Hornets can’t stop Wetumpka

WETUMPKA — The Chelsea High School football team showed signs of progress as it fought to dig itself out of a winless slump.

Despite that progress, the Hornets (0-3, 0-1 Class 6A, Region 3) could not find an answer for J.D. Martin, the Wetumpka junior quarterback who had a part in all five of his team’s offensive touchdowns, as the No. 7 Indians prevailed by a 44-22 score at Hohenberg Field.

Martin scored on runs of 8, 15, 3, and 4 yards and threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to a leaping Robert LaPrade in the back of the end zone. And that was all within the space of two quarters and a little more than half of the third, when Tribe coach Tim Perry gave Martin a well-deserved rest of the night off.

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.

Safety Tyquan Rawls added a defensive score for the Tribe when he intercepted a Griffin pass and ran it back 40 yards for a pick-six in the second period.

Late in the first half, the Hornets also benefitted from two major penalties on the hosts, a personal foul and a pass interference foul. Running back Kendrick Simpson finished the drive with a 10-yard scoring run, and freshman Collier Blair added a two-point conversion.

Chelsea found itself down 35-15 at intermission, but still not out of contention.

But some early Hornet penalties at the start of the second half — one of them an unsportsmanlike conduct foul on coach Chris Elmore — hurt the visitors’ prospects. And when Martin methodically guided Wetumpka on an 8-play, 64-yard drive that he capped with a short touchdown run, Chelsea was in too big a hole to dig itself out of.

“We were playing pretty well in the first half, but we got ourselves in a hole early in the second half, and part of that was my fault when I got a penalty for arguing a call,” Elmore said.

Kamyron Jackson added a 33-yard field goal for Wetumpka, after the Tribe partially blocked a Chelsea punt deep in Hornet territory. They had a chance for another field goal on the first play of the final period after Chelsea muffed the catch on the ensuing kickoff, giving the hosts the ball on the Hornet 13. But by that time the Indians were playing their second string, and a 21-yard field goal try from a tough angle was off the mark.

Turner finished with 15 carries, four of them touchdowns, for 76 yards rushing. He completed nine passes with one touchdown and one interception in 13 attempts, gaining 115 yards. Keedrick Adams caught three passes, all on the opening drive, for 43 yards.

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 a total offense of 153 yards.

“We’ll take the positives from tonight and move on,” Elmore said. “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.”

The Hornets try to get their season on the right track when they host Benjamin Russell next week. Wetumpka (3-0, 1-0) welcomes Stanhope Elmore.