Trent Seaborn got his last shot at Clay-Chalkville, and this time the Alabama commit made it count.
The Thompson quarterback shredded the Cougars for 274 yards and four touchdowns on 21-of-25 passing Thursday night, helping the Warriors shake loose in the final three quarters and roll to a 37-13 win in Alabaster. Seaborn wasn’t sacked, and Thompson’s protection held up long enough for him to carve up a defense that had frustrated the Warriors in three straight tight losses.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t say I had this game circled since the end of last year,” Seaborn said. “This was something that was very personal to me.
I had yet to beat this team as a starter. We lost three, very, very close ones and they’re just such a phenomenal team.
This year, me and the rest of the guys came out with a different fire. We didn’t let it get away from us.”
Thompson coach Mark Freeman said the blocking was the difference, and Seaborn agreed. Freeman said he wanted to make sure his quarterback stayed upright after protection issues in last year’s 28-24 loss to Clay-Chalkville.
“The O-line did an outstanding job,” Seaborn said. “They gave me all the time that I needed to make plays.
I think the biggest part of our offense was Tanner Ehmen. He really helped our tackles out.
That was huge for us.”
Clay-Chalkville struck first with an 80-yard opening march that took 13 plays and ended on C.J. Eldridge’s 31-yard touchdown pass to Nasir Ray.
But Thompson answered fast. Just over a minute later, Seaborn hit Mason McClure for a 47-yard touchdown after breaking containment to his left.
From there, the Warriors took over. Clay-Chalkville managed only eight rushing yards until the fourth quarter, and Thompson controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
Seaborn was 14 of 17 for 211 yards in the first half alone, adding scoring throws of 56 yards to Darion Moseley and 7 yards to running back C.J. Cowley as Thompson built a 20-7 halftime lead.
The Cougars’ opening drive was their best stretch of the night. After that, they struggled to create much of anything.
Eldridge added a 5-yard scramble as the first half expired, but Clay-Chalkville never found a rhythm. Thompson forced a short field in the third quarter after a high punt snap, and Moseley kicked a 27-yard field goal to push the lead to 23-7.
The Warriors kept adding on in the fourth. Rardrecus Addison’s 51-yard punt return set up another Thompson possession deep in Clay-Chalkville territory, and Seaborn later found Ehmen on a 15-yard throwback pass. Eli King’s interception at the Cougars’ 41 led to Cowley’s 7-yard touchdown run.
Clay-Chalkville finished with 88 yards on 40 carries, and Thompson’s defense also kept Eldridge from doing much damage as a scrambler. Freeman called it a physical night for his team, while Clay-Chalkville coach Stuart Floyd didn’t hide his frustration.
“We absolutely got destroyed,” he said. “I don’t know that we played hard.
It’s little things. We’re not anywhere near where we need to be and it’s more from a discipline standpoint.
So, that’s my fault. I’m gonna get us there.
But when you care about the wrong things, it comes to fruition.”
Floyd also pointed to Thompson’s three-man front, saying his offense had no answer for it.
“If you can win in an Okie front, a three-man front, and we can’t get any yards, we’ve got problems,” Floyd said. “It’s a good D-line but when they’ve got three D-linemen and you’ve got five linemen and a tight end (blocking), you should be able to move the ball and we just couldn’t. We were not very good on first down, predictable on second down and you can’t live in third and long with them.”
Seaborn’s night also pushed his career numbers closer to another milestone. He now has 10,754 passing yards, leaving him 271 shy of becoming the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s all-time leading passer. That total puts him fourth all-time behind Piedmont’s Jack Hayes (11,024), Saraland’s KJ Lacey (10,985) and Williamson’s Jamarcus Russell (10,774).
Darion Moseley was Seaborn’s biggest target, finishing with eight catches for 149 yards. Afterward, he credited the quarterback’s experience and the way Thompson came into the game.
“He gets good protection, he’s going to hurt people,” Moseley said of Seaborn. “He’s a very experienced guy and it’s just a blessing to play with him. We came in with a chip on our shoulder and we executed.”
The matchup carried extra weight from the start: defending state champions, No. 1 teams in their classes and nationally ranked programs. Thompson, the Class 6A top team, is No. 14 in the HSFA poll, while Class 5A Clay-Chalkville is No. 18.
Freeman downplayed any talk that this made Thompson his best team yet, even after wins over Central-Phenix City and Clay-Chalkville to open the season.
“I’m very proud of the wins,” Freeman said. “It feels good to beat a good football team and we were due to beat them. But we’ve got to go back tomorrow and take the things we do really good and do a lot more of them as the season goes along.”
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