CLAY, W.Va. — Clay County posted their ninth consecutive winning season in 2025 and the Panthers have not endured a losing season since 2013. A late surge allowed Clay to secure their first playoff win since 2001. The Panthers knocked off their rivals from Roane, 44-12 in the opening round, giving Clay their fifth consecutive win and their second 8-win season in three years.
“Going in there, I wasn’t sure if we were going to win or not,” said Clay County senior RB/LB Brody Scarbro. “I guess we just had the right mindset going into the game. I think it is a real big morale boost. I hope it propels us into this year. I think we have a really good chance of going to the second round of the playoffs again. I think we will be just as good this year.”
“It is pretty fun. We’ve played Roane a lot of times and haven’t won very much,” said Clay County senior RB/LB Blake Coleman. “But to get it in the playoffs was pretty special.”
Now the task for the Panthers is to build on the success of the previous fall. Their top preseason priority is to replace several starters on an offensive line that helped Clay average over 31 points per game.
“There’s four new starters but they’re four guys that are stronger than we’ve ever been,” said Clay County head coach Jason Nichols. “They really hit the weight room. We are leaning off of the last couple years of success. The weight room was full just about every session.”
Second team All-State signal caller Cooper Collins returns for his second season as Clay’s starting quarterback. Last year, Collins passed for 2,632 yards with 28 touchdowns.
“Cooper has now turned from the inexperienced sophomore to a leader as a junior,” Nichols said. “He’s in full command. He has gotten a lot stronger himself and he’s got a lot more zip on the ball.”
“He has been in the weight room a lot, too,” Scarbro said. “He has matured a lot. Last year he came into the season a little bit nervous, kind of his first varsity reps and stuff like that. I think he is doing a lot better now.”
“He’s a lot more comfortable now,” Coleman said. “Last year, he was nervous, I’m sure. It was his first year of varsity. This year, he is a lot better. He has been in the weight room a lot, working all offseason.”
Brody Scarbro will join Collins in the backfield. As a junior, Scarbro led the Panthers with 877 rushing yards with seven touchdowns.
“Between Brody Scarbro, Blake Coleman, Nick Williams, we believe we have a good stable of running backs,” Nichols said. “Each of them brings something different to the table. We like to throw the ball. So they’ve got to be able to catch the ball as well.”
Clay put the ball in the air on 55 percent of their snaps last season. Multiple receivers will be called upon, including junior Joel Elliott. He caught 11 touchdown passes as a sophomore.
“We’ve got Joel Elliott. We’ve got his younger brother Collin Elliott, who will be stepping into a starting position this year,” Nichols said. “And then we have the returner of Kohan Ramsey. He is a two-year starter returning back. And then we have a battle out there at the Z position between Ghatlon Stanton and Cannan Payton.”
After securing the program’s second postseason victory, Nichols is calling upon his veterans to lead the Panthers to even higher aspirations in 2026.
“We always say to leave it better than you found it,” Nichols said. “We believe last year’s seniors left it better than they found it. It is now in the hands of this year’s group to do the same thing.”