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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

A new season brings renewed hope for many teams, but the Chelsea Hornets in particular hope that 2024 will bring new success.

Part of that is because of the drop to Class 6A after a pair of challenging campaigns in Class 7A during coach Todd Cassity’s first two years in charge. While they know Class 6A, Region 3 will be as tough as ever, there’s hope in the building that this could be the year they make it back to the postseason.

“Obviously going down to 6A is exciting,” Cassity said. “The word ‘playoffs’ has been used a lot more in our locker room this year than it was the past two years. I hope these guys see the potential of the fact that we had that opportunity, being able to play at a 6A level. Even though it’s a really good region, I feel like we can match up better with these teams than we did last year with the 7A teams, and I feel like these guys have an awesome opportunity ahead of them.”

They need to do that with a young group and just 13 seniors, but those seniors have taken charge of the team and will be some of the biggest playmakers on the field and leaders off of it.

While Cassity said last year’s senior class was large and preferred to lead by example, this year’s group may be smaller in size but are a louder voice in the locker room, which he sees as a positive.

“This group sort of has that motivated voice and a lot of times that’s important to have that vocal voice that says, ‘Hey, this is the way we’re going to do things. If you don’t like it, get out. We’re going to take care of it ourselves,’” Cassity said. “That’s what you’ve got to have out of a senior group even if it’s a smaller senior group.”

One of those vocal senior leaders is Ethan Prickett, who Cassity says is one of the biggest leaders on that side of the ball.

For Prickett, he can’t see any other way to lead on defense, and after a season-ending injury in 2023, he’s motivated to leave a mark alongside a group of guys he trusts a lot.

“You can’t have a defense that’s quiet,” Prickett said. “Coming off an injury last year that ended my season early, I’m just building a good relationship with all the guys. I trust every single one of them.”

Rising star defensive end Romello Cooper is very optimistic on the team’s chances on defense and likes them against anybody they have to face, especially with the depth and skill they have at each position.

“I feel like this defense is going to compete with anybody in the state. I’m going to say that right now,” Cooper said. “We know how to practice, we know the plays, we know what to do and we like to get after that, have energy every play.”

Over on the other side of the field, it’s a bit of a new look for the offense as the Hornets have a new man under center in senior Miller Bauman, who took over the role in the spring but has adjusted to the spotlight well.

He said he’s been acclimating to his new role by working both on and off the field to improve his football IQ and chemistry with his teammates.

“I really pay attention to try and know what everybody’s doing on the field at the same time and just watching a bunch of film and trying to learn all the plays because if you don’t know the plays, you’re not going to be good out there,” Bauman said. “So just trying to have a good attention to detail to everything and doing work outside of just football practice helps.”

He’ll have to work with a different backfield after Emerson Russell’s graduation and a receiving corps led by CJ Durbin after multiple key contributors departed after last season.

Overall, Cassity trusts his kids to do the right thing and help lead them to success on and off the field.

He believes the biggest key to a successful year is a good start, especially with a backloaded schedule with Spain Park, Helena, Benjamin Russell and Oak Mountain coming in the final four weeks of the year.

“We open up with Mobile Christian, who’s a smaller school, but we all know the history of Mobile Christian, so have some early success with them and Wetumpka and our non-region games,” Cassity said. “I believe that’s really important before we get into region play to have some early success against those teams.”

That momentum could lead to something big as Chelsea positions itself within a new region in the hope of making some noise in the playoff race.