Oxford High School had not lost at home since 2010. Clay-Chalkville served early notice that they intended to change that stat.
It took the Cougars one play from scrimmage and 15 seconds off clock to announce their arrival at Oxford Stadium and take a 7-0 lead.
Quarterback Hayden Moore hit Brian Clark on the left side and Clark raced 76 yards to pay dirt.
“We had prepared to have that play work,” Moore said. “Based on how many defensive backs they had over there and on the first play, it worked.”
Clark, who had 4 catches on the night for 83 yards, said the Cougars were looking for the match-up that came quickly.
“We saw how far back they played off the line and we knew if we started quick on the perimeter, we knew we could get them,” he said.
Oxford had faced Oak Mountain’s veer and Carrollton’s between the tackle offense, so CCHS coach Jerry Hood thought it might be time to test the Oxford perimeter defense
.
“They hadn’t played much defense on the perimeter,” Hood said. “We wanted to come out early and do it.”
The twelfth straight victory for CCHS was nice, but Hood found plenty of ammunition to keep the Cougars focused on the long season ahead.
“We’ve got a lot of areas to improve, ” Hood said. “They exposed some things on us tonight. They’ve got a great squad and I’m sure they will be a play-off team.”
The lightning fast start for the Cougars gave way to smash-mouth football for much of the game. At the 1:51 mark in the first quarter, Clay-Chalkville struck again when Terrelle West scooted in from 8 yards out. The 2 point attempt failed, but the Cougars led 13-0.
Oxford would fight back when Rock Thomas then hit on a 31 yard TD pass to get Oxford back in the game at 14-7 with 5:15 left in the half.
The Cougars answered with a drive to close the half and smart clock management that left the Yellow Jackets without an opportunity to respond. After Moore led the undefeated Cougars to the Oxford 10 yard line, Hood stood with the game officials and watch the clock tick down before calling a timeout. With 1.1 seconds remaining in the first half, Robert Green split the uprights on a 27-yard field goal to send the Cougars into the locker room with a 16-7 lead.
Oxford started the scoring in the second half when Thomas went in from 7 yards out to make the score CCHS 16 OHS 14 with 6:16 remaining in the 3rd quarter, but that would be as close as the Yellow Jackets would come.
The Cougar defense, led by linebacker Brandon Fuller, clamped down and their counterparts on offense went into Hood style, gut check mode in the 4th quarter to close the deal and remain unbeaten.
West put the game away for Clay-Chalkville on a 2-yard run in the 4th quarter, giving the Cougars a 23-14 lead. Despite 7:32 left to play, the sense was that the game was over. That proved to be true, despite the teams swapping safeties down the stretch for the final margin of 25-16.
The final touchdown drive was the grind-it-out antithesis to the lightning-in-a-bottle start for the Cougars.
“It was an almost five and half minute drive and that gave the defense a rest, and that’s good stuff,” Hood said of the final march down field.
Moore, who hit his first five passes of the night, finishing 9 of 11 for 128 yards, said he and his teammates knew the drive would be decisive.
“We said if we score right here, we win,” Moore said while crediting his offensive line. “They did really well protecting and letting us drive it down their throat and run it. That’s what we did to get that last drive down there.”
The Cougars will host Albertville next week.