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Photo by James Nicholas
Clay-Chalkville quarterback Aaron Frye (14) keeps the ball and is tackled by Mountain Brook, linebacker Billy, Pharo (20) during a game between Clay-Chalkville and Mountain Brook High Schools on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at Cougar Stadium.
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Photo by James Nicholas
Mountain Brook inside linebacker, Quinton lowe (27) tackles to Clay-Chalkville running back during a game between Clay-Chalkville and Mountain Brook High Schools on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at Cougar Stadium.
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Photo by James Nicholas
Clay-Chalkville running back, Aaron Osley (21) scrambles to recover a fumble ball during a game between Clay-Chalkville and Mountain Brook High Schools on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at Cougar Stadium.
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Photo by James Nicholas
Clay-Chalkville quarterback Aaron Frye (14) keeps the ball and is tripped by the Mountan Brook defender resulting in a sack during a game between Clay-Chalkville and Mountain Brook High Schools on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at Cougar Stadium.
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Photo by James Nicholas
Mountain Brook running back Stewart Andrews (10) finds an inside open gap to get into the Clay-Chalkville secondary during a game between Clay-Chalkville and Mountain Brook High Schools on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at Cougar Stadium.
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Photo by James Nicholas
The Mountain Brook ball carrier is able to thread the needle in between multiple Clay-Chalkville defenders during a game between Clay-Chalkville and Mountain Brook High Schools on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at Cougar Stadium.
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Photo by James Nicholas
Clay-Chalkville defenders tackle the Mountain Brook ball carrier Hayes Windle (18) during a game between Clay-Chalkville and Mountain Brook High Schools on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at Cougar Stadium.
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Photo by James Nicholas
Mountain Brook quarterback, Cayden Hofbauer (11) meets some of the Clay-Chalkville cheerleaders on the sideline as he's pushed out just shy of a touchdown during a game between Clay-Chalkville and Mountain Brook High Schools on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at Cougar Stadium.
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Photo by James Nicholas
Mountain Brook running back Stewart Andrews (10) drives the ball right down the middle of the Clay-Chalkville Defense, trying to score a touchdown. The Clay-Chalkville defenders are able to stop in a couple yards short of the touchdown during a game between Clay-Chalkville and Mountain Brook High Schools on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at Cougar Stadium.
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Photo by James Nicholas
Mountain Brook running back Stewart Andrews (10) drives the ball right down the middle of the Clay-Chalkville defense, trying to score a touchdown. The Clay-Chalkville defenders are able to stop in a couple yards short of the touchdown during a game between Clay-Chalkville and Mountain Brook High Schools on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at Cougar Stadium.
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Photo by James Nicholas
Mountain Brook running back Stewart Andrews (10) drives the ball right down the middle of the Clay-Chalkville defense, trying to score a touchdown. The Clay-Chalkville defenders are able to stop in a couple yards short of the touchdown during a game between Clay-Chalkville and Mountain Brook High Schools on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at Cougar Stadium.
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Photo by James Nicholas
Mountain Brook linebacker Miller Lee (35) tackles Clay Chalkville, running back Joshua Woods (11) during a game between Clay-Chalkville and Mountain Brook High Schools on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at Cougar Stadium.
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Photo by James Nicholas
Mountain Brook tight end, Alex Leonard (83) blocks Clay Chalkville Patrick Smith (6) during a game between Clay-Chalkville and Mountain Brook High Schools on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at Cougar Stadium.
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Photo by James Nicholas
Clay-Chalkville head coach Stuart Floyd discusses the next play during a time out with his team during a game between Clay-Chalkville and Mountain Brook High Schools on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at Cougar Stadium.
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Photo by James Nicholas
Mountain Brook defensive back, Harris Crumpton (27) divesto tackle Clay-Chalkville running back Aaron Osley (21) during a game between Clay-Chalkville and Mountain Brook High Schools on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at Cougar Stadium.
