The John Carroll Cavaliers made a statement on the road Friday night as they picked up a win over the Chelsea Hornets 28-21 in dramatic fashion to open play in Class 5A, Region 4.

Chelsea took an early 7-0 lead in front of its home fans with a touchdown run by quarterback Blake Yance. Yance added another score later in the game.

But John Carroll’s inexperience quickly became its strength as the Cavs played with a “nothing to lose” attitude in honor of their injured star wide receiver Ben Bostic. Bostic suffered a career-ending leg injury in the Cavaliers’ first game of the 2008 season at Pinson Valley.

The Cavaliers overcame a 14-13 deficit just before the half on one of three touchdown runs by tailback Andric Merchant who led the way for the fierce John Carroll rushing attack.

“Ben [Bostic] spoke to the team in dramatic fashion this morning,” first year head coach Chris Musso said. “He kept telling his teammates that any play could be their last and to make sure they played harder than ever before. Anyone who saw the tears and emotions flowing in that speech knows that it had an impact on our performance tonight.”

Chelsea tied the game at 21 in the third quarter on a touchdown run by Andrew Ling. But as the rain began to fall in the fourth quarter, it was John Carroll’s special teams that helped to ensure victory as they forced a fumble by Hornets’ punt returner Luke Moore setting up a game winning touchdown run for Cavaliers’ quarterback Christopher Evans with only 2:03 remaining in the game.

Chelsea (0-2) travels to Moody next week as the first of four-straight road games.