CCA Cougars claw Watchmen

Published 12:00 am Monday, September 20, 2004

Crenshaw Christian Academy traveled to Montgomery Friday night to take on the Calvary Christian Academy Watchmen and when the final horn sounded the Cougars had chalked up area win No. 2, 41-6 and improved their overall mark to 2-1.

Second-year head coach Roland Jones attributed the victory to a hard week of practice.

&uot;We worked really hard this week preparing for Calvary," he said. "We had a lot of contact in practice, but we still need to work on our tackling. Our defense really came through and our offensive line did what they needed to do to get us this area win. We played all 25 players tonight and we’ll continue to give everybody a chance to play, just like we did in our first two games. We still have seven or eight who aren’t at full speed, so we need to get everybody prepared to play when we need them."

The Cougars' defense was sound throughout the contest allowing the Watchmen to score their lone touchdown with only six minutes remaining in the final period.

Seniors Foster Carpenter and Andrew Griffin led the defensive surge with five solo tackles and an assist each, followed by classmate Nicholas Atkinson with five stops and a fumble recovery.

Junior nose guard Andrew Armour recorded a 4-and-2 slate with two stops for negative yardage and a fumble recovery, senior Corey Walden notched a 4-and-1 card and linebacker Sloan Carter had four solo stops.

Also turning in fine efforts for the Cougars were Chad Heartsill and Brandon Polk with 3-and-1 marks, Russell Pettis and Derek Manning with three individuals each, Justin Jordan and Shawn Nelson with 2-and-3 efforts, Brandon Baines 1-and-4 and Brian Brasington with a 2-and-2 card.

Senior halfback Bubba Faulk, who saw limited action, led the offensive charge with 137 yards on 14 carries and four touchdowns on runs of 12, 1, 5 and 34 yards.

Junior quarterback Klein Jones completed four of seven tosses for 74 yards and hooked up with junior wide out Justin Jordan for a 34-yard TD to lift the Cougars to a 28-0 halftime advantage.

Shawn Nelson, starting his first game at tailback, rushed for 58 yards on 16 carries. He opened the Cougar scoring barrage with a six-yard touchdown scamper with 5:25 remaining in the first stanza, capping off a 10-play, 56-yard drive.

Junior fullback Sloan Carter rounded out the Cougars' ground assault with 37 yards on five carries.

The Cougars opened the second half with a comfortable 28-0 cushion. The Watchmen recorded their initial first down on their opening series of the third period, but the drive was snuffed out later when defensive tackle Russell Pettis pounced on a fumble at the Cougar 31-yard-line.

Crenshaw’s offensive line, led by Andrew Powell, Wallace Kelley, Jon Grayson, Parker Wallace, Russell Pettis and Corey Walden regained the momentum as the offensive unit drove the distance in seven plays.

A key third-and-long play, a Jones-to-Carter pass completion for 15 yards got the Cougars on track. Faulk capped off the 69-yard scoring drive on a five-yard jaunt up the middle to extend the Cougars' lead to 35-0 with 5:22 left in the third quarter.

Crenshaw will host area opponent Dixie Academy tomorrow night. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.