By JAY BEARD/For the Reporter

The Benjamin Russell Wildcats cruised their way to five in a row after taking down the Chelsea Hornets, 42-13 on Oct. 10.

Coming into the game, both teams had one loss against region foe Opelika, so the game set itself up to be a great matchup between a 5-1 Chelsea and a 6-1 Benjamin Russell. The game didn’t go as planned.

The Wildcats got rolling early, forcing a quick three and out and then carrying the ball 68 yards in just two plays.

The rest of the first half didn’t go any better for the Hornets. Benjamin Russell was able to put up 28 points and 287 yards in the first half alone, while giving up 110 yards and one touchdown.

For a brief moment in the first half, it appeared that Chelsea might be able to make a comeback when they capped off an 80-yard drive with a quarterback sneak into the end zone, but Benjamin Russell answered immediately when quarterback Tyrone Gray performed a quarterback sneak of his own that went 71 yards.

In the second half, Chelsea was able to get on the board again when Rodney Carroll ran it in from six yards out; but Ben Russell quarterback Tyrone Gray performed another quarterback sneak that went for 81 yards and another Wildcat touchdown with 10:45 left in the game.

The Wildcats were able to hold the Hornets out of the end zone until lightning forced a stoppage of play late in the fourth quarter. The game never resumed.

For head coach Chris Elmore, the loss came especially hard.

“I just thought they outplayed us,” he said. “I thought we played hard at times, but bottom line is, they made the plays that we didn’t. We couldn’t move the ball at all, went three and out our first three drives. It was an uphill battle from there.  You’ve got to give them the credit. They outplayed us and outcoached us all the way around.”

The Chelsea Hornets will travel to Pell City to face the Pell City Panthers on Oct. 17, giving Chelsea the opportunity to bounce back.