By Britney Bailey, For The Tribune
SHELBY COUNTY–– The Clay-Chalkville Cougars ended the regular season undefeated at 10-0 with another blowout win, this time on the road against the Oak Mountain Eagles Thursday night with a final score of 48-0.
Clay-Chalkville’s Marquarius White makes a catch. (Photo by Ron Burkett)
The Cougars hit the ground running with a 58-yard Khalib Johnson to Marquarius White touchdown with only 1:24 off the clock in the first quarter. A 2-point conversion from Ed Osley to tack on 2 put the Cougars in the lead 8-0. Just under five minutes later, Matthew Yafondo turned up the fire with a pick-six to put the Cougars up 14-0 going into the second quarter.
Osley kicked off the second quarter with a 38-yard run that led to Johnson finding Mario Craver for a 25-yard touchdown pass to increase the Cougar lead to 20-0 going into halftime.
Johnson and Craver hooked up on the next play for a 49-yard touchdown pass with a 2-point conversion from Rodrekus Johnson to up the Cougar lead to 28-0. The Eagles had a tough time holding on to the ball on their possession on their own 20-yard line, giving the Cougars a fumble recovery that Osley quickly turned into a touchdown to add on another 6 for the Cougars.
The next possession for the Eagles wouldn’t go as planned either as Devin Finley scored a pick-six with 4:05 left to go in the third quarter, putting the Eagles up 40-0. The Cougars kept it alive off the bat in the fourth with a 17-yard run plowing through the Eagles’ defense with a stiff-arm and a spin move, making it look easy to up the Cougar lead to 48-0 after an Alan Cotton 2-point addition.
The Cougar defense held the Eagles to -3 rushing yards and 75 passing yards on the night, on top of forcing 3 turnovers. The Cougars will go on to begin their playoff run next Friday and head coach Drew Gilmer said he’s looking forward to the playoff journey.
““We gotta get back to work, get ready to play and see if we can make a run,” he said. The Cougars are back in action next Friday, November 5 at home against Decatur at 7 p.m.
