ALABASTER – While the Thompson Warriors have won back-to-back state championships and made the title game each of the last three years, there's been one other team to do so as well–the Clay-Chalkville Cougars. And each year from 2023 to 2025, the Cougars gritted out three one-possession wins.
This year though, the Warriors completely flipped the script on its head.
Thompson dominated Clay-Chalkville from start to finish to snap the three-game losing streak to the defending Class 6A champions in 37-13 fashion on Thursday, Aug. 27 at Warrior Stadium.
"It feels amazing," said Thompson receiver Darion Moseley, who had a game-high nine catches for 154 yards and a touchdown. "We knew we were coming in, we had a plan for the game, and we just had to execute. We know we can do, and we know we wanted to send a statement out to the whole state."
Predictably for coach Mark Freeman though, it's just another win against a quality opponent.
"It feels good to be a good football team," Freeman said, dismissing the previous losses. "And we were due to beat them. But we got to put it in, and now we got to go back tomorrow and shuffle last week and this week and take the things we do really good and do a lot more of them as the season goes."
Like many of Thompson's opponents in recent big games, the Cougars dominated on the ground for their first drive of the game.
Terry Robinson thought he killed the drive with a third-down sack, but a holding penalty extended the drive with a first down. Like last week against Central, the penalty proved crucial as Nasir Ray snagged a 44-yard touchdown to put Clay up 7-0 with 6:18 left in the first.
Thompson responded almost immediately though. After hitting Darion Moseley near midfield to start the drive, Trent Seaborn repeated his first touchdown throw from a week ago and launched a bomb to Mason McClure, who turned toward the ball near the end zone and then turned back in for the touchdown.
The missed extra point left Thompson trailing 7-6 with 5:10 left in the quarter, but the Warriors defense ensured that they would have another chance to take the lead. Trent McCorvey went unblocked on a third-down rush to force a three-and-out.
A highlight-reel hurdle by Moseley on a 33-yard catch opened the Thompson drive, but a grounding penalty put the Warriors behind the sticks and eventually led to a turnover on downs.
Another quick Cougars punt gave Thompson its next opportunity to respond, and Seaborn did just that. Moseley went across the field to get open for a Seaborn rainbow into the end zone for the 56-yard touchdown and the 13-7 lead off the second play of the second quarter.
The Warriors defense made it four-straight punts ahead of a methodical offensive drive. The Cougars secondary crushed Thompson on a sure long ball that led to defensive pass interference, and Seaborn picked up from there with first-down throws to Moseley and Tanner Ehmen.
Another ball to Moseley got the Warriors inside the 10-yard line, and Seaborn hit the streaking CJ Cowley on the right side of the end zone to extend the lead to 20-7 with 1:06 left in the half.
Clay nearly halved the deficit after two big pass plays got the Cougars inside the red zone. However, a holding call with 23 seconds left put Clay behind the chains, and Johnathan Hayes forced the ball loose on a sack to let Bradlee Cocchiaro recover the fumble and end the half.
Thompson received the ball to start the second half, but the momentum was briefly halted by a punt. The Warriors defense made up for it though with punts on the first three Cougars drives of the half.
Thompson would get a short field on two of its next three drives, first off a muffed punt and then off a speedy return by RJ Addison. The first drive was stopped by pass interference, which led to a chip shot from Ethan Maxwell and the 24-7 lead.After a punt on the next Warriors drive, the big return set up a lob from Seaborn to Tanner Ehmen in the left corner of the end zone and a 15-yard score.
Thompson's secondary came up big on the ensuing drive. Junior Tu'upo broke up a downfield ball before Eli King snagged an interception up the middle to flip the field.
The Warriors left their starters in for the next drive and opted to run in the red zone. Jafari Pegues finished the drive by scoring off the left edge for the 37-7 lead with 9:43 remaining.
Clay would run out the remainder of the clock and stride into the end zone as time expired, but Thompson finished out the 37-13 win to snap its losing streak to the back-to-back 6A champions.
Seaborn finished with a near-perfect passer rating, going 22-for-25 for 292 yards and four touchdowns. Moseley led the way 154 yards and a touchdown, and McClure finished with three catches for 75 yards and a score."Me and Trent have been together for the longest time," Moseley said. "That's my brother. We play for each other. And so, it was a good night for the both of us."
Defensively, McCorvey led the way with seven tackles and one quarterback hurry while Robinson and Sean Sigler each had five total tackles, with Sigler also earning a sack and forced fumble.
After the game, Freeman complimented the defense for locking in after the opening drive and shutting them out the rest of the time the starters played.
He said that while the run game didn't go as planned tonight (17 carries for 37 yards and a touchdown), his team established the tone with physicality, much as Clay has for the last few years, and protected Seaborn well to let him make throws."I think we were physical tonight," Freeman said. "And I think our goal was to be physical tonight. It was time to be physical, our football team. We came in planning to run the ball a lot. We got in the game, and we just felt like we could do some other things and be who we are, and I didn't want to take our kids out of who we are, and so we had to protect."
Now, the Warriors move to 2-0 for the first time since 2023, having beaten the No. 2 team in Class 6A and No. 1 team in Class 5A. The No. 3 team in 6A awaits to start region play in the Vestavia Hills Rebels on Sept. 4 at Warrior Stadium.
As is the case each year, Freeman hopes the lessons from non-region tests carry into the ever-difficult Class 6A, Region 3, Except this year, they'll have the challenge, and luxury, of gleaming lessons from dominant victories."Our big thing starts next week," Freeman said. "We got a tough, tough game next week with Vestavia, and these first two games, I hope, prepared us for that. And I told the coaches after the game, 'It's been a long time since we've been 2-0 here because the way that the season has been and the people we play.' I can't give (Clay-Chalkville) enough credit to them about their program and what they do over there. So, I'm very proud of the wins, obviously, but now the season starts. We've got to get ready to go."
