CATO — Running the football has been Cato-Meridian football's bread and butter during its one-loss season thus far.
That trend continued in its 52-20 win over Beaver River on Friday, which was Senior Night, at home. Here are three takeaways from the Blue Devils' sixth win of the season:
Hoag's career game on the ground
Prior to Friday's game, Camren Hoag had never rushed for over 200 yards.
Well, the senior decided to save one of his most memorable performances for what will end up being one of his final games on the gridiron at Cato-Meridian.Â
Hoag rushed for a career-high 220 yards — 101 coming in the first half — and three scores in the second half of the Blue Devils' 32-point victory. He has rushed for over 100 yards four times this season.Â
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Due to it being Senior Night, the running back and his team had an extra shot of adrenaline heading into the matchup.
"It's a memory, we loved every second of it," Hoag told Ë®¹ûÅÉAV.
"We got hyped in the locker room, we got emotional and we stuck together through the entire game. It was amazing, the vibes were there."
With one game left in the regular season, the rusher leads the team with 706 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground.
On top of Hoag's outing against Beaver River, three of his teammates also made their presence felt while carrying the ball.
Quarterback Finley Stonecypher ran for 103 yards, Logan Merriam carried the ball 10 times for 76 yards and one touchdown, and Jacob LaForce rushed for 22 yards and three scores.Â
The Blue Devils' running back room has the ability to punish teams on the inside and outside, which has been key to their success this season. For Hoag, it's the group's unity that makes the difference.
"It's all of us in the weight room, we're all working together in the same set," he said. "That chemistry just feeds one another, and we keep going off each other."
Second-half shutdown
Though Cato-Meridian came away with a convincing victory on Friday, it did not feel like that would be the case at the start of the game.
Beaver River scored 14 points and took a 6-point advantage with just under 11 minutes left in the first quarter. Both scores came on 50-plus yard plays where the Blue Devils could not make tackles in the open field. But Cato-Meridian's defense and tackling improved in the second quarter, and the team only allowed 6 more points to take a 28-20 lead into the break. Â
After having issues at the beginning, head coach C.J. Hannon was pleased with how the defense responded.
"We really struggled tackling in the first quarter, and we got better and better as the game went on," he told Ë®¹ûÅÉAV. "That obviously paid dividends, (they) really did shut them down.
"We were able to do a nice job putting pressure on the quarterback and not giving them time to throw."
In the second half, the Blue Devils forced multiple fumbles to stop the Beavers in their tracks. As a result, Cato-Meridian held them to zero points for the rest of the game. It's now the second time this season the defense has held an opponent scoreless in the second half, with the first time coming in a 50-6 win over Pulaski on Oct. 12.
Bouncing back in a big wayÂ
Exactly one year ago, the Blue Devils sat at 1-6 at the end of the regular season. Due to injuries to some of the key players in their running game, they had trouble finding their footing.
Fast-forward to now, those problems appear to have dissipated. Sitting at 6-1, Cato-Meridian has had at least one 100-yard rusher in each of its wins this season. After handing the Beavers their first division loss of the season, the Blue Devils now sit alone at the top of the Section III, Class D North standings with a 3-0 division record.
Because injuries played a part in a down season for Cato-Meridian last year, Hannon has enjoyed watching his team build itself back up.
"It's been great to see it come together like this," he said.
"It really has been a nice season so far. We have a lot of work ahead of us. We have a really, really tough Sandy Creek team on Thursday. So short week, but we just gotta keep going."
The Blue Devils will look to cap off their regular season at seven wins on Thursday when they travel to take on the Comets.