Josh Boatwright had an interception for the Tigers

Clay "whips" Tallassee in region opener

By Michael Butler

Tallassee head football coach Mike Battles summed it up. "They whipped us." The Tigers lost the Class 5A/Region 4 opener to Clay Central 21-6 on Friday at J. E. "Hot" O'Brien Stadium.

"They whipped us up front," Battles continued. "They controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball."

Tallassee's struggles punching it into the endzone continued in the red zone. After being shut out in the first half in the road win over Booker T. Washington the week before, the Volunteers held the Tigers scoreless again for the first 24 minutes Friday night.

"We had chances down there, got stopped at the one."

With Tallassee down 7-0 in the first quarter, Cade Everson reached for the goal line on a fourth-and-goal but was unable to cross the plain. The Tigers were back inside the 20 in the second quarter but turned it over on downs at the 15.

"We would get something going and self inflict something, a hold or a sack," said Battles. "You can't do that against a good football team."

Clay Central (1-1/1-0) took a 14-0 lead into the locker room. It exended its lead to 21-0 with a 76-yard scoring drive to start the third quarter.

Central's Terry Heflin ran for 197 yards on 28 attempts and a touchdown. Quarterback Darren Harris added two more rushing touchdowns.

"We didn't tackle well," Battles added. " They came ready and they executed."

Tallassee (2-1/0-1) avoided the shutout with a seven-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Ellis to Everson with 18 seconds remaining.

"Our kids played hard until the end. That ain't going to change. It's still early in the season. We're going to get ready for the next one. We've got Beauregard - another big region game. It's going to be tough. I know everybody wants to go undefeated. A few teams do. We can still go 9-1. That's what we're going to go do."

Score 94.7/Hit 106.9 will have live coverage beginning at 6. Audio streaming is available at: www.1300wtls.com with an audio simulcast on Spectrum Cable Channel 340. Video is streamed on Tallassee Times TV through YouTube.

*Photos by Kyle Thornton