The Shelby County Wildcats (4-0, 2-0) went across the river to claim their first road win of the season, 33-21, over the Sylacauga Aggies.

“We are happy to come into Sylacauga a get a win tonight,” Wildcat coach Ryan Herring said. “I love the effort the kids gave tonight, and we continued to pound the ball like we normally do, and it paid off as the game went on,” he added.

With an offense series under their belt, Shelby County quickly went to work from their own 43-yard line. Before the chains could be nestled in the turf, Tae Lewis found a seam and bolted 51 yards down field deep into Aggie territory.

One play later, Darian Sutton muscled his way in from the 1 yard line to stake claim in Aggieland, putting the Wildcats out to the 6-0 lead midway through the first.

The first quarter came and went with the Aggies making a run. After a huge 4th-and-3 conversion from the Wildcat 5-yard line, the elusive Kelsey Pope cut up the Wildcat secondary for a 25-yard touchdown. After the PAT, the Aggies marked their territory taking the 7-6 lead.

Shelby County and the Aggies traded blows as intermission approached with the ‘Cats whipping up a stellar 20-play, 73-yard scoring drive accompanied with 2-point conversion versus a 9-play scoring drive of the Aggies when Pope connected with Joey Barnett for a 25-yard touchdown strike.

After the dust settled, the count was knotted at 14-14.

Then Braten Dill led his calvary 70-yards down field as precious seconds ticked away. Dill then connected with Darion Sutton on a gutsy fourth down screen play from the Aggie 9 yard line and went in for the score.

Yes, the veer offense’s hurry-up package worked like a charm, giving the Wildcats a 21-14 lead going into the half.

“We work on it everyday, but we don’t do it much. The kids executed it well, and it gave us a lot of momentum going into the half,” Herring said.

The trench warfare continued into the third stanza, with a stifling Wildcat defense holding the athletic Aggie offense to a simple 12 plays from scrimmage.

Shelby County hit the home stretch pounding the football between the tackles when Lewis hit the outside for a 17-yard touchdown scamper to put the Wildcats out to the late 27-14 lead.

Pope connected with twin brother, Kyle, on a 17-yard touchdown toss to pull the Aggies within a touchdown, 27-21 with 6:04 remaining in the 4th quarter.

Backed up on their own 13-yard line, the ‘Cats had to deter a late surging Aggie team pressing for a win.

Sutton then reeled off a 35-yard gain on the first play of the series as the clock moseyed along. Later on first and goal, Sutton finished what he started and went in for the score.

Sutton ended his night with his 156 yards of rushing with 3 touchdowns, Lewis got his 151 yard and a touchdown, while Dill threw for one score.

Shelby County travels to take on the Calera Eagles next week.