That would be a quarterback kneel.

The Comets stopped the suspense a few plays ahead of schedule by halting West Johnston's two-point conversion attempt with 13 seconds. The Comets then ran out the clock, ending a four-game skid and putting themselves on the winning side of a close game.

After watching C.J. Frederick amass 122 yards rushing, Clayton stopped him short of the goal line on a direct snap to secure its first win over the Wildcats since 2005.

It was some vindication for the Comets, who fell to Wake Forest-Rolesville and Garner on touchdown passes at the gun.

"I kept looking at the [referee's] arms to see if they were going to go up," Clayton coach Gary Fowler said. "Maybe the man upstairs finally said we've let them have enough."

Clayton matched its season high in points thanks to 204 yards rushing. The Comets completed just one pass, but they made the most of it, with Matt Reid throwing a 60-yard touchdown to tight end Matt Crutcher.

Although Frederick ruled the ground game for the Wildcats, West Johnston used the air as its preferred method of going downfield, with Patrick Crocker, in just his third game as a varsity stater, throwing for 230 yards.

One play after converting a fourth-and-3, Crocker hit Tre Clements on a slant pattern from 22 yards out to pull the Wildcats within a point. Clayton called timeout before the two-point try to adjust to West Johnston's "wildcat" formation, where Frederick took snaps in the shotgun formation.

"I felt like we had the momentum," West Johnston coach Bennett Jones said. "That formation was good to us, and I wanted to put the ball in our best player's hands. I didn't want to go to overtime and allow the whole team to come back."

With 2:51 to play, West had gotten the ball back at its own 33 after Ryan Hunnicutt and Amir Justice broke up a fourth-down pass. A pair of pass-interference penalties kept the drive going, including one on third-and-18.

The Clayton defensive front kept Crocker on the run all night, with Matt Bunn intercepting a screen pass and carrying it 29 yards for a touchdown and a 21-7 lead. The Comets looked to have the game wrapped up late in the fourth quarter after Bunn sacked Crocker and forced a fumble that Eddie Lozoya picked up.

"I thought our front five did do a good job most of the night," Fowler said. "We knew we had to get pressure. He couldn't just sit back there and pick us apart."

Clayton shut out West Johnston in the first half, holding the Wildcats to two field goal attempts of 30 and 50 yards that were no good.

"It hurts like crazy for our guys," said Jones, who spent six years as an assistant at Clayton. "It's like I told coach Fowler, I hate to lose, but if I have to lose, it makes it easier to know that your friends benefit."

The Wildcats scored on three of their first four drives of the second half. Crocker's seven-yard touchdown strike to tight end Tyrone Davis on fourth-and-five brought West to within 28-21 with just under nine minutes left in the game.

On its second possession of the game, Clayton moved 80 yards on 13 plays, all of which were runs. Montrelle Sanders cashed in on first-and-goal with a 10-yard plunge into the end zone. Reid ended another grinding 80-yard drive with a one-yard dive across the goal line for a 14-0 lead that stood until the half.

For all its struggles in 2009, Clayton moved to 2-0 against county opponents, with its other win coming over South Johnston in a 28-20 conquest on Sept. 3.

West Johnston has the night off this Friday with the league-wide open date in the GNR Conference. The Wildcats then face Knightdale on Oct. 23. Clayton, meanwhile, got a heavy shot of adrenaline heading into its bye week.

"We need a break," Fowler said. "We need a mental break. People don't even realize how big that monkey is. It won't a monkey, it was a gorilla. We finally got it off our back."