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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

CHELSEA – With a spot in the playoffs already wrapped up, the Chelsea Hornets finished out area play strong with a 9-1 victory over the Spain Park Jaguars on Monday, April 22 at Chelsea High School.

Seven minutes into the match, Grant Saether took a cross from the other side of the field and made a run into the middle of the field past Spain Park’s defenders. He played Harper Jones with a pass, and Jones made a cut right before curling a shot into the goal for the opener.

Just over 10 minutes later, Parker Dean impacted the game on both ends of the pitch as he got a tackle that sparked a counterattack and sent a pass over to Kaleb Bass, who after making multiple skills on the ball, served a cross back to Dean who headed it in to put Chelsea up 2-0.

Later in the half, Bass assisted on another goal, launching a cross from a similar spot near the goal line along the right wing, and Grant Saether took the cross and back-heeled the ball into the goal to make the lead 3-0.

Javier Rivera-Miranda resumed the scoring after he found a loose ball in the box and sent the ball home for the Hornets’ fourth goal of the match.

Five minutes later, Luke Miller had a free kick in prime position atop the box, and his direct shot went through the wall to score off the set piece.

Then, Spain Park got a golden opportunity off a breakaway and scored its first goal of the night to make the score 5-1.

A few minutes later, Bass notched his third assist of the night by finding Max Wever in the air off a set piece, and Wever headed the ball home to restore the five-goal lead.

Chelsea wasn’t done though, and with the ball held in midfield, Kameron Yellock spotted Cooper Baumbuagh on the run and chipped a pass to him. Baumbaugh then headed the ball in off a bounce for the goal to make the lead 7-1.

That kicked off a frantic race to the finish as Shon McKinney scored a tap-in goal off a loose ball five minutes later for the eighth goal of the game, and four minutes after that, Landon McLevaine found Garret McLevaine with a pass to connect for the final goal of the match.

With nine different goal scorers in the score sheet, Chelsea wrapped up the 9-1 win to finish out area play.

The 18-3-1 Hornets will finish out the regular season with a non-area home match against Stanhope Elmore on Tuesday, April 23 at 7:30 p.m. ahead of their first-round playoff match at Vestavia Hills on Monday, April 29 at 7 p.m.

As for Spain Park, the Jags’ season is now over after a 4-15-1 campaign.