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Chelsea's offense racked up 56 points in a dominant shutout victory against region foe Woodlawn. (For the Reporter/Cari Dean)

By MARK MCLAUGHLIN | Special to the Reporter

CHELSEA – A strong running game anchored a 21-0 first quarter Chelsea Hornets lead and 42-0 lead at the half against Woodlawn, as the Hornets pulled away for a 56-0 region victory on Friday, Oct. 2.

To lead the night, running back Collier Blair had 97 yards rushing and two touchdowns along with sophomore quarterback Hayden Garrison’s 68 yards passing and one touchdown to lead the Chelsea Hornets to the homecoming win. Cooper Griffin had 28 yards receiving to add to the 423 total Chelsea offensive yards for the evening.

“It’s a good night for our guys,” Chelsea head coach Dustin Goodwin said of the performance after the win. “They came out, they played hard and executed well. It’s good to get a homecoming win and to see a lot of people play.”

With the win, the Colonels are now 0-7 on the season while Chelsea is 2-4 on the year.

The scoring started early in the first half as Collier Blair scored on a 33-yard touchdown run with 11:28 left in the first quarter.

On Chelsea’s next series, with second-and-4, Donovan Bivens rushed 6 yards for a touchdown on a 38-yard drive with 5:37 remaining on the clock.

Woodlawn was unable to gain any momentum, and on the next Hornet possession Blair scored again with a 23-yard rumble.

Woodlawn started to work on offense only to be stopped by a Jake Adams interception to cap off the first quarter.

As the second quarter started, Woodlawn recovered a fumble but was unable to capitalize. Chelsea took over and quickly added another score with an Adam Reaves 10-yard rushing score with 8:29 left to go in the half to make it 28-0.

On Woodlawn’s next possession, James Turnes scooped up a fumble and returned it for a 28-yard Chelsea touchdown.

Woodlawn tried to find some rhythm in the passing game on the ensuing possession, but Carson Freeman intercepted Woodlawn quarterback Chris Allen and returned it 19 yards. Then, Garrison hit Holton Smith for a 26-yard touchdown to end the half.

To start the second half, the Chelsea’s defense forced a turnover as Earnest Moore intercepted Allen to set up shop for Chelsea.

A five-play Chelsea drive ended with a strong run from Chris McNeil. He punched it in on third-and-goal from the 1-yard line to make it 49-0 with 5:06 left in the third quarter.

A five-play Chelsea drive in the fourth quarter culminated with a Josh Williams run for 6 yards to finish out the scoring for the night.

Woodlawn was held to 48 total offensive yards for the night on 40 plays versus 44 plays for 423 yards for Chelsea.

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