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Photo courtesy of Cari Dean
Chelsea Football
Chelsea's Dylan Seabolt (16) in a game between Helena and Chelsea on Friday, October 21, 2016, at Chelsea High School in Chelsea, Alabama.
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Chelsea Football
Chelsea's Regan Wortham (7) in a game between Helena and Chelsea on Friday, October 21, 2016, at Chelsea High School in Chelsea, Alabama.
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Chelsea Football
Chelsea's Josh Gregg (15) in a game between Helena and Chelsea on Friday, October 21, 2016, at Chelsea High School in Chelsea, Alabama.
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Chelsea Football
Chelsea's Matthew Marquet (5) in a game between Helena and Chelsea on Friday, October 21, 2016, at Chelsea High School in Chelsea, Alabama.
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Chelsea Football
Chelsea's Zalon Reynolds (1) in a game between Helena and Chelsea on Friday, October 21, 2016, at Chelsea High School in Chelsea, Alabama.
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Chelsea Football
Chelsea's Regan Wortham (7) in a game between Helena and Chelsea on Friday, October 21, 2016, at Chelsea High School in Chelsea, Alabama.
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Chelsea Football
Chelsea's Regan Wortham (7) and Hunter Offord (40) in a game between Helena and Chelsea on Friday, October 21, 2016, at Chelsea High School in Chelsea, Alabama.
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Chelsea Football
Chelsea's Will Shaw (24) in a game between Helena and Chelsea on Friday, October 21, 2016, at Chelsea High School in Chelsea, Alabama.
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Chelsea Football
Chelsea's Will Shaw (24) in a game between Helena and Chelsea on Friday, October 21, 2016, at Chelsea High School in Chelsea, Alabama.
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Chelsea Football
Chelsea's Matthew Marquet (5) in a game between Helena and Chelsea on Friday, October 21, 2016, at Chelsea High School in Chelsea, Alabama.
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Chelsea Football
Chelsea's Jalyn Miller (2) in a game between Helena and Chelsea on Friday, October 21, 2016, at Chelsea High School in Chelsea, Alabama.
CHELSEA -- A special night in Chelsea High’s final regular season home game ensured the Hornets will get at least one more contest this season at their on-campus stadium.
The Hornets not only dominated Helena, 51-23, on Friday night but the Hornets also wrapped up the No. 2 playoff seed in Class 6A, Region 3. That means, when the playoffs begin in two weeks, the Hornets won’t be boarding a bus.
“It’s big,” said Chelsea head coach Chris Elmore, whose team is expected to play host to Bessemer City in the first round of the 6A playoffs. “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.”
Chelsea (7-2 overall, 4-2 Region 3) wouldn’t have had the opportunity with a stumble on Friday night against a Helena team coming off a win over Benjamin Russell. The Hornets quickly made sure that the Huskies (3-6 overall, 2-4 Region 3) wouldn’t pull off its second consecutive upset victory.
The Hornets scored on their first three possessions and enjoyed a 21-3 lead at the conclusion of the first quarter. Quarterback Matthew Marquet capped the opening drive with a 14-yard scoring pass to Jay Vickers and Marquet scored on a 6-yard run on the Hornets’ second possession. Running back Zalon Reynolds closed the third drive with a tackle-breaking 29-yard touchdown run.
The only scoring in the second quarter came on a 35-yard touchdown run by Marquet, on 1st-and-25, and a 19-yard field goal by Tyler Thomas on the final play of the half. The Hornets took a 31-3 lead into halftime.
“What we talked about all week was let’s start fast and see if we can get on them and take control of the game,” Elmore said. “We did. I was pleased with our execution early on both sides of the ball. I thought we played really well in all three phases.”
As usual, having Reynolds and Marquet on the field was huge for the Hornets. Reynolds finished with 204 yards on 19 carries with three touchdown runs. Marquet was 14-of-20 for 136 yards through the air and carried the ball seven times for 74 yards with a pair of touchdowns.
Reynolds helped the Hornets ice the game in the third quarter with scoring runs of 11 and 59 yards. Austin Stallworth gave the Hornets a 51-10 lead late in the third quarter with a 3-yard scoring run.
Helena struggled offensively for most of the night, partly because of the pressure supplied by Chelsea’s front seven. The Hornets sacked Helena quarterback Riley Davis five times with Will Shaw and Regan Wortham collecting two and Jalyn Miller credited with the other sack. However, Davis did manage to throw touchdown passes of 33 and 5 yards to Jake Busby in the fourth quarter. Davis finished 16-of-24 for 209 yards while Busby had eight catches for 122 yards.
But this night belonged to the Hornets.
“I’ve said all along that we’ve got the best group of coaches and players around, in my opinion,” said Elmore, whose team closes the regular season with a non-region game at Cullman next week. “It makes my job easy every Friday night to come out here and enjoy the way we’re playing.”