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The Chelsea Hornets picked up a thrilling 36-33 win over county foe Chelsea on Friday night to start region play 1-0 and improve to 3-0 overall. (For the Reporter/Cari Dean)

By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Publisher

PELHAM – Standing on the sideline watching as Pelham converted a 56-yard touchdown pass to take a 33-28 lead with 1:43 to play in a region-opening game, Chelsea quarterback Miller Bauman adamantly said, “That’s OK, give me the ball.”

Shortly after, he and a few others including running back Chase Stracener assured head coach Todd Cassity they were going to take the lead right back.

They didn’t let their coach down.

As they had done much of the night, Chelsea road the legs of Stracener right down the field. In addition to big runs, including a fourth-down run of 19 yards to keep the drive alive, he had two receptions on the drive, while Aiden Hughes and CJ Durbin did as well.

Then, on third-and-goal from the 1-yard line, Stracener won the game for his team for the second week in a row. Last week, it was a fourth-and-goal plunge from the 2-yard line to get the Hornets to 2-0 for the first time since 2016. This week, a 1-yard run with 3 seconds left to now make them 3-0 overall and 1-0 in region play with a 36-33 win over county foe Pelham.

“Four of our starters came over and said, ‘Coach, we’re going to go score.’ And I said, ‘You’re right,’” Cassity said after the win and a Gatorade bath from his players. “They never had doubt that was about to happen. That was amazing. I’m so proud of them.”

Stracener said it was a game where he had the mentality of continuing to make statement after statement with each run.

“I put a lot of work in during the offseason. Just weights and speed. I knew I would have to carry some people,” he said after the win. “I like to make a statement, especially early in the game, but tonight, I just had to keep making statements.”

Stracener finished the night with 277 rushing yards and four touchdowns in the winning effort for the Hornets.

“The last two games, I feel like our defense has worked hard for us, so that last drive, the offense had an opportunity to go out and win it for the defense,” Stracener said. “It shows how good of a team we have and how good we work together.”

His strong finished capped off a thrilling back-and-forth battle that began in the first half with a quick defensive three-and-out for Chelsea that led to the Stracener show.

Fresh off his game-winning fourth-and-goal touchdown run last week, the running back put together runs of 6, 21, 10, 15, 4 and 3 yards before capping off a physical drive with a 4-yard touchdown run to give the Hornets a quick 7-0 advantage.

Chelsea had quickly set a physical tone, but the Panthers didn’t back down, building off the first two weeks of the season.

Pelham was able to answer on the ensuing drive thanks to a couple of strong runs from Kalib Porter in addition to a personal foul and offsides penalty that pushed them into field goal range.

Jake Garner capitalized with a 35-yard field goal to put the Panthers on the board.

Pelham then forced a fumble two plays into Chelsea’s next drive, and like déjà vu, Garner nailed another 35-yard field goal to bring the Panthers within a point at 7-6 with 1:56 to play in the opening quarter.

Chelsea put together another strong drive after, but a turnover on downs gave the ball back to Pelham, but the Panthers quickly punted it back to Chelsea.

In a defensive back-and-forth few possessions, the ball quickly went back to Pelham on a three-and-out, which set up the big play of the first half.

This time, it came on the legs of Porter, who caught a quick swing pass and sprinted up the left sideline with Marcus Arnold springing the big play with a great block on the edge to set up a 79-yard touchdown run that put Pelham in front 13-7.

The Hornets, however, capped off the thrilling half by showing they too could make explosive plays.

A 33-yard pass from Bauman to Turner Simpson kickstarted the explosive plays, as Stracener followed shortly after with a 24-yard touchdown run to put the Hornets back in front 14-13 going to the halftime break.

As entertaining as the first half was, the second half became worth the price of admission on a rainy night.

The Hornets did exactly what you want to in football, which is score to end the half and then to start the next half.

They did so with a couple of strong pass plays from Bauman and run plays from Stracener, but it was Morgan Barnes who had a fresh spark with three consecutive carries that tallied 30 total yards and eventually a short touchdown plunge for a 21-13 advantage.

That became one of two drives in the third quarter, as Pelham responded with a lengthy drive of its own that was sparked by a lengthy pass from Dylan Smith to Tre Darden and capped off by a short touchdown run from Porter.

Chelsea eventually turned the ball over on downs near midfield on the ensuing drive and Pelham capitalized.

A 53-yard pass from Smith to Gibbs set up first-and-goal, eventually leading to a 5-yard touchdown run from Smith for a 27-21 advantage with 8:16 left.

That was the first of four scores in the final nine minutes of the game.

Another powerful drive from Stracener that also included a Durbin 23-yard catch eventually led to a 1-yard touchdown run from the running back for his third score of the night and a 28-27 lead with 3:02 to play.

Pelham, however, had a response.

The Panthers converted a fourth-and-7 on a 12-yard pass to Jacob Gibbs, and just a couple of plays later, the duo connected on a 56-yard touchdown pass that saw Gibbs go up, rip down the ball and sprint into the end zone for a 33-28 lead.

That’s when Chelsea’s offense stepped back on the field, with all three timeouts, confident in a game-winning drive.

The Hornets converted two third downs and a fourth down on the way to the winning touchdown.

“Chase is just a difference man,” Cassity said. “He doesn’t go down on the first hit. It’s amazing the progress he has made from being a backup last year to now. A lot of it goes to the weight room. The kid squats whatever he wants to squat. That’s why he carries about three or four guys with him every time.”

With the win, Chelsea improves to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in region play, while Pelham fell to 0-3 and 0-1 in the region.

“It means a lot to us,” Stracener said of the fast start. “The community is really getting behind us and we’re building up momentum going into a bye week and our next game.”

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