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Chelsea Football
Action from a game between Chelsea and Chilton County on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017, at Chilton County High School in Clanton.
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Chelsea Football
Action from a game between Chelsea and Chilton County on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017, at Chilton County High School in Clanton.
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Chelsea Football
Action from a game between Chelsea and Chilton County on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017, at Chilton County High School in Clanton.
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Chelsea Football
Action from a game between Chelsea and Chilton County on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017, at Chilton County High School in Clanton.
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Chelsea Football
Action from a game between Chelsea and Chilton County on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017, at Chilton County High School in Clanton.
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Chelsea Football
Action from a game between Chelsea and Chilton County on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017, at Chilton County High School in Clanton.
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Photo courtesy of Cari Dean
Chelsea Football
Action from a game between Chelsea and Chilton County on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017, at Chilton County High School in Clanton.
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Chelsea Football
Action from a game between Chelsea and Chilton County on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017, at Chilton County High School in Clanton.
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Chelsea Football
Action from a game between Chelsea and Chilton County on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017, at Chilton County High School in Clanton.
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Chelsea Football
Action from a game between Chelsea and Chilton County on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017, at Chilton County High School in Clanton.
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Chelsea Football
Action from a game between Chelsea and Chilton County on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017, at Chilton County High School in Clanton.
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Chelsea Football
Action from a game between Chelsea and Chilton County on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017, at Chilton County High School in Clanton.
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Chelsea Football
Action from a game between Chelsea and Chilton County on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017, at Chilton County High School in Clanton.
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Chelsea Football
Action from a game between Chelsea and Chilton County on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017, at Chilton County High School in Clanton.
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Chelsea Football
Action from a game between Chelsea and Chilton County on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017, at Chilton County High School in Clanton.
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Chelsea Football
Action from a game between Chelsea and Chilton County on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017, at Chilton County High School in Clanton.
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Chelsea Football
Action from a game between Chelsea and Chilton County on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017, at Chilton County High School in Clanton.
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Photo courtesy of Cari Dean
Chelsea Football
Action from a game between Chelsea and Chilton County on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017, at Chilton County High School in Clanton.
CLANTON -- The Chelsea High School football team earned its first win of the season on Friday night, traveling to Chilton County and taking down the Tigers, 25-13, in a Class 6A, Region 3 matchup.
The defense was a major key for Chelsea (1-7, 1-4 region) in the win. The Hornets held Chilton County (1-8, 0-6) to 167 total yards and starved the Tigers offense of points in the final 36 minutes to secure the victory.
“Except for a couple plays, our defense really shut them out,” said Chelsea head coach Chris Elmore. “I’m really proud of the way those guys played and put them away late.”
Chelsea put together a five-play, 53-yard touchdown drive in just over a minute to give the Hornets the early 7-0 lead. The possession was capped by a 1-yard touchdown run by freshman running back Collier Blair.
Chilton County would answer with a touchdown of its own. Following Chelsea’s score, the Tigers were forced to punt again but recovered the muffed ball by the Hornets returner. Seven plays later, Chilton County’s Triston Schmidthorst found his way past the goal line on a 4-yard touchdown run with 3:56 to go in the opening quarter.
The Tigers would score again to go up 13-7 before the end of the quarter. Chilton County quarterback Shi Keem Laister found a gap in the Chelsea defense and rushed his way to a 56-yard touchdown as the game clock expired.
“We give up big plays sometimes and that’s really been the story of the season,” Elmore said. “That’s something we’ll continue to work on, too.”
But after Laister’s long touchdown run, the Hornet defense woke up. Chelsea locked down the Tigers offense and refused them anymore points for the remaining three quarters of the game.
The Hornets offense, however, was not done. Chelsea answered Laister’s touchdown with a 10-play drive that resulted in a 24-yard field goal by senior Tanner Middleton, cutting the Chilton County lead to three points.
Two possessions later, Chelsea scored again, this time on a 23-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Turner Griffin to senior wide receiver Christian Pruitt. The point after was no good but with 3:45 to go in the half, the Hornets retook the lead and would go into halftime up 16-13.
In the first half, the Chelsea offense had 25 rushes for 149 yards and Griffin was 5-of-8 passing with 99 yards. Simpson was the workhorse for the Hornets, taking 14 carries for 118 yards in the opening half.
In the second half, Chelsea was determined to keep moving the ball on the ground. On their first possession of the third quarter, the Hornets put together a 12-play, 56-yard scoring drive. Ten of the 12 plays were rushes. The drive was capped by a 1-yard touchdown run by Simpson, which gave the Hornets a 23-13 lead with 8:00 to go in the third quarter.
Simpson’s touchdown would be the final offensive score of the night as both defenses played well for the rest of the game. After the Simpson touchdown, there were eight three-and-outs resulting, two interceptions and a fumble between the two teams the rest of the night.
The final two points of the game came on a Tigers safety with 1:21 left. After taking over at its own 3-yard line, Chilton County quarterback Griffin Green was pressured and took a safety to give Chelsea the final 25-13 lead.
“I’m proud of our kids for getting that first taste of victory,” said Elmore. “It’s tough when you go 0-7 to start the year and it doesn’t feel good. I’m just happy for our players that they get to enjoy this. They deserve it.”
The Hornets finished the game with 336 yards of total offense. Simpson led the Chelsea offensive attack with 22 rushes for 119 yards. Griffin finished the game with six completions for 107 yards. Blair also added 17 rushes for 95 yards.
The Chelsea defense held Chilton County to 49 passing yards and -5 yards rushing in the second half.
The Hornets will travel to Helena next Friday.