Shelby County Reporter

By CLAYTON HURDLE / Staff Writer

CHELSEA – Julius McCall rushed for 207 yards as Chelsea fell at home to Wetumpka, 48-21.

The Hornets’ senior running back scored two of his team’s three touchdowns in a losing effort.

On the other side of the ball, Wetumpka’s triple-option attack on offense provided six scores and produced three 60-plus-yard rushers.

The Indians’ leading rusher, O.J. Jackson provided around 200 yards rushing and two touchdowns in the match-up.

“He’s just an incredible young man,” Wetumpka head coach Tim Perry said. “He plays the way he practices.”

Chelsea opened up the scoring with an eight-yard McCall run in the first quarter.

An 85-yard kickoff return gave Wetumpka a short field on the ensuing drive, setting up a De’Andre Washington touchdown run.

“We had the one big mistake in the kicking game,” Chelsea head coach Wade Waldrop said. “It gave them a lot of energy and turned the momentum of things early.”

Two minutes into the second quarter the Indians took the lead for good with a four-yard Jackson run.  This set off a string of 28 straight points in the second quarter for Wetumpka.

The other three scores were a 50-yard interception return by (name), a 12-yard Charlie Crenshaw run and a five-yard Jackson run, making the halftime score 35-7.

The Indians picked up where they left off to begin the second half.  The six-play, 80-yard scoring drive featured a 66-yard Jackson run and was capped with a 5-yard touchdown scamper from Washington at the 9:50 mark.

Just two and a half minutes later, the Indians scored their final touchdown as Crenshaw took a Washington screen pass 64 yards for the score.

The Hornets fought back viciously, scoring on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Trent Hagin to Cooper Page with 3:18 to play in the third quarter.

McCall returned the Indians’ ensuing punt to the Wetumpka 35-yard line and took the next play the rest of the way, scoring on a long run to put the score at 48-21 with 10:24 to play in the game.

After recovering the onside kick at midfield, the Hornets were back in scoring position just a minute later.  Hagin threw his second interception of the night from the Wetumpka nine-yard-line after a 31-yard McCall run.
Starting from their own six, the Indians’ first-team offense came back on to the field to seal the deal.  A Wetumpka 27-yard field goal fell incomplete after they had droven deep within Chelsea territory, and the final score stood at 48-21.

“This was great for us tonight, we really needed it,” Perry said. “It was really good out to watch them come out and play without as many mistakes.”