Clay-Chalkville crushes Sparkman
Coming into tonight’s game ranked fourth in the state, the Clay-Chalkville Cougars did not disappoint, crushing the struggling Sparkman Senators 42-13.
The Cougars dominated both sides of the ball, jumping out to a 35-0 halftime lead, scoring six touchdowns and shutting out the Senators until the last three minutes of the game.
Clay-Chalkville took the opening kickoff and took just a minute and thirty five seconds to score, marching 68 yards in just five plays with Marcus Reaves scoring on a 13-yard touchdown run.
On Sparkman’s first possession, defensive back T. J. McCollum intercepted a pass, returning it to the end zone but the touchdown was negated by a penalty. The Cougars retained the ball, however, again quickly marching down the field. A Cougar fumble into the end zone gave Sparkman the ball on a touch back. After a short drive the Senators were forced to punt. Two plays later Cougar quarterback Jacob Thomas raced 50 yards on a keeper for a 14-0 lead.
A short Senator punt and a 20 yard return gave Clay-Chalkville the ball on the 30 from where they quickly struck again. It took just three plays to score again with Thomas hitting DeAndre Woods for a 10-yard touchdown strike and a Cougars a 21-0 first quarter lead.
The second quarter was more of the same with a 33-yard run by Kenterrius Gray setting up a 4-yard scoring pass from Thomas to Brian Clark. Taylor Daniels intercepted a Sparkman pass, returning it 60 yards to set up a touchdown pass from Thomas to Clark again and a 35-0 halftime lead.
Early in the second half running back Sidney Battle took a short pass, cut back and reversed his field and raced 61 yards for Clay-Chalkville’s final score.
Sparkman battled back in the last few minutes to score twice. Quarterback Grant Banks tossed scoring passes of 15 and 44 yards to Brandon Massey and Markell Battle for the 42-13 final.
Clay-Chalkville rises to 5-0 while Sparkman drops to 0-5. Next Friday the Cougars host Gadsden City while the Senators return to Region 8 play as they travel to Florence.
BY JIM SANDOVAL / SPECIAL TO THE RECORD
