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It was all Cavaliers at Callaway Stadium on Thursday night as the home team cruised to a 34-6 victory over Redan.

“I’m really proud of our guys and their effort throughout the game,” Callaway coach Pete Wiggins said. “I thought we had great preparation, really proud of our seniors on senior night, and good execution from the offensive side. I felt like our defense stood strong and played really well throughout the game. It was a complete game tonight.”

Callaway has responded in a big way after losing its opening two games of the season by rattling off three wins in a row.

The Cavaliers took no time taking a lead, scoring a touchdown on the opening play from scrimmage. Blake Harrington uncorked a 62-yard bomb to Travon Reeves to start the Cavaliers off in style. 

Special teams were huge for Callaway and the team capitalized on a botched snap on a punt from the Raiders, tackling the punter on fourth down to set up the Callaway offense in the red zone. It was senior Breshun Hall that got to finish the drive off, rumbling into the end zone from nine yards out to put Callaway up two scores with under five minutes off the clock.

The defense also got in on the fun, forcing a fumble and recovering to set up Callaway’s offense at the Redan 27-yard line. Unfortunately, the Cavaliers could not add to their lead and turned the ball over on downs. 

Despite the big win, at times the offense got in its own way as the team had another turnover on downs in the first quarter due to a mishandled snap and another late in the second quarter inside the 10-yard line. Harrington threw an interception early in the second quarter on a ball that fluttered out of his hands.

“We have a long way to go,” Wiggins said. “We have a lot of things we got to get better at, but I’m excited about tonight, and a lot of the execution that we had, but there are still a lot of things that we have to keep working on and getting better.”

This did little to slow down the Callaway momentum. Tyren Buggs, making his first appearance of the season after recovering from a knee injury, gave the Cavaliers a 20-0 lead on a 7-yard touchdown run.

“Honestly, it felt like last year again,” Buggs said. “It was exciting to get back out there and I’m already looking forward to the next game.”

Buggs would double up on the night, streaking into the end zone on a 35-yard rush to put Callaway up 27-0 with 10:12 to go in the half.

“I saw a bunch of green grass out there tonight,” Buggs said. “I trusted my guys upfront and I knew my knee was ready to go.”

Even with a big lead, two-way star Xae Anderson continued to make plays. The junior intercepted a pass to set up Callaway near the red zone early in the second quarter. He got in on offense and delivered an 18-yard touchdown reception, dragging his toes just in bounds near the front pylon on a pass from Harrington with 7:05 left in the first half. 

That would be the last score of the game for the Cavaliers and the final score until Redan got a consolation touchdown against the Callaway backups with under a minute to go in the game.

The second half featured a running clock as the crowd was treated to an early night.

Callaway is now 3-2 after starting the season 0-2. The Cavaliers will kick off their region schedule with a matchup on the road to Pike County next Friday. 

“We just got to keep getting better, one game at a time,” Wiggins said. “I’m excited about tonight. It was good to be able to execute, and I felt like we did that at a high level, and so how we just got to build on it and keep working.”