In a back-and-forth game, Chilton County High School came up short and fell 42-26 at home to Sylacauga on Aug. 26.

It was the Tigers (0-1) 2017 season opener and was a shootout for quite a while, as both teams traded scoring drives for much of the game.

Trailing 21-14 at the halftime break, CCHS took its opening drive of the second half and marched down the field, capping it off with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Jarrett Ricks to a sprawling Justin Liveoak.

The Tigers went for two, but the conversion attempt was stopped short of the goal line and CCHS trailed 21-20.

Big plays proved the difference in the game and Sylacauga got one by returning the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown to answer the Tigers’ drive.

CCHS would not go quiet and had a response of their own with another drive highlighted by runs from Cameron Wright and Ricks.

Ricks dumped a pass into the flat to Wright who cut up field and dove across the goal line to cut the deficit once again, this time 28-26 with 4:57 left in the third quarter.

According to CCHS head coach Tal Morrison, he saw promise in the play of the offensive line and sees the game as a building block for them moving forward. He also liked the way that Ricks managed the game and the explosiveness that was shown from the backfield combination of Wright and Gab Jackson.

However, that proved to be all the scoring that the offense could muster on the night and Sylacauga methodically put the game away in the fourth quarter.

“We just had one bad play in those couple of drives there [late in game],” Morrison said. “We were coming off the ball and playing physical. We’ve just got to build off of that and eliminate the mistakes.”