By Bobby Mathews, Sports Editor
CLAY — This was a whuppin’.
There’s really no other way to say it. Reigning 6A state champion Clay-Chalkville scored on offense, on defense and on special teams on their way to a 48-0 win over Briarwood Christian on Friday, August 19. And the scary thing is that it could have been worse had the Cougars not settled into a running game that sapped the will of the Lions defense and drained time from the game clock.
Alabama commit Jaylen Mbakwe got things started for Clay-Chalkville after the defense forced Briarwood to punt. Mbakwe took a swing pass from Kamari McClellan 75 yards to the end zone on the first offensive play of the game for the Cougars. After a missed two-point conversion, it was 6-0 with 10:23 to go in the first quarter.
“I said all week that’s what I was going to do,” Mbakwe said. “Starting Sunday, I said that first ball, if I got good blocking I’d take it in.”
Zac McCray busted a 53-yard touchdown run with 2:37 left in the quarter. McCray finished with 157 yards rushing on 11 carries, averaging more than 14 yards per carry behind a big, experienced offensive line. It was a standout performance on a team looking to replace 6A state championship game MVP Ed Osley from 2021.
“I really didn’t (expect to get the ball that much),” McCray said. “We’ve got three other backs that have been doing a great job in practice, so I really didn’t think I was going to get the ball that much.”
Following the departure of Osley due to graduation, McCray said the backs at Clay have a lot to live up to.
“Yeah, a little,” McCray said. “I’m gonna have to put some respect on it, because he was a good back and I want to go and do the same thing that he did.”
The Cougars would score again 10 seconds later when Matthew Yafondo scooped up a fumbled kickoff and motored 23 yards in for the score. Bravis Cave powered the two-point conversion in, and with time winding down in the first, Clay-Chalkville led 20-0.
“I thought the kids played hard,” Cougars head coach Drew Gilmer said. “We had good tackles. We took care of the football for the most part. You know, we said that whoever played the cleanest would win. We cause a few turnovers that we were able to take advantage of. But again, I’m so proud of our kids and how hard they played. I thought we played clean for the most part, but we have a lot of work to do going into next week.”
Clay-Chalkville didn’t score in the second quarter. What they did instead was break Briarwood’s spirit. The Cougars went on a 16-play drive from their own tw0-yard line all the way to the Lions’ 18 on a drive that ate up clock. When Clay turned the ball over on downs with 3:50 left in the half, Briarwood managed just three-and out.
The Lions got another chance when the defense stripped McClellan near midfield, but the Briarwood offense could again get nothing going.
That was the story for most of the night, with Clay-Chalkville racking up 398 yards of total offense to 160 for Briarwood.
The Cougars got on the board in the third quarter when Cave scored on a run from 17 yards out to make it 26-0 with 5:40 remaining in the period. From there, Allan Cotton scored on a nine-yard jaunt to make it 32-0 with 11:52 remaining in the fourth. That’s when Mario Byrd stepped up to return a punt 78 yards for a score.
“My coach told me to get out of the way,” Byrd said, laughing. “Coach told me to get out of the way, but by that time I had the ball in my hands so I just had to do something with it.”
Jamarqus Jones capped the scoring with 1:54 left in the game when he intercepted a Briarwood pass and returned it for a 75-yard pick six. Aaron Osley added a two-point conversion (his second of the night) and that made the final 48-0.