By Aidan Dollins
For The Tribune
HOMEWOOD — It was hard to tell Friday night if Clay-Chalkville’s defense played lights-out football, or if Homewood’s offense is completely inept.
Clay won the game 30-0 on a night where Homewood failed to put together anything that resembled a drive. Homewood quarterback Larkin Williams had Cougar defenders in his face on almost every one of his pass attempts, resulting in him only completing 8 of 19 passes for 14 yards and an interception.
Homewood’s offense wasn’t able to do much on the ground either. They only put up 62 rushing yards on the evening.
32 of those yards came from backup running back Khardi Dalton in garbage time as the team tried to run out the clock. Clay’s defense did a good job of capitalizing on the Patriots’ struggles and finished the night with a fumble recovery, a blocked punt, an interception, a safety, and a turnover on downs.
The Cougar offense was well-balanced and did a good job moving the ball on the ground and through the air. Quarterback Willie Miller went 9 of 19 for 120 yards and two touchdowns.
On top of his contributions through the air, he scrambled for 50 yards and another score. The other Cougar backs combined for 104 yards and a touchdown, including a 21-yard burst from Courtney Braxton.
Clay’s head coach, Drew Gilmer, said he was very pleased with how well the running back rotation worked out in tonight’s game.
“I thought all the backs did a good job. It was good to keep all of them fresh,” he said.
Gilmer also acknowledged that, for the second week in a row, the team was plagued by penalties. He says, “we just gotta keep working it. We had some stupid holding penalties late, and it’s just the little things that we gotta keep addressing.”
Homewood’s season is done, but Clay is moving on to the third round of the playoffs. The Cougars will host Oxford High School next week as they look to stay alive and play another day.