Sarah Finnegan
Chelsea AT Helena Football 2017
Kendrick Simpson (2) carries the ball during a game between Chelsea and Helena on Friday, Oct. 27, 2017, at Husky Stadium in Helena.
No matter the result of Friday's game, the Chelsea High School football team has provided a positive example that head coach Chris Elmore can use moving forward.
The Hornets knew it was going to be tough to replace all 11 offensive starters and a handful of others on the defensive side of the ball. They knew that another eight-win season was not likely. The schedule did not relent for the first seven weeks, and they started the season with seven defeats.
Given the expected growing pains, Chelsea still had not clicked on all cylinders as Elmore expected them to. The Hornets felt they would have had chances in a few of those seven losses if they had played better.
But through it all, they never quit. There was never the resignation of a lost season, even as they were eliminated from playoff contention early on. And it paid off with back-to-back wins over the last two weeks.
No matter the result of Friday's game against Cullman, Chelsea has provided future teams with a glimpse of the resolve that defines the program.
“It shows their resilience,” Elmore said following his team’s second consecutive win, a 24-17 triumph over Helena.
“That’s the way the whole season has gone,” he continued. “We’ve had bad stuff happen early a lot this year and gotten behind and just haven’t been able to get back over the hump, but tonight they were able to. That’s a credit to our kids not panicking. They could have easily said, ‘Ah, here we go again. Same thing, same old story.’ But they didn’t and found a way to get back in it and win.”
Last week’s win over Helena did not come easily. The Hornets dug themselves an early 14-3 hole and had to battle out of it.
Chelsea freshman running back Collier Blair capped a 15-play, 63-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to cut Helena’s lead to 14-10 early in the second quarter.
At halftime, Elmore had a simple message for the Hornets: don’t be superhuman, just do the ordinary things.
Chelsea responded in the second half by continuing its game and making several big plays.
The first came following the Hornets’ stalled drive out of halftime when Reid Burleson recovered a fumbled punt on the Helena 30. Six plays later, Blair worked his way 25 yards to the end zone on a screen pass from Turner Griffin to tie the game 17-17.
Chelsea was able to take its first lead when a 15-yard Helena punt gave the Hornets the ball on the Huskies 32-yard line. Chelsea gave the ball to Blair or Kendrick Simpson on eight of the drive’s nine plays, with Blair punching it in from a yard out to make it 24-17 with 4:16 left in the third.
Blair finished the game with 74 yards rushing and a touchdown and 25 yards receiving and a score. Simpson rushed for 172 yards, and Griffin threw for 42 yards and a touchdown.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday, as the Hornets wrap up their season.
- Brandon Miller contributed to this report.
