{"id":667,"date":"2026-09-27T21:33:47","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T01:33:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/?p=667"},"modified":"2026-09-28T11:55:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T15:55:45","slug":"clayton-state-holds-off-westgate-43-37","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/2026\/09\/27\/clayton-state-holds-off-westgate-43-37\/","title":{"rendered":"Clayton State Holds Off Westgate 43-37"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ELLENWOOD, Ga<\/strong>. &#8211; The Clayton State Lakers improved to 4-0 in dramatic fashion Saturday, holding off a furious second-half comeback by Westgate Christian University to secure a 43-37 victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Westgate struck first in spectacular fashion when Ravens wide receiver Jayir Nelson returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, giving the visitors an early 7-0 advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Lakers quickly responded behind quarterback Jeremiah Mallory, who found Dekari Carter on a 30-yard touchdown pass to tie the game before Clayton State took control following an interception by Jackson. The turnover led to another scoring strike as Mallory connected with Savion West on a 32-yard touchdown pass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Clayton State continued its offensive explosion throughout the second quarter. Mallory added a 1-yard touchdown run, Ashton Gochett scored from 3 yards out, and Mallory connected with Moxey for a 55-yard touchdown pass. Michael Kraskoukas capped the first-half scoring with a 34-yard field goal, giving the Lakers a commanding 31-7 lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Westgate refused to go away. Quarterback Jared Guter found Jayir Nelson for an 8-yard touchdown late in the second quarter, cutting the deficit to 31-13 heading into halftime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The third quarter belonged entirely to the Ravens. Westgate&#8217;s defense slowed the red-hot Lakers offense while its offense mounted an impressive comeback. Guter powered in for two 1-yard touchdown runs and connected with Jayir Nelson on a 7-yard scoring pass. The Ravens successfully converted all of their two-point attempts and eventually tied the game at 37-37 early in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With momentum swinging heavily toward Westgate, the Lakers delivered one final answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mallory stepped up once again, connecting with West for a 60-yard touchdown pass that proved to be the game-winner, sealing another thrilling Clayton State victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The win keeps CSU&#8217;s record unblemished at 4-0 overall and 2-0 in conference play while Westgate moves to 1-4 and 0-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">By the Numbers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Clayton State Lakers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Jeremiah Mallory: 13-of-19 passing, 348 yards, 4 passing touchdowns<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rushing: 2 carries, 32 yards, 1 touchdown<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Total Offense: 464 yards<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Westgate Christian Ravens<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Total Offense: 397 yards<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Next Up<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Lakers will look to remain unbeaten when they travel to face NAIA opponent Andrew College on Saturday, October 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Story and photo courtesy Clayton State Football<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ELLENWOOD, Ga. &#8211; The Clayton State Lakers improved to 4-0 in dramatic fashion Saturday, holding off a furious second-half comeback by Westgate Christian University to secure a 43-37 victory. Westgate struck first in spectacular fashion when Ravens wide receiver Jayir Nelson returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, giving the visitors an early [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clayton-state","category-westgate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":672,"href":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667\/revisions\/672"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsouthconference.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}