CCHS freshmen go to 3-0 with wins over Hewitt, Hoover

From The Trussville Tribune Staff Reports

CLAY – The Clay-Chalkville freshman football team posted two key wins in less than a week, knocking off rival Hewitt-Trussville 30-6 on Tuesday, Aug. 30, then coming back to edge Hoover’s freshmen 20-14. The freshmen, coached by Eddie Wall, are 3-0.

The win over Hewitt capped a sweep for the Cougars’ junior varsity and freshmen. The JVs had beaten Hewitt 29-28.

Against the Huskies, the Cougars fell behind 6-0, but rallied behind the strong running of Kelvin Slaughter to post a convincing 30-6 win.

The Cougars’ offensive lines created nice holes for Slaughter to slash through as Clay’s freshmen controlled the line of scrimmage.

Defensively, the front line constantly put pressure on the Huskies, while the linebackers cleaned up the running game. The Clay secondary was all over the Huskies receivers. When Hewitt did manage drives, the Cougars defense rose up and stopped them, not allowing another point after the early touchdown.

Hoover’s freshmen faced the Cougars on Labor Day to open their season after routing Gardendale in a jamboree. They left 0-1 as the Cougars won 20-14.

The Cougars jumped out on top of the Baby Bucs. Clay quarterback Damion Ward had a big night running the football and also made a crucial pass to convert a fourth down as Clay-Chalkville moved out to a 12-0 lead midway through the third quarter.

Hoover battled back and took the lead 14-12 with just 5:30 left in the contest.

But Ward made some big runs to lead Clay to the go-ahead touchdown with 2:01 left.

Then, it was up to the defense, and Joel Macon stepped up to make the game-winning interception on the Cougars’ 30 with 51 seconds left and the happy Cougars went into victory formation to kill the remaining time for the undefeated start.

“Both games I felt the lines controlled the trenches, made plays when we needed to, and we fought the whole game,” said Wall.

“Coach Josh Andrews has been top notch in calling the offense and the assistants, Kevin Conner, Devron Williams and Donny Childree have their guys ready every week.”

The junior varsity wasn’t as fortunate as it lost to Hoover’s JV 30-19. The Cougars led 7-0 and trailed just 22-19 at halftime but couldn’t get untracked offensively in the second half.

Next up on the schedule is Hillcrest of Tuscaloosa. The Patriots JV comes to Clay on Monday and the freshman squads meet on Tuesday. Both games kick off at 6 p.m. at Cougar Stadium.