Clay-Chalkville coach Drew Gilmer knew it would be tough to contain Saraland’s high-powered offense for 48 minutes.

“We knew we had to pick our moments and come up with big plays in big situations,” he said.

The Cougars picked the right moment Friday night.

In a battle of star teams and star players, Clay-Chalkville linebackers Carlos Ivy and DJ Barber stopped Saraland quarterback KJ Lacey at the 2-yard-line as time ran out, preserving a dramatic 31-28 win in the Class 6A championship game at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

“They don’t panic,” Gilmer said of his defense. “They don’t point fingers. They just play the next play. We had all the trust in the world in these guys.”

Two of the top players in the state in any class – Alabama commits Ryan Williams of Saraland and Jaylen Mbakwe of Clay-Chalkville – made play-after-play all night. Mbakwe ran for three touchdowns and threw for another. Williams caught two TD passes, ran for one and returned a kickoff for a score.

In the end, though, it came down to a fourth-and-5 for Saraland at the Clay-Chalkville 10. With his team needing just a field goal to tie, Saraland coach Jeff Kelly let the time run down to five seconds and called his final timeout.

“We had a fake (field goal) in that situation we really liked and that crossed my mind,” he said. “But the problem was, with no timeouts, if it’s not there, we are in a tough spot. We could kick a field goal and Tucker (Singleton) has done a good job for us. He’s been consistent.

“But given those choices and with one of the best quarterbacks around (Lacey) and some great receivers, that kind of led to my thought process. If I had a timeout, that would have changed my thought press totally.”

Kelly opted to go for the win.

“I did think they would kick a field goal there,” Gilmer said. “I had my field goal block team in there. When we saw they were going for it, we changed personnel.”

The personnel change included Mbakwe, who played the entire game at quarterback, coming in at corner. Williams said the play would have gone to him if he had been single covered. He wasn’t.

Lacey took off up the middle. Barber, an Auburn commit, and Ivy closed in on him. Barber had to run around an official. But the linebackers made it in time. Lacey fell short. Game over.

This post will be updated.