By Erik Harris
No. 1 Clay-Chalkville (14-0) knew where the key was. The only question was: Would they be able to get it from No. 8 Austin and open the door to a second consecutive Super 7 berth?
That all important key rested in the hands of Black Bears’ dual-threat quarterback Victor Garth, and it looked like he had no intentions of handing it over. The senior, fresh off a seven-touchdown performance in a quarterfinal win at No. 10 Gardendale, started the Class 6A North championship game off wielding the same confidence he boasted against the Rockets.
On his third rush of the evening, Garth broke through the line and exploded past the secondary for a 43-yard score to even the score at 7-all early. His ability to run granted a ripe play-action opportunity minutes later when he fit a dart between the corner and safety for a 41-yard touchdown to Jalik Jaggwe to, once again, even the score.
Garth again found Jaggwe on the following drive, this time to convert a 4th-and-6 that allowed an 8-yard touchdown rush by Asa Martin on the following snap. Things were going well for Garth and Austin until they weren’t.
“We kind of got (Garth’s running contained) and he started throwing and he’s a better thrower than I thought, because we really wanted him to throw, but he really proved to me that he’s an incredible athlete,” said Clay-Chalkville head coach Jerry Hood.
Suddenly, after scoring a quick 21 points, his running lanes shrunk and he was forced to rely on his arm. Clay-Chalkville senior Amari Holloway chopped down some of that confidence with a second-quarter interception that he returned to the Austin 40-yard-line.
The turnover led to a Ty Pigrome touchdown pass to A.J. Walker, sending the Cougars into the break with a 14-point advantage.
“I told the whole defense to go out and do what we do every day in practice. Let’s play dog football basically, so we got after them and they got after us and it was a good football game,” said Clay-Chalkville defensive lineman Qutavius Barber.
Following Garth’s 43-yard touchdown on the opening drive, Barber and the Cougars’ defense held the speedster in check. His longest rush for the remaining nine drives of the contest went for only nine yards.
“I don’t know how many yards (Garth) had rushing, but it couldn’t have been very much,” said Hood. “We felt like (containing Garth as a runner) was the key to the game and the little scheme that they came out with was a little different for us, so it took us until halftime to look at that and dissect it.”
Quarterback spies behind the push provided by Barber, Cole Baker, Kyle Cobb and the Clay-Chalkville front proved to be most effective, as they held Garth to five yards or fewer on 11 different rushing attempts. He completed less that 50 percent of his passes in third-down situations.
“Whoever wins third down and whoever gets the turnover usually wins the game,” said Hood.
Overall, he finished the night with 336 yards of offense, but it wasn’t good enough to get the win. He struggled with accuracy, completing 14 of his 37 passes for 258 yards, three scores and the Holloway interception. In the final game of his prep career, Garth ran it 16 times for 78 yards, over half of which came on the early touchdown dash.
“Our plan was just to be physical and show everybody what we can do, because nobody believed we could do it, so we already had a lot of motivation going into the game,” said Barber.
With a 45-35 win over the Black Bears, Clay-Chalkville will defend its state championship this Friday night in Bryant-Denny Stadium against No. 2 Spanish Fort (14-0).
Erik Harris is the Sports Editor for the Trussville Tribune. Follow him on Twitter@jeharris2 or email him at jmseharris2@gmail.com.