By Randy Capps
CHAPEL HILL — With five seconds left, and facing a 10-point deficit, Clayton’s Aiden Smalls took a shotgun snap. By the time he had taken a few steps to his right, there wasn’t enough time left to score, kick an extra point and try to recover an onside kick.
Smalls, a senior who had already carried the ball 20 times and thrown it 15 more, had little to gain in that moment. A player going to NC State on a scholarship in a few months had a choice to make: Throw it away, toss it up for grabs or bite down on his mouthpiece and run for the end zone, just a few short yards away.
Smalls chose the path of most resistance — and risk. He sprinted for the right pylon. A Grimsley defender met him at the three-yard line, then another joined the fray at the two. The quarterback stretched his lanky frame and reached for the Carolina-blue painted end zone.
He fell a couple of feet short, a moment which summed up Clayton’s 24-14 loss to Grimsley in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 7A State Football Championship Game on Friday, Dec. 12 in front of a large section of Clayton fans.
“I use the word baller,” Clayton head coach Scott Chadwick said. “I mean, the guy’s just a baller. He carried us here over the last few weeks.”
Smalls was named the East’s Most Outstanding Offensive Player of the Game for his night, which included 258 yards of total offense and both Clayton touchdowns.
“Coming into the year, in like spring and summer ball, it was state championship or bust,” he said. “We started the season and had those two losses. They were setbacks, but they made us better in the long run.
“Back when I was at (Cardinal) Gibbons two years ago, I didn’t know much about Clayton at all. … Now that I’m here, it’s just crazy how I feel we just put Clayton back on the map. We went to a state championship and stuff … and to (see) how this town showed up to support us? It’s just crazy.”
“These people love us, and I just love this community so much. I’m so glad I came here.”
While Smalls is a recent arrival to the town, fellow senior KeShawn Stancil has been a Comet his entire life.
The defensive tackle, headed to the University of Miami next fall, was the East’s most Outstanding Defensive Player with 10 tackles and a half-sack. He’s been the heart of a stingy Clayton defense this season, and when asked what he meant to the program, Chadwick’s voice caught for the only time on the dais.
“Its hard to quantify,” he said. “KeShawn’s a Clayton lifer. He grew up here, and has just been tremendous in our program for four years. I thought he was just tremendous tonight.”
“Me, being a senior now, and (I remember) coming to my brother’s games when I was in, like, sixth or seventh grade, watching those guys and seeing what they could have done. Knowing that I finished my senior year playing for a state championship — not the outcome we wanted — but I can still say I played in it. It’s been a blessing playing on this team.”
Facing the Whirlies, a team that has now won 31 straight games, consecutive state championships and 81 of its 83 games this decade, Clayton faced long odds in its quest for its first state championship since 1989. But, in contrast to some crowds that can get lost in a sea of empty bleachers at a venue like Kenan Stadium, Clayton partisans showed up in force to cheer on the Comets on a sub-freezing evening.
They noticed in a big way.
“(We) told these guys, that if we ever did something like this, if we ever made this kind of a run, if we ever got to a state championship game, I don’t know that you’d believe what you will see in the stands,” Chadwick said. “And I’m glad they proved me right. The town proved me right.
“It’s been great for us over the last couple of weeks. We had a phenomenal town rally last night. You can’t go anywhere in the town without somebody talking about it and asking you about it. Again, the one thing I have always told the people of our town is that you can feel good supporting this group because we have great kids and they’re a great bunch of kids to support. “I told them at the pep rally last night that our players are on the stage tonight. It’s a big stage. But our town was on stage to me, too. Our town was on stage, and I thought they came through with shining colors.”
Clayton’s Aiden Smalls, 2, celebrates with Anthony Lopez-Mendoza after a touchdown during the team’s state championship game in Chapel Hill last month. Photo courtesy of Kai Jones/WJG Sports.
It was an emotional night for the program, especially the ones leaving it behind.
“Little did y’all know that this was my last night playing with Aiden Smalls, but our first game of our high school career was against each other,” Stancil said. “So, for us to be joined together, playing our last game of high school football together, watching him do what he does on the field — our whole team — it was a blessing this year.”
The stage is familiar to Chadwick, who won a 2001 4A title in Maryland while finishing as runners-up on two other occasions. It’s the kind of experience that provides perspective, even on emotional evenings like that one.
“I would have been a lot happier if we had won, but I don’t know that I could be any prouder of our kids,” he said.
