CLAY, Alabama -- The #1 Clay-Chalkville Cougars turned up the offense and go on to defeat #8 Gardendale 52-27 to claim the Class 6A, Region 6 title at Cougar Stadium tonight. Clay-Chalkville led 24-21 at the half, but came out of the locker room to get a the first score of the second half and go on to outscore Gardendale 28-6 in the second half.

Senior quarterback Tyrelle Pigrome threw for four touchdown passes and ran one for a touchdown to give Clay-Chalkville their fifth straight region championship. "I'm very proud of our kids, this is our fifth in a row," said Cougars Head coach Jerry Hood. "That is a hard thing to do. I'm proud of this community, you see the turn out that we had tonight. Big game atmosphere. This is what we need for playoff atmosphere. We needed to play four quarters and see how tough we are and I think we did that in the second half."

Clay-Chalkville (9-0, 6-0) opened the scoring first in the game when Pigrome hit Nico Collins on a 36-yard touchdown pass in the back corner of the end zone with 9:23 in the first quarter and a quick Cougars 7-0 lead. Gardendale answered right back though, with 7:57 in the first quarter, Walvid King rushed for a 21-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 7-7.

With 4:49 left in the first quarter, Clay-Chalkville scored on a Pigrome to T.J. Simmons on a 14-yard touchdown pass. With the touchdown, the Cougars scored on their first two possessions. After the touchdown, Gardendale took their turn to score again with only 1:48 left in the first quarter, Zach Cupps threw to Blake Zumbado for a 19-yard touchdown play. Again, the Rockets tie the game again this time at 14-14.

The Rockets defense get a stop on the next Cougars possession and they drive the length of the field while scoring their third touchdown of the first half. With 9:47 in the second quarter, the Rockets take a 21-14 lead on a Cupps 2-yard touchdown run. That lead didn't last long when the Cougars scored on their next possession on a A.J. Walker 5-yard touchdown run. The Cougars tie the game at 21 with 7:56 left in the half. With 6:24 left in the half, Gardendale tried to go for a 4th & 3 play at the Cougars 44-yard line but was stopped and turned the ball over to the Cougars offense. On the Cougars drive after the defensive stop, the Cougars get a 37-yard field goal by kicker Andrew Van Winlke with 3:34 left in the half and Clay-Chalkville took a 24-21 lead that they would not give up again.

With :37 left in the half, the Clay-Chalkville offense was driving to the Gardendale 9-yard line. On the next play, the Cougars threw a pass into the end zone and picked off by Reagan Padgett and turned it into a 102-yard touchdown interception for Gardendale, but during the play an inadvertent whistle took back the touchdown and put the ball at the Gardendale 20-yard line. On the next play with :30 seconds left in the half, the Rockets tried a hook and ladder play, but fumbled it and it was picked up by JaMarlin Sewell and he rumbled in the end zone from 20-yards out to put Clay-Chalkville up 31-21 at halftime.

The Gardendale offense put up 21 points in the first half and had the Cougars defense were on their heels giving up three first half touchdowns. Clay-Chalkville made the adjustments in the second half only giving up six points. "We just lined up right on defense in the second half," added Hood. "We threw a 10th grader in their and told him to play linebacker and he went nuts for a few plays. Our mike linebacker didn't play well tonight but we will get him straight. But once we started to get people lined up correctly, I though the defensive staff did an awesome job of stopping this good Gardendale offense."

In the second half it was all Clay-Chalkville. The Cougars scored three straight touchdowns coming out of the locker room. The first one was a Pigrome to Simmons on a 17-yard touchdown play, the second was a Pigrome 1-yard run and the third touchdown came on a Pigrome to Desmond Williams 8-yard touchdown play for the Cougars. With those three touchdowns, Clay-Chalkville led 52-21 with 11:57 left in the game. Simmons had one word to describe his quarterback tonight. "Great!" For the game, Pigrome completed 9-of-15 passing for 144 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions. Also, he had 100 yards on 17 carries and a touchdown.

Gardendale scored the last touchdown in the game on a Cupps to Padgett 43-yard pass play. "We had a lot of heart and determination," said Rockets Head coach Matt Plunkett. "If we play the type of football that we are capable of playing from here on out, then we might get to play this same team in the semis."

Both Cougars receivers had good games. Collins had three receptions for 98 yards & TD, while Simmons had two receptions for 31 yards & 2 TD's along with 2 carries for 21 yards. Clay-Chalkville ran the ball through out the night. Brandon Berry had 129 yards on 12 carries while Walker had 134 yards on 11 carries and a TD. "It feels good to win our region," said Cougars RB Berry. "We are taking this week by week to see what we can do in the playoffs. I have a lot of confidence in our offense and believe what our coaches tell us to play our parts right."

Up next for Clay-Chalkville is to host cross-town rival Hewitt-Trussville while Gardendale will host Pelham.