Lieurance passes Cascade to district title

CASCADE - The runaway started to slip away from Cascade midway through the fourth quarter Friday night against Anamosa.

Anamosa battled back from a 27-0 halftime deficit to pull within 14 points with 8 minutes left in the game.

Cascade's Derek Lieurance guided the No.6 Cougars 63 yards for a clinching touchdown, his fourth scoring pass of the game, and the Cougars went on to claim the Class 2A-4 district title with a 34-13 victory.

It is the first district football title for Cascade (8-1, 6-0). Anamosa (7-2, 5-1) had its seven-game winning streak snapped and finished in second place.

Both teams will host first-round playoff games Wednesday.

Lieurance threw three touchdown passes in the first half and ran for another score.

Anamosa opened the second half with an 80-yard touchdown march, but it took 8:13 off the clock. The Raiders ground out 251 yards rushing, all but 68 coming in the second half. Trevor Wehling ran for 92 yards and two touchdowns.

Wehling's second score, a 10-yard blast, cut Cascade's lead to 27-13 with 8:03 to play.

'Momentum is a dangerous thing in a high school football game,” said Cascade Coach Tim Frake, who is guiding the Cougars into the playoffs for the sixth time in his 10 years as coach.

Enter Lieurance, who went into the game with the state's top pass completion percentage of 79.1 percent. Lieurance completed all three of his passes in the clinching 63-yard drive, and teammate Luke Recker ripped off a 28-yard run.

The Cougars put the game on ice with Lieurance's 16-yard TD pass to Mitch Recker.

'When adversity strikes, you got to respond,” said Lieurance, who completed 20 of 24 passes for 189 yards. It was his lowest yardage output of the season and the first time with fewer than 200 yards.

Reis Rausch caught five passes for 70 yards and two touchdowns.

Cascade marched 60 and 64 yards to touchdowns its first two possessions for a 14-0 lead with 3:21 left in the first quarter.

The Cougars held Anamosa to six offensive plays and 9 yards in the first quarter. Once the Raiders got untracked, they imploded with a pair of interceptions that set up Cascade scores.

Lieurance ran 7 yards for the first touchdown of the game. He also threw touchdown passes of 9 and 39 yards to Reis Rausch, and an 8-yarder to Nate Bergfeld.