Cougars lose for the first time in 715 days

By Brittney Bailey, For the Tribune

OXFORD, Ala. – The No. 2 Clay-Chalkville Cougars’ 21-game winning streak came to an unfortunate end Friday night on the road at Oxford in the regional championship game.

The Cougars were unable to build positive momentum and fell to the fifth-seeded Yellow Jackets, 21-10. Penalties, dropped balls and costly mistakes proved to be the Cougars’ downfall.

It has been 715 days since the Cougars last lost a ball game, their playoff loss to Parker on Nov. 4, 2022.

The Cougars (7-1, 4-1) took an early lead over Oxford (8-0, 5-0) in the first quarter with a field goal by Joseph Del Toro and a one-yard touchdown run by Joshua Woods. a 10-0 lead.

The Yellow Jackets’ Caleb Wynn answered the call to cut the Cougar lead to three at the end of the first quarter.

Yellow Jackets senior quarterback Mason Mims connected with wide receiver Nick Richardson in the second quarter to give Oxford a 14-10 lead.

The Yellow Jackets’ defense managed to contain Cougar quarterback Aaron Frye and shut down his ground game, which is usually a strength of the Cougars.

Frye and running backs Joshua Woods and Aaron Osley couldn’t maintain their normal explosive plays as penalties caused the Cougars to take one step forward and two steps back.

The combination of Mims and Richardson proved deadly as the pair scored again for the Jackets with 55 seconds left in the third quarter, extending their lead to 21-10.

The Cougars’ game ended with a missed field goal, a turnover on downs and an interception on their final possession. The interception came with just over a minute left in the contest.

Cougar head coach Stuart Floyd after the game: “We can’t say we weren’t ready. We simply had too many mistakes, too many penalties, too many ball losses. We didn’t capitalize on it.”

“It was a very strange game,” Floyd said of the Cougars’ loss. “It’s not bad to taste a little blood every now and then.”

“We told them all year that some things would come back to bite them, and in this game it all came back.”

The Cougars will travel to regional rival Pinson Valley to take on the Indians next Friday night.