Photo courtesy of Cari Dean
Chelsea Football
Chelsea's Alec Little (5) during a game between Chelsea and Wetumpka on Friday, Sept. 8, 2017, at Hohenberg Field in Wetumpka.
The Chelsea High School football team has shown signs of progress the last few weeks, and now it’s time for that improvement to take its full effect.
Friday at 7 p.m., the Hornets (0-3) will play host to Benjamin Russell, a team that gave Chelsea one of its two Class 6A, Region 3 losses last fall.
Chelsea opened region play last week at Wetumpka, as Indian quarterback J.D. Martin combined for five touchdowns in a 44-22 win for the home team.
Despite Martin’s heroics, Chelsea still showed signs of life as late as halftime, as it took advantage of Wetumpka penalties and the resulting excellent field position.
Quarterback Alec Little, who replaced starter Turner Griffin late in the first period (the two rotated throughout the game, as has been the Hornets’ practice this season), made the best of a drive that began on the home team’s 31, thanks to a personal foul on the Indians. That drive lasted all of one play — Little immediately threw a 31-yard scoring strike to Lando Nichols with 1:17 remaining in the opening frame.
For Chelsea, Little and Griffin combined for 59 yards passing, going 4-of-12 with one interception. On the ground, the Hornets mustered just 94 yards, most of it by the reserve squad in the fourth quarter, giving Chelsea 153 yards of total offense.
“We’ll take the positives from tonight and move on,” Chelsea head coach Chris Elmore said following the game. “One of the positives for me was that we kept fighting on offense in the first half. In the second quarter we were moving on offense and kept up the tempo, but we just couldn’t sustain it. They [Wetumpka] are a fine team that’s going to win a lot of games. We just have to regroup and play another good team next week.”
Last year’s matchup against Benjamin Russell was Chelsea’s first loss of the season, in a game of ebbs and flows.
Benjamin Russell scored 20 unanswered points to take a 20-7 lead before Chelsea rallied to take a 21-20 lead in the second half. But the Wildcats responded once again with 20 unanswered and pulled away in the 40-29 victory.
Benjamin Russell is off to a 2-0 start this year, winning home games against Central Clay County and Pelham. Last week, Pelham fought back to tie the game at 21-21, before Benjamin Russell scored a pair of touchdowns in the latter half of the fourth quarter to hang on for the 35-28 win.
This fall’s Chelsea team is 0-3 for the first time since 2009, with losses to Oak Mountain and Briarwood before the Wetumpka contest. But the Hornets knew entering the season there would be a hill to climb, especially after having to replace all 11 starters on offense.
The Hornets have undoubtedly improved with each contest, and Chelsea’s chances at advancing to the state playoffs for the third consecutive season will hinge on whether a breakthrough comes sooner rather than later.
