs got their lead back and more, going up 20-19 on a third Phillips to Landdeck TD throw in the third quarter and stretching that to 26-19 with field goals of 21 and 38 yards by Javi Reyna in the fourth. Goodloe’s third TD run of one yard pulled Cheney within one, 26-25, with five minutes left.
It was here that the Blackhawks could have let things get away from them. After stopping Cashmere, Cheney fumbled in its own territory with three minutes remaining. The Bulldogs were able to move the Blackhawks 35, but no further and punted with 2:45 left in the game.
With the ball at its 11, Cheney implemented what Byrd said was an efficient two-minute drill. The Blackhawks drove the length of the field, and Long found wide receiver Luke Martin on a 15-yard scoring strike with 47 seconds to play that proved to be the game winner.
Back in a happy locker room after the game, Byrd had a request for his team.
“Now, the message I had for them was ‘if we can do that in the fourth quarter (score quickly) let’s save my hair and do that at the beginning of the game,” he said.
Cheney racked up 502 yards of offense, 192 on the ground and 310 through the air. Long was 14 for 25 for 296 yards, with Martin having five catches for 80 yards and VerStrate three for 131.
Max Pierson led the Blackhawk rushing game with 61 yards on 14 carries while VerStrate had 39 yards on 12 carries and Jacob McGourin 44 yards on a pair of touches. The Blackhawks had 25 first downs, and were 7 for 14 on third down conversions and 1 for 2 on fourth down tries.
Cheney has one more non-league game before beginning Great Northern League action Oct. 5 against East Valley. The Blackhawks stay in the Caribou Trail by hosting Cashmere rival Cascade (Leavenworth) this Saturday, game time at 7 p.m. The Kodiaks ran their record to 3-1 with a 40-10 win over Kings last Friday.
“They’re kind of like us, but they’re faster,” Byrd said, adding that Cascade runs a very similar offense, only does so out of the shotgun.
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
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