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The Class 3A State Championship featuring #10 Fort Wayne Bishop Luers (9-5) and #3 Cascade (14-0) will stream via PPV on IHSAAtv.org this Friday at 3 pm ET / 2 CT!
INDIANAPOLIS - The town of Clayton boasts a population of slightly under 1,000, which means the number of businesses are few.
Not that they’ll be open Friday anyway.
Clayton and the map specks surrounding it such as Amo, Fillmore, Coatesville and Stilesville will be experiencing shutdown mode with the Cascade Cadets vying for a Class 3A state football title inside Lucas Oil Stadium, a structure sitting 30 miles northeast of school grounds.
Cascade’s maiden voyage into such waters represents a drastic departure for a football program responsible for one sectional championship (1992) and 16 winning seasons over the course of its previous 59 years.
Cadets’ faithful plan to be in full-voice by the 3 o’clock kickoff against tradition-rich Fort Wayne Luers, a school in search of its 13th state championship trophy in football. Overall, this is the 19th Knights’ club to advance to a title game with the first 17 coming as a 2A program.
The contrasts are obvious. Public school vs. private school. Rural vs. city. Recent history vs. decades of history.
Expect an abundance of Columbia blue and black inside Lucas Oil Stadium.
“The environment on Saturday was just something that you can’t even imagine,” said Cascade coach Connor Simmons, referring to his squad’s 49-34 victory at home against Gibson Southern in a semistate matchup. “We’ve played in front of some big crowds of 1,500 or 1,800 people.
“But you walk out from our tunnel, and you see a crowd that’s circled around the stadium, and the stands are packed. It really feels like you’ve made it. You’ve built a program that the community is extremely proud of. I mean, people came out of the woodwork for it.”
The undefeated Cadets, fueled by a no-huddle Wing-T offense, have racked up some ridiculously high point totals this season, surpassing 40 on 13 occasions. This includes the team’s 77-0 win at Frankfort in Week 5 of the regular season and a 98 – yes, 98 – point performance at Greencastle two weeks later.
Cascade’s last two wins have been the most difficult, including its 37-33 escape at Lawrenceburg in what was the Cadets’ first regional championship.
Luers’ numbers aren’t nearly as gaudy, which makes sense considering the Knights play in the Summit Conference, one of the state’s ultimate meat grinders. Moreover, two of the team’s non-conference foes early on were 2A state finalist Andrean and 4A title-game qualifier Fort Wayne Dwenger.
Fort Wayne Luers’ coach Kyle Lindsay, whose team held a 4-5 record entering the postseason, knows strength of schedule can make a difference. Still, he realizes the challenges the Knights are presented with when it comes to Cascade’s firepower offensively.
“At this point of the year, it doesn’t matter who you’ve played,” said Lindsay. “Who is going to execute better this weekend is going to win. We have not seen a high-powered offense like this that moves at this pace with this scheme. It’s a bear.
“It’s a bear to stop. It’s a bear to prepare your defense for. And then when you have four guys who handle the ball, you don’t know where that ball is going, and you’re playing with that kind of tempo, it’s going to be impossible to emulate. You kind of hope to can weather the storm early in the game. An early stop brings a load of confidence and maybe puts a little pressure on their offense.”
The Fort Wayne Luers offense fashions a pair of 1,000-yard rushers in sophomores TJ Epperson (1,368) and Brandon Gaither, Jr. (1,129). Starting at right tackle is 6-7, 280-pound senior Jonas Muya, who has been offered by Oklahoma, Purdue, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Minnesota, among others.
Cascade counters with senior quarterback Brady Trebley having completed 116 of 162 pass attempts (71.6%) for 1,971 yards and 32 touchdowns. Senior running backs Dayton Mink and Toby Savini have run for 1,011 and 1,000 yards, respectively, with junior Lucas Farmer sitting on 863.
Sophomore linebacker TJ Turner, Jr. leads the Cadets in tackles with 124; Farmer, who doubles as a safety on defense, has five interceptions.
It was nearly 18 months ago that Cascade picked up its first state championship in any sport with the softball team downing Lapel, 4-2, in the Class 2A final. The football program followed with a 10-1 record in 2024, and now this.
Come Friday, the Cadets will be surfing this wave of momentum directly into downtown Indianapolis.
“It’s hard to pinpoint one exact thing. It’s just a special group,” said Simmons. “Our kids really do buy into the brotherhood. The family atmosphere. I mean, we line up and tell each kid that we love them every day at practice after we get done.
“And they show it in everything they do. In the school. In the weight room. In the community. They’re always with each other. It’s just a really close-knit group, and I couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve built here with our kids.”
