MADISON, Alabama -- After a slow start, the Austin Black Bears scored three second half touchdowns to go on to defeat James Clemens Thursday night at the Madison City School Stadium. With the Austin win, the Black Bears go 10-0 on the season and look to notch it up next week in the playoffs.

Austin (10-0, 7-0) was tied at 7-7 at the half, but used a good dose of Asa Martin to get the offense going. "“Our goals were to win the region, go undefeated and contend for the state championship,” said Austin Head coach Jeremy Perkins. “We’re two down, one to go. I told them at halftime I was excited that we were in that situation (tied 7-7). We kind of got it handed to us a little bit in the first half. I told them we’d see what we were made of, if we were ready to fight a little bit of adversity."

James Clemens (3-7, 2-5) drove first in the game, but came up short as they missed a 41-yard field goal wide left. With 9:14 left in the second quarter, James Clemens scored on a Connor Cantrell to Chris Hope 6-yard fade pass in the end zone for the first score in the game. With the TD, James Clemens led 7-0 early in the second quarter. On the kickoff for James Clemens, the Jets tried to kick a short kick but linebacker Cade Jenkins returned it 71-yards for a touchdown. "Cade had a return last week," added Perkins. "He is such a hard worker and made a great run."

Both teams struggled in the first half on offense, but with James Clemens driving with less than two minutes left before the half, Jenkins picked off a Jets pass to set the Black Bears up again. With :16 seconds left in the half and Austin driving at the Jets 25-yard line, defensive back James Macklin picked off a Black Bears pass in the end zone to keep the game at 7-7 at halftime.

In the second half, Martin and the Black Bears offense kicked it into gear. Martin finished the night with 122 yards on 20 carries and three touchdowns. The Auburn verbal commit had minus yardage in the first half. With 5:21 left in the third quarter, Martin scored on a 1-yard touchdown run after he set the score up on a 25-yard punt return. "We came out slow and didn't play Austin football," said Black Bears running back Martin. "In the second half, we played Austin football. We came out to pound the rock like we like to do. The offensive line did a great job in the second half making those holes for the offense to be successful. Our goal this season was to go 10-0 and a state championship, but we have to get a lot better to accomplish our goals."

With :39 seconds left in the third quarter, Martin scored again on a 5-yard touchdown run for the Black Bears. With the touchdown, Austin led 21-7 late in the quarter. With James Clemens driving early in the fourth quarter, a Jets running back fumbled just going into the end zone and Samuel Watkins jumped on the football in the end zone and Austin escaped a Jets score.

With less then six minutes left in the game, James Clemens had the ball around midfield and on a fourth down play, the Jets tried a slant play but Martin playing in the secondary batted the ball down and Austin took over the ball and Martin scored his third touchdown in the game a few plays later when Martin scored on a 2-yard touchdown run to give the Black Bears a 28-7 lead with 4:04 left in the game. On the ensuing kickoff, Xavier McKnight scored on a 97-yard kickoff return to cut the score to 28-14 late in the game.

James Clemens season is finished on the season, but #1 Austin (6A) will host Carver-Birmingham next Friday night in the playoffs.