Improbable late rally lifts Hornets to win
BIRMINGHAM — This one was for Mike.
Michael Gibbs was a 2020 Chelsea High School graduate and former Hornets wide receiver who died Oct. 3. He was 19.
Before kickoff on Friday night at Viking Stadium in Birmingham, a banner was draped across the visitor railing, honoring him. Then, his Hornets honored him.
Chelsea quarterback Hayden Garrison connected with M.J. Conrad with 17 seconds left for the go-ahead touchdown. Conrad wears No. 6, the same number Gibbs wore.
“I looked up to him like a brother,” said Conrad, who caught two passes for 44 yards and two scores. “We didn’t really hang out as much as I really wanted us to, but this game was for him.”
A two-point conversion put the Hornets went up 41-34. A Brady Clements interception with no time left sealed a thrilling win for the Hornets (3-4, 2-2 in Class 6A, Region 5).
It was a thrilling game that featured six lead changes. Chelsea took a 17-14 lead into halftime, but the second half for Huffman (1-7, 0-5) was all about running back Makhi Hughes. He scored on an 11-yard run to give the Vikings the lead at 20-17. Chelsea knotted the game at 20 when Jack Seymour booted a 39-yard field goal. Hughes finished off the next Huffman drive with a 23-yard touchdown run and the two-point conversion to extend the lead to 28-20.
Garrison then found Thomas Simpson for a 54-yard strike to cut the deficit to 28-27 with 1:03 left in the third quarter. Huffman then ran an 18-play, 74-yard drive that ate 9:42 of clock time, punctuated by a Hughes 2-yard score. The two-point try failed. On the ensuing drive, Garrison connected with JyDarian McKinney for a 26-yard touchdown, but a missed extra point left the Hornets down 34-33 with 1:25 to play.
Huffman recovered the onside kick, and the Hornets held Hughes to 6 yards on three carries on the drive. The snap on the punt on fourth down went awry, and Chelsea took over at the Huffman 30-yard line. Garrison hit Conrad on the first play of the drive for a 30-yard game-winner.
“We prepare every week to play our hardest for every down,” Garrison said. “When we come out here we’re not going to leave unless we’ve tried our hardest.”
In the first half, Huffman went up 8-0 quickly when Hughes ran for a 72-yard score on the game’s second play. He finished with 260 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 38 carries.
“I think No. 22 is one of the best players in the state,” Chelsea head coach Dustin Goodwin said of Hughes. “That’s a heck of a back. I thought they controlled the ball for most of the night. They controlled the clock and kept us off the field some. Our kids still fought and I’m proud of that, and obviously we’re very excited about keeping our playoff hopes alive.”
Garrison found Conrad for the Hornets’ first points, a 14-yard TD on their first drive. Luke Miller made a 26-yard field goal to put Chelsea up 10-8 in the second quarter. Huffman regained its lead three minutes later when Naeem Offord hit Shamaur Gatson for a 56-yard score. Garrison called his own number from 2 yards out to give Chelsea a 17-14 edge at halftime.
Garrison finished 20-of-30 for 326 yards and four touchdowns. Simpson led the Hornets with seven catches for 110 yards and a touchdown. Cooper Griffin caught five passes for 72 yards. McKinney finished with 54 yards and a touchdown on two grabs.
For Huffman, Offord was 3-of-5 for 72 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Huffman rushed for 262 yards as a team.
“I’m really proud of our kids for continuing to fight,” Goodwin said. “We’ve got a lot to work on. We had a hard time getting our defense off the field. I thought we left some things on the field offensively.”
The win keeps Chelsea in the hunt for a 6A playoff spot. The Hornets will host its final two Region 5 opponents, Shades Valley and Mountain Brook, the next two weeks.
“I think our schedule is one of the toughest in the state in any classification,” Goodwin said. “I really do. I think our kids are handling it well. We’ve come up short earlier in the season but they continue to fight and believe in each other.”
It was an important win, thrilling and needed. But the night transcended the game.
“I loved Mike,” Garrison said, showing the Sharpie where he wrote “Long Live MG” on his wrist tape. “He meant a lot to all of us. I looked up to him my freshman year. Everyone he crossed paths with, he had an impact on their life. That one was for Mike.”