By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

CALERA – In a game peppered with flags and big plays, Calera took care of business at home against visiting Shelby County and moved to 4-1 with a 34-14 win, primarily thanks to Charles White and Kyle Harrell, who combined for all five Eagle touchdowns.

Tyler Ferguson, a junior, was under center for the first time this season on the night, replacing Ty Evans, who spent the night on the defensive side of the ball playing cornerback.

“He’s done really well all year, and we felt like that was the guy we needed in there,” Calera head coach Wiley McKeller said after the game. “He’s a great high school football player. Very heady, very smart, confident leader for us. Ty had a great night at defensive back as well, so it was a good team deal.”

With Ferguson under center, Calera’s first possession went three and out, however Shelby County muffed the ensuing punt, and Harrell hopped on the loose ball to give Calera a fresh set of downs at the Wildcat 22 yard line. A pair of false starts, which became quite common for the Calera offense, especially when a Calera receiver went in motion across the line, set the Eagles back. On fourth down and nine from the 22, Ferguson found White streaking down the left hash for the game’s first touchdown early in the first quarter.

While Shelby County didn’t put up many points on the night, the Wildcats still churned out some yardage behind a very tough, hard-nosed running attack. Jamarius Mayfield, as he has done all season, was a load to bring down all night, springing run after run for large chunks of yards while John Slaughter and Trenton Sullivan also had impressive nights running the football. The ensuing Shelby County drive after White’s first score however ended when Ferguson intercepted an errant pass from Wildcat quarterback Mason Blythe.

With the ball back, White went to work. He promptly took the ball on a sweep handoff to the left side of the field from Ferguson, got to the edge, and was gone, running over a hapless Shelby County defensive back on his way to a punishing 65-yard touchdown run to double the Eagles lead in the second quarter.

“He’s a special kid,” McKeller said after the game. “He’s one of those guys that is very, very strong but also has that elusive speed. But it all starts in the trenches and I thought tonight we were the more physical team and I was glad to see that.”

Mayfield later in the half broke off the first of what turned out to be two long touchdown runs that were called back on the night due to penalties. The one before half was a beautiful 85-yard scamper that was negated by a hold that helped to spring the run.

“We inflicted too much damage to ourselves,” Shelby County head coach Heath Childers said after the game. “We had two touchdowns called back, which we knew was going to happen with this officiating crew. We did enough to hurt ourselves tonight.”

The very next play after Mayfield’s first score was called back, Calera’s Antonio Devinner forced a fumble, which quickly led to White’s third touchdown of the half off a slot screen pass from Ferguson that he was able to turn into a 31-yard score, putting the Eagles up at the break 21-0.

Calera fumbled on the opening series in the third, and Shelby County drove down inside the Eagles’ 10-yard line, but turned the ball over on downs. Harrell then took a handoff from Ferguson on the first play of the ensuing drive and sprinted, virtually untouched, down the left side of the field for a 97-yard backbreaking score to give Calera a 28-0 lead in the third.

After Mayfield broke off his second scoring run that was called back for a chop block, he later got the Wildcats on the board in the fourth quarter with a 29-yard run to make the score 28-7. Harrell promptly answered with his second touchdown of the night while playing quarterback out of the wildcat formation opening the lead back up to a four-score game at 34-7 before Mayfield added his second score of the night late in the quarter to end the game at 34-14.

“They’re a very tough offense to prepare for,” McKeller said after the game, speaking of Shelby County. “They play physical. When we had to have it, I thought our kids played physical in the second half and took the game over. I’m real proud of what these guys did tonight, I thought we got better.”

“Congratulations to Calera, they’ve got a good team and they deserved to win tonight,” Childers added.

Shelby County’s offense, as it is prone to do, racked up 350 yards, all on the ground. Mayfield rushed for 186 yards on 22 touches and two scores while Slaughter and Sullivan both went for 70 yards on the ground on 14 and 12 touches, respectively.

Harrell led all rushers with 195 yards on 13 carries and two scores, most of which came on his 97-yard scamper. White only ran the ball three times, but gained 70 yards on the ground, most coming from his 65-yard score as well. White also was on the caught three of Ferguson’s four completions on the night for 65 yards and two more scores. Yatil Gant led the Calera defense with seven tackles.

Calera moves to 4-1 and will face Wilcox Central next while Shelby County falls to 2-4 and will turn its attention to Beauregard.