By Britney Bailey, for The Tribune
CLAY — The Clay-Chalkville Cougars remain undefeated in their return to the gridiron after a week off with a 46-14 win over the Jackson-Olin Mustangs at home Friday night.
Khalib Johnson found Mario Craver early in the first quarter to start the Cougars off right. Less than 10 seconds later, Johnson hit Marquarius White for a 32-yard touchdown pass after a Jackson-Olin fumble gave the Cougars possession again. That put the Cougars up 14-0 just under 4 minutes to play after a successful 2-point conversion by White.
Jackson-Olin answered at the end of the first with a 65-yard touchdown pass to end the quarter 14-6. Johnson would find White once again in the second, tacking on a 2-point conversion from Mbakwe, setting the Cougars up for a 16-point lead going into halftime.
The third quarter would continue to reek of penalties for the Cougars, which upset Clay-Chalkville coach Drew Gilmer.
“We got a pass interference on us when it should’ve been on them on a fake punt you know, and that’s a big play in the game so I mean, just bad officiating to be honest with you.”
The Cougars continued to put points on the board, just as they’ve done all season.Johnson found White once again just two minutes into the quarter after a collection of successful runs from Edward Osley, to put the Cougars up 28-6 after a failed 2-point attempt. The Mustangs would drive into Cougar territory and end up on the 2-yard line to end the quarter, and the Mustangs would score in the fourth off the bat making it 28-14.
Not to be outdone, the Cougars answered quickly and aggressively with a 55-yard wide open touchdown pass from Johnson to Craver to put the Cougars up 34-14. The Cougar defense would hold off the Mustangs on their next possession, and the Cougars would own the clock for the rest of the quarter with a Johnson rushing touchdown with 3:24 to go in the game with the Cougars up 40-14. Clay-Chalkville’s Jayden Sweeney would show up to ruin the Mustangs next possession with a pick-six to add to the Cougar lead to end the game 46-14.
Despite his frustration over the officiating, Gilmer was impressed with the way the Cougars overcame.
“I was very happy with our guys. We weren’t able to run the football up front the way we’d like to but we were able to throw the football. Our guys responded and were able to do what we needed them to do.”
Clay-Chalkville takes on region opponent Mortimer-Jordan at home next Friday, October 8th at 7 p.m.