Hornets off to 3-0 start

Game 1, 8/28

CHELSEA 21, BRIARWOOD CHRISTIAN 16

At Briarwood, the Hornets built a lead, fell behind and then stung quickly with a long TD pass in the final minute to top their Shelby County rivals for the second consecutive year in the season-opening game for both schools.

After a scoreless opening quarter, the Hornets caught a break when Justin Painter’s punt was fumbled around midfield. Coach Chris Elmore went into his bag of tricks and came up with a halfback pass from A.J. Jones to Jay Vickers for a long TD strike. Chelsea went for two but failed, leaving the score 6-0.

A lightning delay postponed halftime for roughly an hour, and when the game resumed, Briarwood managed a drive that resulted in Josh Brower’s 25-yard field goal. 

On the ensuing drive, Zalon Reynolds’ return and a Briarwood late-hit penalty set the Hornets up in good field position quickly before Matt Marquet ran one in from 30 yards out to extend the Chelsea lead to 15-3.

Briarwood stitched together a drive that gave the Lions a 16-15 lead. But Marquet moved his team into Briarwood territory and found senior receiver Ben Praytor behind the Lions defense for a 45-yard touchdown pass with 56 seconds remaining.

Senior defensive back Calen Russell picked off a Lions pass to seal the win.

Game 2, 9/3

CHELSEA 43, SOUTHSIDE-GADSDEN 10

The Hornets hit the road and after falling behind early, punished Southside over the final three quarters to improve to 2-0.

It was AJ Jones’ night to play in the pay dirt.

Down 10-0 in the second quarter, junior quarterback Matt Marquet found Jones for a 21-yard touchdown pass to cut it to 10-7. Later in the quarter, Jones took a punt 82 yards for a touchdown run to give Chelsea the lead at 13-10.

Jones kept rolling, scoring on a 20-yard run and a 4-yard run in the third quarter. Marquet found Jay Vickers late in the quarter for a 30-yard touchdown, pushing the lead to 33-10.

In the final stanza, Tyler Thomas added a field goal and Austin Stallworth added a late touchdown.

Marquet was 7-of-11 passing for 86 yards and two TDs. Besides Jones’ big scoring game, Zalon Reynolds rushed for 92 yards.

Game 3, 9/11

CHELSEA 48, VALLEY 3

Chelsea welcomed the Valley Rams from Fairfax to begin Class 6A, Region 3 play, and then chased them home with a rout to improve to 3-0, 1-0 in region play.

The Hornets’ offensive and defensive units each had their moments. The defense held the Rams on an early goal-line stand and forced five turnovers. The offense piled up almost 300 yards rushing. 

Matt Marquet threw for a touchdown and ran for two, AJ Jones rushed for three touchdowns and Zalon Reynolds ran for one.

The Hornets built a 34-3 halftime lead and cruised home. Jones finished with 11 carries for 151 yards. Reynolds racked up with 82 yards on seven carries. Marquet had 134 total yards.

Coach Chris Elmore’s team has started off 2015 as it did in 2014. The Hornets are 3-0 and went 5-0 last season before hitting the toughest stretch of the season and missing the playoffs.