Hornets fall in regular season finale
CALERA -- Chelsea High School rallied in the second half, but only cut its deficit in half and fell 31-21 at Calera.
A Hornets fumble on the opening kickoff set the Eagles up for a 1-yard touchdown run by Chris Cotton to open the game.
Calera extended it to 13-0 with a 50-yard touchdown reception by Kobe Prentice. It was the first of three touchdown connections for Preston Stokes to Prentice, who finished with 146 yards on seven catches.
Chelsea responded to a 13-0 first-quarter deficit with an 18-yard touchdown pass from Hayden Garrison. Luke Miller kicked the extra point to make it 13-7. Two big plays — a third-down, 52-yard touchdown pass to Prentice and a 44-yard touchdown — made it 25-7.
Chelsea scored twice in the fourth quarter on short touchdown passes from Garrison to Cooper Griffin with seven minutes remaining. The first was a 9-yard pass inside the front right corner of the end zone. The second was from 8 yards out with 3:20 remaining after the Hornets recovered a fumbled punt inside the red zone to set up the scoring drive.
Garrison finished the night with 115 yards of offense, completing 15-of-28 passes for 75 yards and collecting 41 yards rushing on six carries.
Chelsea concludes its regular season with a 4-6 overall record. The Hornets head to Oxford next week to open the Class 6A playoffs.
- Stats courtesy of J. Mark McLaughlin