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| Clay County players celebrate at midfield by hoisting the Blue Map, signaling the Panthers as Alabamas state champions in Class 1A. Photo: Stephen Gross. |
BIRMINGHAM
It was classic Clay County football. Block better, tackle better, execute better. Thats the Holy Trinity of Clay County football, which coach Danny Horn has stressed in every pre-game talk he has ever given.
The Panthers did all three in Thursdays Class 1A state championship game. The result was a 29-0 win over the Autaugaville Eagles and a fifth state championship for Clay County.
What better way to end it than being 15-0, state champions and with another shutout, summarized Horn.
The shutout was the ninth of the season for the Panthers and put the 2002 team in lofty company. Their 1995 2A state title team also recorded nine shutouts. In 1994, the Panthers had 10 shutouts on the way to their first 2A title. The 1996 team, also a 2A champ, had a state record 11 shutouts.
They also had four shutouts in five playoff games, something no other Clay County team had ever accomplished.
Afterwards, senior defensive back Dewayne Duncan didnt claim that the current Panthers are better on defense than any of those earlier teams, but he did feel they had upheld the defensive tradition.
Weve got at little killer instinct, Duncan said.
It was the first time Autaugaville (12-3) had been shut out all year.
We were worried about their quarterback (freshman Xavier Carroll), noted Clay County defensive coordinator Jerry Weems. We could tell from film he was their big-play man. We flattened our ends (Michael Bass and Travis Zackery) out to keep him contained.
Carroll ended with 32 yards rushing on eight carries. He had only one significant gain, for 15 yards, and Clay County had its shutout.
Surprisingly, none of the Panther coaches not Horn, Weems nor other assistants Felix Ackles, Steve Burkhalter, Bradley Cline and Kris Herron talk about shutouts prior to games.
We tell them that if they play their positions and play their technique the shutouts will come, Weems explained.
Senior linebacker and running back J.R. Hess, the championship game most valuable player, led the Panther defense with 12 tackles. Alfred (Cowboy) Simmons, his partner at linebacker, had 11. Defensive linemen Jeremy East and Chris Burkhalter ended with nine and six stops, respectively. Five Panthers Duncan, Hess, East, Zackery and Tommy Hunter had tackles that resulted in lost yardage.
The MVP selection of Hess, who also led the Panthers in rushing with 58 yards on 16 carries and punted four times for a 34 yard average, came as no surprise to Horn.
Hes done that all year long, the coach said. Hes a hard runner and a leader on defense. When you need something you can go to him and hell get it for you.
Clay County took advantage of a short Autaugaville punt to score on its second possession. From the Autaugaville 40, four running plays by Duncan and Hess advanced the ball to the 14. Brian Glenn then scampered around left end for the score with 5:33 left in the first quarter. When the Eagles failed to adjust to Clay Countys positioning on the extra point attempt, Eric Thomas called for the water bucket play and tallied the 2-point conversion untouched. It was only the second time Clay County had run that play all year.
The quickness and aggressiveness of the Autaugaville defense frustrated the Panthers most of the remainder of the half. With 2:04 left, Duncan intercepted a Carroll pass at the Clay County 29 and the Panthers made the turnover hurt.
Duncan opened the drive with a 19-yard run. After a five-yard incidental face mask penalty against the Eagles, successive carries by Hess, Duncan and quarterback Kevin Pitts gave Clay County a first down at the Autaugaville 35.
Then Horn, the coach who doesnt like to throw (The players) complain that we run all kind of pass plays in practice and never run them in the game, he says noticed Autaugaville was bringing its safeties up on every play and rolled the dice.
Tight end Tommy Hunter was three steps past his defender when Pitts, after a play fake, released the ball in his direction.
I just laid it up there and let him run under it, said Pitts. It became his sixth touchdown pass.
Hunter was so open he worried for a moment that he might drop the ball. Instead, he hauled in his second touchdown catch of the season with just 1:13 on the clock. Jose Bermudez booted the first of his three extra points. Suddenly, an 8-0 lead had become 15-0 and Autaugaville was in trouble.
When we got up two touchdowns that was probably the biggest play of the game, noted Horn.
That broke our back, agreed Eagles coach Trey Baggett. It really did.
Only moments earlier Baggett had been planning a way to overcome an 8-0 deficit with the first possession of the second half.
When you get down by two scores against a team like Clay County, its tough to get back in the ball game, Baggett continued. Theyre going to line up and run right at you and take care of the football.
In the first half, They were getting penetration and we couldnt do much, said Horn. In the second half we ran more straight at them.
We started pounding the ball and pounding the ball and we wore them down, was Duncans assessment.
In the second half Clay County kept the ball 15 minutes to nine minutes for Autaugaville. On the second play of the fourth quarter Hess scored from two yards away, capping a 12-play, 54-yard drive for a 22-0 lead.
With four minutes left Clay County held Autaugaville on downs at the Eagles 25. Zackery personally accounted for the Panthers final touchdown. He ran four times, around a five-yard penalty against the Eagles, and scored from six yards out with 1:32 to go.
After a 5-5 season in 2001, Clay County rebounded to 15-0.
I think this is an example of how hard work pays off, Horn concluded. In the summer we had the best attendance weve ever had. They realized we needed to get stronger and get faster. | 