By John Goolsby, Prep Sports Editor
PINSON, Ala.- The Clay-Chalkville Cougars roared back from their defeat to Oxford last week to hand Pinson a 63-6 defeat.
It took Clay (8-1, 5-1) four plays and 70 seconds to draw first blood. Aaron Osley scored on a seven-yard run to give the Cougars a 7-0 lead.
Clay extended the lead to 14-0 with 4:29 remaining in the opening period on a Xaveon Kindell one yard run.
Osley pushed the Couhar lead to 21-0 on a spectacular 47-yard run with 2:04 remaining in the first quarter.
Disaster struck for the Indians (1-8, 1-5) on the ensuing kickoff. Pinson fumbled the ball away, and the Cougars took possession deep in Pinson’s territory. Quarterback Aaron Frye scored on a 21-yard scramble, and the Cougars led 28-0 with ten seconds gone in the second quarter.
A short Pinson punt set the Cougar offense at the Indian 30-yard line. A fumble pushed Clay back to the 38-yard line, but three plays later, Frye ran it in from the 11-yard line to give the fifth-ranked Cougars a commanding 35-0 lead with 7:57 remaining in the half.
Pinson’s special teams handed the ball back to Clay after a bad snap forced the punter to run. The Cougar defense stopped him short of the first down marker, and the Clay offense took over at the Indian 19-yard line.
The Indians held the Cougars out of the endzone and forced a 37-yard Joseph Deltoro field goal to push the Clay lead to 38-0 at the 3:54 mark.
The Cougars’ defense held and forced another Pinson punt. The Cougars began the drive at their 36-yard line and moved deep into Indian territory in two plays. The Pinson defense stiffened and forced a Deltoro field goal attempt with three seconds on the clock. The kick was good, and Clay headed to the locker room with a 41-0 lead.
Two and a half minutes into the second half, Osley scored on a one-yard run to give the Cougars a 47-0 lead.
The Indians would give up a safety on their next possession and then see Cougar running back Joshua Woods go 26 yards three plays later to push the score to 56-0 with 3:11 remaining in the third quarter.
The Indians forced a Clay fumble at their one-yard line. On the next play, Rico Freeman punched it in to make it 56-6 after the two-point conversion failed.
Nasir Ray closed out the Indians’ scoring on a six-yard run with 4:57 remaining.
“I thought we did a great job bouncing back tonight,” said Cougar head coach Stuart Floyd. “We played much faster and more aggressive on both sides of the ball and covered well on special teams,” he said. “
“I’m really proud of the way our guys responded this week in practice and our preparation.”
Coach James Thompson was pragmatic in his assessment of the game. “Clay has a good team, and they play hard and are well coached,” he said. “It was tough for us to execute in all phases. We played more young guys than usual tonight, trying to get a jump start on some valuable experience moving forward.”
“We will keep pressing on with one game left on the schedule,” he said .
The Cougars travel to Vestavia next Friday. The two teams have not met since 2000. Clay won that contest 31-27.
Pinson hosts Hueytown in their fourth meeting with the Golden Gophers. The Indians are 0-3 versus Hueytown.
Photos by Ron Burkett:
Frye hands to Osley. Credit: Ron Burkett
