Cascade Christian's Caleb Scaglione, right, churns downfield in the second quarter against Hidden Valley at Wheeler Field in Medford Friday night.

Cascade Christian football coach Jon Gettman wasn’t exactly thrilled with the prospects of having two weeks off between his team’s season opener against Vale and an ensuing matchup with Hidden Valley.

After taking a resounding loss in that game against the opener, however, an ability to kind of lick the Challengers’ wounds and shore up some areas of poor execution may have been the best thing for Gettman’s young squad.

Cascade Christian traded blows with the visiting Mustangs Friday night at Wheeler Field before turning the jets on with a dominant display in the second half for a 68-28 triumph.

“You play a good team like that, they expose a lot of issues,” Gettman said in recounting a 29-6 Week Zero loss to Vale. “When you look at it, our bad was really bad against Vale. When we made mistakes, we made terrible, drive-ending types of mistakes. A lot of it came down to blocking assignments. They exposed a lot of our assignments.”

That led to a handful of changes leading up to Friday’s game, but mostly a focus on sharpening fundamentals and making sure everyone was on the same page moving forward for the Class 3A Challengers (1-1).

“You’re sitting on it for a long time so it burns a little bit more,” Gettman said of the opening loss that snapped a 26-game winning streak. “But, for us, with how many guys we’re replacing and the inexperience that we had going into that game, you’re able to see yourself on film and then really take a good two-week chunk to work on those individual skills and then break it to a team-wise thing. I think it worked out for us and it was great to see the kids really respond.”

It was a donnybrook during the first half with 4A Hidden Valley (1-1), which used a host of big plays to counter a potent running attack by Cascade.

Alijah Zauher opened the scoring with a 43-yard run for the Mustangs, who also got touchdown connections by Narin Stone of 35 yards from Presley Noga and 2 yards from Austyn Klingler. Klingler also ran for a 56-yard TD as Hidden Valley put up 28 points in the first half.

“It was back and forth the whole time but it was good for us to get into a game where we had to play the entirety of the game and see our kids kind of bounce back,” said Gettman. “We’ve got a new group of kids and they’ve got to find their identity and that’s what you’re trying to develop right now. Hopefully this helps us take a step in finding our identity.”

The identity of the first-half counter moves was to run the ball with playmakers Caleb Scaglione and Bryson Walker. Scaglione scored on a 34-yard run to open things up for the Challengers, then Walker took over with TD runs of 2, 1 and 4 yards.

In the third quarter, quarterback Deryk Farmer got into the action with three TD runs (1, 23, 11).

All told, Walker carried 11 times for 115 yards, Scaglione scampered 10 times for 95 yards and Farmer finished with 11 carries for 61 yards.

“Those kids are great athletes and just everytime we needed a play they responded,” said Gettman. “I can’t think of the last time we’ve had that type of run game. The O-line has done a great job with coach (Darren) Turituri up front, and those kids are pretty dynamic with the ball in their hands.”

Part of the second-half turnaround in points allowed by the Mustangs involved adjusting coverages on Stone and closing off the running lanes.

Stone still finished with eight catches for 170 yards, with Klingler completing 11 of 26 passes for 173 yards. Zauher ran for 73 yards on nine carries, Klingler added 64 yards on nine totes and Braxton Brierty chipped in with 56 yards on 13 carries.

The fourth quarter included a 74-yard interception return for a score by Farmer and 71-yard fumble return for a TD by Sam Seus to help the Challengers extend their lead.

Farmer, who completed 18 of 26 passes for 178 yards, found Michael Covey for a 13-yard TD to cap the scoring.

Hidden Valley 8 20 0 0 — 28

Cascade Christian 14 16 18 20 — 68

HV — Zauher 43 run (Combs pass from Klinger)

CC — Scaglione 34 run (run failed)

CC — Walker 2 run (Farmer run)

HV — Stone 35 pass from Noga (Zauher kick)

CC — Walker 1 run (Walker pass from Farmer)

HV — Klingler 56 run (Zauher kick)

HV — Stone 22 pass from Klingler (kick failed)

CC — Walker 4 run (Farmer run)

CC — Farmer 1 run (kick failed)

CC — Farmer 23 run (pass failed)

CC — Farmer 11 run (pass failed)

CC — Farmer 74 interception return (kick failed)

CC — Seus 71 fumble return (Fiannaca kick)

CC — Covey 13 pass from Farmer (Fiannaca kick)

GRANTS PASS 49, MCNARY 9: At Grants Pass, Jordan Rossetta passed for 225 yards and three touchdowns and Treyton Powers ran for two scores to lead Grants Pass to a runaway SCFC victory at Mel Ingram Field.

Rossetta completed 10 of 15 passes, with Isaac Johnson catching three of those passes for 78 yards and a TD for the Cavemen (1-1, 1-1 SCFC).

