photo credit: Ron Burkett/ The Trussville Tribune
By Damian Mitchell
Sports Editor
CLAY— The Clay-Chalkville Cougars wrapped up the regular season on senior night with a 45-17 win over the Gadsden-City Titans.
The Cougars started their scoring early as quarterback Willie Miller scampered in from eight yards out to give them a 7-0 lead at the 7:06 mark in the first quarter.
After an Andru Ransaw interception for the Cougar defense, Miller then found Jamichael Thompson for a 12 yard touchdown pass to increase the lead 14-0. Miller found the endzone again through the ground for a two yard touchdown to take a 21-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Gadsden City got on the scoreboard at with 10:10 left in the second quarter after a field goal to trim the lead 21-3.
Cougars runningback Demarcus Burris added a touchdown run of his own to give the Cougars a 28-3 lead with 4:30 left in the half. Jaren Vanwinkle added a field goal late in the quarter to give the Cougars a 31-3 lead heading into halftime.
The second half started off strong for the Cougars as well. After a huge half-opening kickoff return by Jaylin Mack, the Cougars scored once more with another touchdown run from Willie Miller from one yard out to take a 38-3 lead.
The Cougars put up one more touchdown in the quarter as quarterback Damione Ward took it in the endzone from 11 yards out as they took a 45-3 into the fourth quarter.
The Titans added a touchdown late in the fourth after a nine yard touchdown pass. They also recovered a fumble in the endzone by the Cougars to add another touchdown which made the final score 45-17.
Clay-Chalkville finishes the regular season 9-1 and will host thier first round opponent, Mae Jemison, in the state playoffs with kickoff set for 7:00 p.m. next Friday Nov. 9.