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Photo by James Nicholas
Mountain Brook linebacker Miller, Lee (35) sacks Clay-Chalkville, quarterback Aaron Frye (14) during a game between Clay-Chalkville and Mountain Brook High Schools on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at Cougar Stadium.
CLAY – The weather was finally perfect, but the game was anything but.
Class 6A No. 2 Clay-Chalkville survived a late turnover and ensuing Mountain Brook drive inside the 10-yard line to hold onto a 21-14 Class 6A, Region 6 win at Cougar Stadium on Friday.
“We didn’t play our best ball, but that’s not a slight against them,” said Clay-Chalkville head coach Stuart Floyd. “I don’t know if that’s lack of focus or just back-to-back weeks of really tough games, but we’ve got to play better, man.”
Up 21-14 with 1:23 to play, the Cougars (6-0, 3-0 in region) faced a fourth-and-1 at the Spartans’ 21-yard line. Clay-Chalkville elected to go for it and fumbled the snap well behind the line of scrimmage, a fumble that was recovered by Mountain Brook’s Hampton King.
Mountain Brook quarterback Cayden Hofbauer kept for a 5-yard run and had another 15 yards tacked onto that after a Cougars’ penalty. A 33-yard completion from Hofbauer to John Colvin set the Spartans up with first-and-goal from the 8-yard line with 23 seconds to play. Mountain Brook’s subsequent plays were an incompletion, 17-yard loss on a sack by Clay-Chalkville’s Patrick Smith, and another incompletion as time expired.
“We didn’t play one of our cleanest games, for sure,” said Mountain Brook head coach Chris Yeager. “Kids played hard fought until the end. Still areas to improve. I’m just proud of the way our kids hung in there and kept competing.”
Both teams struggled to find any consistent rhythm offensively. Clay-Chalkville quarterback Aaron Frye lost a fumble to Mountain Brook’s Frank Lee on the Cougars’ first possession of the game. Frye responded a couple drives later, however, rushing for a 32-yard first down that set up his 2-yard touchdown run two plays later to give Clay-Chalkville a 7-0 advantage in the second quarter. Mountain Brook (4-3, 1-2) tied it up a drive later when Stuart Andrews capped a 10-play, 73-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. Frye found the end zone from seven yards out to put the Cougars up 14-7 at halftime.
Clay-Chalkville made a statement drive to open the second half, engineering an 11-play, 78-yard scoring drive that included a fake punt in which Xavier Starks ran 17 yards for a first down and Frye scored from eight yards out to go up 21-7. The Spartans scored five plays later when Hofbauer scored on an 8-yard run of his own.
“We do have some big-play capabilities,” Yeager said of his eighth-ranked Spartans. “If you can have some big plays against Clay-Chalkville, you have big-play capability. We have the potential to have big plays. We’ve just got to develop more consistency.”
For Mountain Brook, Hofbauer finished 10-of-19 for 145 yards. He rushed 11 times for 33 yards and a touchdown. Andrews finished with 62 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries. Sam Smith led the Spartans with four receptions for 75 yards.
For Clay-Chalkville, Frye completed 15-of-25 passes for 191 yards. He ran 18 times for 76 yards and three touchdowns. Running back Aaron Osley led the ground game with 89 yards on 15 carries. Marlon Compton caught four passes for 62 yards, and Kumar Robinson finished with 41 yards on four receptions.
“It’s good to win tough games, win close games,” Floyd said. “You get in the playoffs and you’re going to have some tight games. I wish we’d play better so they weren’t tight, but at the same time when you get in the playoffs and you’ve been there and got that experience, you can fall back on that.”
Both teams remain in Class 6A, Region 6 play next week. Clay-Chalkville is at home against Huffman on Friday. Mountain Brook hosts Pinson Valley on Thursday.
"The big thing we’re going to have to do is turn the page on this one and put it behind us, and just look forward,” Yeager said.
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