Grants Pass capitalized on four turnovers, with the final one coming on a fumble recovery in the end zone by Clayton Evans with just under three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

McNary 0 3 0 6 — 9

Grants Pass 21 14 7 7 — 49

GP — Dechenne 16 pass from Rossetta (Reese run)

GP — Johnson 47 pass from Rossetta (kick failed)

GP — Powers 1 run (Roberts kick)

M — FG Martinez 26

GP — Powers 3 run (Roberts kick)

GP — Berg 1 run (Roberts kick)

GP — Hart 36 pass from Rossetta (Roberts kick)

M — Wynter 27 run (kick failed)

GP — Evans fumble recovery in end zone (Roberts kick)

THURSTON 42, EAGLE POINT 0: At Eagle Point, Thurston showed why its considered a top contender for the Class 5A state title with a shutout effort against Eagle Point (0-3, 0-2 MWL).

The third-ranked Colts pitched their second straight shutout.

Peyton Smith carried the ball seven times for 18 yards and Julius Smith managed 12 yards on four carries for the Eagles, with Mason DeVry completing 5 of 11 passes but for negative-2 yards against Thurston’s stout defense.

CROOK COUNTY 30, ASHLAND 27: At Prineville, Ashland rallied from a 21-0 deficit inside the final 10 minutes of regulation but saw Crook County connect on a game-winning field goal in the waning seconds in the nonleague matchup.

Jacob Ortega scored three touchdowns in about six minutes of play — a 15-yard pass from Jojo Harrower and two rushing TDs (53 and 4 yards) — to help the Grizzlies pull within 21-19 with 3:43 to play.

Following a 30-minute delay to get the stadium lights back on, Emiliano Dominguez scored on a 25-yard on the first play after the break but Ortega blocked the extra-point kick to keep it within reach at 27-19.

Ortega then rumbled for a 44-yard gain to set up his own 8-yard TD, and went in for the two-point conversion to bring the score even at 27-all.

Crook County used an 18-yard completion from Gavin Sandoval to Gage Martinez and a 15-yard facemask penalty after a tackle by Caleb Morgan to move into field goal position. Four straight runs by Dominguez — two stood up by Liam Puckett and Morgan — put the game in the hands of converted soccer player Gabe Love.

After Ashland used a timeout to potentially ice the kicker, Love stuttered on his approach following a high snap that was brought down by Hayden Allen in time for him to punch through a 29-yard winner with six seconds left on the clock.

Ashland 0 0 0 27 — 27

Crook County 7 7 7 9 — 30

CC — Martinez 31 pass from Sandoval (Love kick)

CC — Neathery 9 pass from Sandoval (Love kick)

CC — Martinez 48 interception return (Love kick)

A — Ortega 15 pass from Harrower (Harrower kick) 9:22 left

A — Ortega 53 run (kick blocked)

A — Ortega 4 run (pass failed)

CC — Dominguez 25 run (kick blocked)

A — Ortega 8 run (Ortega run)

CC — FG Love 29

PHOENIX 41, HARRISBURG 14: At Phoenix, three different ballcarriers ran for a first-quarter touchdown as Phoenix raced to a 21-0 lead and didn’t relent for its second straight win to open the season at Jack Woodward Stadium.

Cody Martin, Brayden Winters and Derek Corder each ran in for a score in the early going for the Pirates (2-0), and Parker Devey later added a pair of short-yardage TD runs to cap a night when Phoenix ran 22 times for 197 yards.

Payton Turner connected with Martin on a 25-yard TD pass to highlight his 7-for-12 passing for 147 yards with two interceptions by Harrisburg (0-2).

Harrisburg 0 6 0 8 — 14

Phoenix 21 6 14 0 — 41

P — Martin 2 run (Alcantar-Ochoa kick)

P — Winters 6 run (Alcantar-Ochoa kick)

P — Corder 16 run (Alcantar-Ochoa kick)

H — McKinnen 8 pass from Herrera (kick failed)

P — Martin 25 pass from Turner (kick failed)

P — Devey 2 run (Alcantar-Ochoa kick)

P — Devey 1 run (Alcantar-Ochoa kick)

H — Truesdell 5 run (Cain pass from Herrera)

DOUGLAS 48, ST. MARY’S 7: At Winston, St. Mary’s quarterback Joel Kiene connected with Gabe Miller for a 10-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to avoid a shutout in successive weeks.

Kiene completed 10 of 23 passes for 85 yards and ran for another 11 yards for the Crusaders (0-2), while Dominick Hiratzka carried nine times for 25 yards.

Peter Kemmeling led the receivers with seven catches for 41 yards, with Hudson Eiler turning two catches into 30 yards.

Douglas QB Ryder Sawyer passed for four touchdowns — two to Nalomeliokahakalau Driscoll — and ran for another. Lucious George also picked up a backwards pass and ran it in for a score for the Trojans (3-0).

St. Mary’s 0 0 0 7 — 7

Douglas 20 22 6 0 — 48