The #2 Clay-Chalkville Cougars came out fast and physical while scoring touchdowns in their first possession of the game and right out of the gate after halftime to grad the momentum and carry them to a 38-7 win over Pell City in a 6A Region 7 game.

Clay-Chalkville (4-0, 3-0) came out in a little different look for the first time they had the ball to start the game in a two tight end formation and decided that they were going to pound the ball all night long and it worked pretty much the whole game for the Cougars. "They have a good football team," said Cougars Head coach Jerry Hood. "We felt like two tight ends might cause them some problems. A lot of plays we ran tonight was just line up and whip your guy and see what happens. We had a little play that was like a mini draw where the running back picks where he wants to. We talk about performing early. Usually when you score first out of the half, good things happen 80 percent of the time the rest of the game."

And that is what the Cougars did all night long. In the first half, a steady diet of senior running back Sidney Battle who had 121 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown. "The offensive line worked hard all week and it showed up tonight and we just had to come and play," said Battle. "I love my offensive line, all I had to do is run. We fought tonight. We really want to prove to people who we are and that we are not false advertising."

Clay-Chalkville scored first when Battle scored on a 9-yard touchdown run. Quarterback Hayden Moore setup the touchdown on a 16-yard run earlier on this drive. Pell City (3-1, 2-1) had a chance to answer back in the first quarter, but fumbled on the Cougars two yard line and missed a big opportunity to gain momentum early in the game. "We had some opportunities early," said Panthers Head coach Brooks Dampeer. "We didn't capitalize early but I'm proud of our defense. There is some positives tonight, but they are a very good football team."

The Cougars scored again with 3:13 to go in the second quarter when Moore hit wide receiver Brian Clark in the back of the end zone on a 9-yard touchdown pass. Battle had a huge 26-yard run to set up the Cougars second score of the game. Moore completed 11-of-14 passing for 79 yards but had 135 yards on 16 carries on the ground along with one touchdown.

Clay-Chalkville scored a big touchdown before halftime, when the Cougars took over after a defensive stop and a short punt to midfield to start the drive right under two minutes until halftime. A big third down play from Moore to Cordell Scott pass play of 8-yards setup the 23-yard touchdown run of Moore on a broken play. "We had a lot of toughness tonight and every play I think we played hard," said Moore. "The defense showed tonight that we can be a top 10 team. The offensive line did a great job and we ran the ball well." The Cougars scored with 35 seconds left in the half and was a big back breaker for the Panthers. The Cougars led 21-0 at the half.

With 7:02 in the third quarter, the Cougars scored again on a Terrell West 12-yard touchdown run. West was the difference in the second half as he rushed for 92 yards on 11 carries and a touchdown. Clay-Chalkville ran a 31-yard fake punt pass from Moore to Chris Marshall for a big first down to keep the drive alive. The touchdown gave the Cougars a 28-0 lead.

Pell City came back go get on the scoreboard in the third quarter when quarterback Jackson Williamson scored on a one-yard run. Williamson completed 12-of-21 passing for 88 yards and had 52 yards on 13 carries with a touchdown. Clay-Chalkville did a great job of holding down Ira Burch on the night. Burch had 24 yards on nine carries and three catches for 28 yards. "Ira is a great player, I talked to coach about some all-star games for him," added Moore. "We knew that is the guy, our defensive guys were in the right places tonight to make some plays. I'm proud of our kids and they way our defense played. Our coaches did a great job of getting these guys to play. This is who we are. We played technique football."

With 8:52 to go in the game, Cougars kicker Patrick Millican kicked a 26-yard field goal to go up 31-7. Deandres Merriweather scored on a four-yard touchdown run to close out the scoring and the game for Clay-Chalkville.