DECATUR — The Cassopolis Rangers picked a good time to turn in one of its best games of the season Friday night.

After all, the Rangers were playing in only their second regional championship game in school history.

Leaning heavily on its potent rushing attack and using its speed advantage, Cassopolis made history with a 51-14 rout of Concord in the Division 7 regional championship game at Decatur Friday night.

“I’m very pleased. We pretty much dominated from start to finish,” said Cassopolis coach Dan Purlee. “We were very aggressive. We’ve never won a regional before, and you could just get a sense of how important this was for our guys.”

The Rangers (11-1) will play Detroit Loyola next Saturday at a site to be announced Monday by the MHSAA.

Cassopolis was firing on all cylinders right from the start.

The Rangers took the opening kickoff and marched down the field, capping off the drive with a 6-yard run by Tyrese Hunt-Thompson.

Cassopolis would lead 22-0 before Concord knew what had hit it.

On its ensuing possessions, the Rangers scored on back-to-back runs by Brandon Anderson of 42- and 45-yards to make it 22-0 early in the second quarter.

After missing on a fake extra point pass, Shane Lo hit Hunt-Thompson with a pass following Anderson’s first touchdown and then Hunt-Thompson ran in the second conversion.

Concord (9-3) was finally able to get on the board in the second quarter as standout quarterback Tony Brooks Jr. scored from the 1-yard like to make it 22-7 with less than four minutes to go in the opening half.

Cassopolis was not about to settle for a 15-point halftime advantage.

The Rangers took the ensuing kickoff and drove down the field and scored on the only pass Los threw in the opening half.

Hunt-Thompson hauled in the 22-yard strike to make it 30-7 following his 2-point conversion run.

“He (Hunt-Thompson) is a playmaker,” Purlee said. “He understands the game and his instincts put him in the right place at the right time.”

That was never more evident than when Hunt-Thompson stripped a reception away from Concord’s Chase Coburn and returned it 75-yards for his second touchdown of the third quarter.

Hunt-Thompson opened the scoring with an 8-yard run as the Rangers opened up a 45-7 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

The lead reached 51-7 following an Anderson 7-yard run before Brooks scored on another 1-yard run.

“Our game plan is always to pound the ball,” Purlee said. “As long as we’ve moving on the ground, we’ll keep it there.”

Cassopolis rushed for 352 yards, led by Anderson’s 172-yards, and threw for 48 yards as Los was 5-for-5.

Defensively, the Rangers allowed Concord just 215 yard of total offense, 102 of which came from Brooks on 20 carries.

“We’ve still got to get better at stopping the run,” Purlee said. “But really, I couldn’t be happier with the way we are playing.”

 

CASSOPOLIS 51, CONCORD 14

At Decatur

Concord          0          7          0          7 – 14

Cassopolis      14       16       15          6 – 51

CA – Tyrese Hunt-Thompson 6 run (pass failed).

CA – Brandon Anderson 42 run (Tyrese Hunt-Thompson pass from Shane Los).

CA – Brandon Anderson 45 run (Tyrese Hunt-Thompson run).

CO – Tony Brooks Jr. 1 run (Marco De Stefano kick).

CA – Tyrese Hunt-Thompson 22 pass from Shane Los (Tyrese Hunt-Thompson run).

CA – Tyrese Hunt-Thompson 8 run (Brandon Anderson pass from Shane Los).

CA – Tyrese Hunt-Thompson 75 fumble return (Brandon Anderson kick).

CA – Brandon Anderson 7 run (kick failed).

CO – Tony Brooks Jr. 1 run (Marco De Stefano kick).

Varsity records: Concord 9-3, Cassopolis 11-1.