The Crenshaw Christian Academy Cougars started the 2010 season with a win over South Montgomery County Academy on Thursday night, but it wasn’t as smooth as the Cougars hoped.

CCA had a number of penalties and miscues that helped keep the Raiders in the game.

The first offensive play of the night set the tone for much of the Cougars’ game.

CCA connected on a 37-yard pass play, but it was called back for holding.

Much of the rest of the first half was a stalemate.

SMCA only mounted one long drive, but the Cougars stopped it at their own 3-yard line with a fourth-down goalline stand.

On the ensuing possession, CCA moved the ball down the field well with Pete King hitting Cameron Johnson to move into Raider territory.

Despite driving to the 10-yard line, CCA was unable to score with two minutes left in the half, however, they would get another chance.

A botched punt from SMCA gave the Cougars the ball at the SMCA 16-yard ine with 25 seconds to play.

CCA took a shot at the endzone, but on the second play, King was sacked and the first half was over.

“We really had to step it up after halftime,” said head coach Roland Jones. “We just kind of went through the motions.”

Things improved in the second half as Michael D’Arville broke the scoreless tie with 6:16 left in the third period on an 11-yard run for a touchdown.

D’Arville and Justin Thrash played key roles on the Cougars’ next scoring drive, and King punched it in from a yard out to make the score 14-0 less than four minutes later.

Midway through the fourth quarter, D’Arville broke an 80-yard run, while Kyle Furr scampered 14 yards to finish the drive and make the score 21-0.

However, SMCA wasn’t finished.

The Raiders scored with just under four minutes to play and nearly capitalized on a pair of CCA fumbles.

SMCA scored with 50 seconds to go in the game, but CCA was able to run the clock out and the final score was 21-14.

“SMCA was well-prepared,” Jones said. “They did some things we didn’t expect. Both of us had depth issues tonight. We also had Kyle Furr and Will Moses out for most of the week, which hurt us some at running back, but we hope to see them back soon.”

The win was the Cougars’ 23rd straight region victory.

D’Arville was the leading rusher for the Cougars, carrying the ball 15 times for 117 yards and a touchdown.

King had 10 carries for 66 yards and a touchdown, Furr rushed 9 times for 59 yards and a touchdown and Thrash had six carries for 41 yards.

King was also 5-9 for 55 yards through the air.

On the defensive side, Rann Smyth had eight tackles and Austin Brown had seven.