Huge game from offense, opportunistic defense fuel Hornets win
The obvious storyline was the dynamic Chelsea High School rushing attack, but head coach Chris Elmore wanted to highlight a different facet of his team after the Hornets rode a strong second half to a 38-21 win over Class 6A No. 10 Gardendale on Friday night at Chelsea High School.
“I’m so proud of our defense, just how they fought, how physical they were, and just continuing to be resilient even though they would make some big plays and never really gave up,” Elmore said.
The Hornet defense gave up over 400 yards of total offense on the night, but that fails to account for the big plays that were made when they needed to be made, including four turnovers on down, including three in the fourth quarter.
“I can’t say enough about our defense,” Elmore said. “They don’t get enough credit. Everybody talks about how many points we score, but our defense battles every single play.
“They are outsized and usually don’t have as much speed as the opponent, but they just keep playing and keep playing and keep playing. They’ve done it all year and it’s kind of gone unnoticed, but it showed up tonight in a big game.”
Chelsea (5-1) won the contest in large part thanks to its offense being able to match the Rockets yard for yard and pull away in the fourth quarter.
Running back Zalon Reynolds put the game out of reach with 5:15 remaining in the game, as he took the handoff wide to the right, surveyed his options, and seemingly slammed the accelerator, bursting through a hole and beating everyone to the end zone for a 46-yard touchdown.
Reynolds scored twice on the night – also reaching the end zone in the second quarter – and piled up 161 yards on 27 carries.
Despite that impressive stat line, quarterback Matthew Marquet’s numbers were even better. Marquet ended up with 174 yards on the ground and two touchdowns, as the zone read with Reynolds proved deadly to the Gardendale defense. One of Marquet’s scores came early in the fourth, as he scrambled 17 yards down the sideline for a score, propelled by a tremendous block from Austin Stallworth.
He also was 10-of-20 throwing the football, for 98 yards and a score. Marquet got a Gardendale defender to bite on a pump fake before hitting a wide open Josh Gregg for a 23-yard touchdown, to give the Hornets a 24-14 lead in the second quarter. Gregg finished with four catches for 44 yards.
“I’ve said it over and over again. I’m glad he’s on my team,” Elmore said of his quarterback. “I’d much rather play with him than against him. He played great and our offense played great.”
The most impressive play of the night may have come from Lee Rickard. He dove and caught a pass at the 1-yard line for a 23-yard gain to set up a Reynolds touchdown, which put the Hornets up for good late in the second, 17-14.
Nearly all of Gardendale (4-2) quarterback Michael Crowder’s production on the night came via Conner Howell. Crowder finished 16-for-29 through the air, with 12 of those completions going to Howell, who accounted for a touchdown and 213 of Crowder’s 233 total passing yards.
Gardendale running back Demetrius King was also impressive, gaining 151 yards on 21 rushes, including a touchdown.
“I enjoy games like this when you’ve got two great teams,” Elmore said. “They’ve got a great team and a great coaching staff. Coach (Matt) Plunkett does an unbelievable job. I’ve said all week to our players, this is going to be a playoff-type game.”
It was, and now the Hornets get an open week to heal up before traveling to Opelika. Gardendale hosts Clay-Chalkville next week.