By Britney Bailey, for The Tribune
CLAY— The Clay-Chalkville Cougars showed once again why they belong at No. 1 with a 58-9 win over Mortimer-Jordan at home Friday night to remain undefeated.
The Cougars got down to business early on with a Khalib Johnson touchdown pass to Marquarius White on their first possession to put them up 8-0 after a successful Edward Osley 2-point conversion.
The Cougar defense held the Blue Devils and forced a punt which Jaylen Mbakwe put right back at the Blue Devils’ 44-yard line on a 21-yard return. Johnson found White immediately after for a 44-yard touchdown pass and Osley tacked on another 2-point conversion to put the Cougars up 16-0. The next possessions would follow suit with a Mortimer-Jordan punt and an Mbakwe 23-yard return to put the Cougars on the Blue Devils’ 17-yard line. Johnson would hit Nate Owens for a 15-yard pass followed by a 2-yard Osley run to make it 22-0 to end the first.
The Blue Devils started off the second quarter with a touchdown as a result of a Cougar fumble to put them at 7 after a PAT. The Blue Devils had success on an onsides kick, but would not get past the Cougar defense. The next Cougar possession was a combination of successful runs by Osley and Cam’ron Williams which led to an 8-yard touchdown run by Williams to give the Cougars a 21-point lead going into halftime.
Mario Craver showed up right off the bat in the third quarter as Johnson’s main target to put Osley in position for another 2-yard touchdown run. Johnson would follow up with a 2-point conversion run to put the Cougars up 36-7. After another Blue Devil punt on the next possession, it wouldn’t take the Cougars long to extend their lead.
Johnson found Nate Owens for a crowd-pleasing 58-yard touchdown pass to tack on 6, putting the Cougars up 47-7. The Cougar defense did not let up on the Blue Devils and LaMar Croskey would land an interception to put possession back in the Cougars’ hands. Another Williams and Osley run game set the Cougars up at the Blue Devils’ 10-yard line, leading to yet another Williams touchdown to give the Cougars a 43-point lead to end the third.
The fourth quarter gave Junior running back Allan Cotton time to shine, driving the Cougars into Blue Devil territory and grabbing a 9-yard touchdown run of his own, followed by an Aaron Osley 2-point conversion landing the Cougars up 58-7. The rest of the fourth quarter would be riddled with penalties for the Cougars, but the defense pummeled the Blue Devils’ attempts, forcing a turnover on downs at the Cougar 2-yard line. A bad snap would give the Blue Devils the opportunity to take down Aaron Osley in the endzone for a safety, ending the game with a final score of 58-9.
Clay-Chalkville head coach Drew Gilmer looks forward to this week preparing to take on the Indians next Friday, “That’s what you go into the year for, that’s what you want.”
The Cougars take on the Indians at Pinson Valley Friday, October 15th at 7 p.m.