Hornets oppose Cullman to conclude regular season

A pair of Class 6A playoff teams will face off on Friday night in the regular season's final contest, as the Chelsea High School football team travels north to face Cullman at 7 p.m.

Chelsea (7-2, 4-2 Region 3) secured the No. 2 seed in Region 3 with last week's 51-23 win over Helena, which means the Hornets will get at least one playoff game at home.

“It’s big,” said Chelsea head coach Chris Elmore following the game. “It’s what we work for in the whole offseason. We talk about let’s compete for one of those top two spots in the region. Hosting the playoff game, whether it’s first or second round, is a huge accomplishment. There are only 16 teams in 6A that will host and, obviously, we’re one of them, so we’re excited.”

As usual, having Zalon Reynolds and Matthew Marquet on the field was huge for the Hornets. Reynolds finished with 211 yards on 20 carries with three touchdown runs. Marquet was 13-of-19 for 136 yards through the air and carried the ball eight times for 77 yards with a pair of touchdowns.

“I’ve said all along that we’ve got the best group of coaches and players around, in my opinion,” said Elmore. “It makes my job easy every Friday night to come out here and enjoy the way we’re playing.”

Chelsea's explosive offense has now scored the most points in school history at 387, through just nine games. The 2011 offense, led by Jake Ganus, scored 386 points in 11 games.

The game at Cullman will also serve as reunion of sorts for Elmore. Jerry Elmore, Chris' dad, served as the head coach at Cullman from 1979-1982. During that time, current Cullman coach Mark Britton served as Elmore's starting quarterback, while Chris Elmore was a young boy.

The non-region contest rounds out the regular season for the Hornets, who will host Bessemer City in the first round of the playoffs on Nov. 4.

- Steve Irvine contributed to this story.