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By CAREY REEDER | Staff Writer

CLANTON – The Pelham Panthers leaned on the arm of quarterback Clayton Mains to propel themselves to a 28-7 win over Chilton County on Friday, Oct. 21 that ultimately earned them the two seed out of the region heading into the postseason.

Mains accounted for all four of Pelham’s touchdowns in the game, including two second half touchdowns that put the game out of reach.

Both teams played to stalemate after the first quarter, but Mains got Pelham on the board first with a 1-yard touchdown run with nine minutes left in the first half. The Tigers threatened to tie the game, but turned the ball over on downs inside the Panthers’ 5-yard line.

Mains found Christian Johnson for a 2-yard touchdown connection just before halftime to double the Pelham lead at 14-0.

Mains continued his hot streak into the second half finding Kamari Hollis for a 35-yard touchdown to stretch the lead to 21-0.

Mains’ final touchdown came just a minute later finding Hollis again, this time from 44 yards out to make it 28-0 Panthers.

Chilton County’s Rashard Childers punched in a 7-yard run in the fourth quarter to cut the Pelham advantage to 28-7, but the Panthers held steady the rest of the way for their fifth win of the season.

With the win and rival Helena losing to Benjamin Russell, the Panthers went from one of the bottom two seeds to earning the two seed in the region, which gives them homefield advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Pelham improved to 5-4 with the win and finished region play 4-2, which put them in a tie with Benjamin Russell. Thanks to a 30-20 victory over the Wildcats, PHS earned the tiebreaker to grab the two seed.

The Panthers will now gear up to hosts county foe Spain Park High School on Thursday, Oct. 27 to close out the regular season ahead of a home playoff game a week later.