CPA’s smash-mouth style gives Lions Division II-AA football championship

COOKEVILLE — Cade Law smiled Thursday afternoon, the state championship MVP plaque in his hand, his body sore from the physical play of the Division II-AA BlueCross Bowl.

© Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean
CPA players celebrate with fans after beating Lipscomb Academy in the Division II-AA BlueCross Bowl Football Championship game at Tucker Stadium in Cookeville, Tenn., Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020.

CPA’s smash-mouth style of play ate up 424 yards on the ground on 72 carries in the Lions’ 35-28 win over Lipscomb Academy.

“It was a very physical game,” Law said. “When it’s a game like that it’s about who wanted it more. We wanted it more and we brought the hitting to them.”

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Law rallied CPA (10-1) on one final drive with the game tied at 28 with 9:49 left. He methodically drove the Lions 76 yards on 15 plays, capping it with a 3-yard TD pass to Cade Reynolds with 2:22 left.

“Here is the thing, you have to earn championships. And they earned this championship,” Lipscomb Academy coach Trent Dilfer said. “We made them fight for it.

“I think that’s got to go down as one of the great championship drives of all time,” Dilfer said.

Law had seven carries for 35 yards on the drive. Langston Patterson added six carries for 37 yards.

“Our offensive coordinator Steve Haywood has a saying that you don’t have a football play until you know it’s coming, they know it’s coming, everyone in the stands knows it’s coming and you still get four yards,” CPA coach Ingle Martin said. “Our kids believe in that.

“Our guys up front did a great job executing.”

CPA’s title is its second in three years and comes after losing to Evangelical Christian in the 2019 championship. Lipscomb Academy (10-3) was playing in its first championship since winning the 2007 Class 3A title.

Law finished with 25 carries for 168 yards. He was 5-of-6 passing for 36 yards and had two total touchdowns. Patterson added 34 carries for 191 yards.

Luther Richesson was 17-of-23 passing for 229 yards and two TDs for Lipscomb Academy. Beau Dawson had seven catches for 120 yards. And Alex Broom had seven carries for 27 yards and four catches for 43 yards and a score.

Reach Tom Kreager at [email protected] and on Twitter @Kreager.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: BlueCross Bowl: CPA’s smash-mouth style gives Lions Division II-AA football championship