1 of 29

Chelsea and Thompson each walked away from the Lakeshore Shootout with top-10 7A wins as the Hornets came in second in the Platinum Division with a 2-1 record and the Warriors earned third with a 1-1-1 mark. (Reporter Photos/Andrew Simonson)

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

County teams filled the top three in the Lakeshore Shootout’s top division as the Chelsea Hornets and Thompson Warriors each joined the Oak Mountain Eagles in securing big wins over quality opponents.

Chelsea finished in second behind Oak Mountain in the Platinum Division thanks to a 2-1 record while Thompson came in third with a 1-1-1 record.

Both teams had a loss to the Eagles in common but the Hornets went on to defeat the Huntsville Panthers and Grissom Tigers while the Warriors drew with the Bob Jones Patriots and defeated Huntsville.

After Chelsea’s 5-1 loss to Oak Mountain at Heardmont Park on Thursday, Feb. 13, the Hornets looked for a bounce-back win on Friday, Feb. 14 against Huntsville in the first of their two games at Calera’s Eagle Sports Complex.

Chelsea got an early advantage thanks to a penalty conceded by the Panthers. Parker Dean came up with the goal to put the Hornets up 1-0.

Just a minute later, Chelsea doubled up its advantage, this time with a goal from the field. Jacob Cano sent a ball in to Dean, and after settling the ball with his chest, he fired it into the net for his second goal of the half, which increased the lead to 2-0.

That two-goal advantage lasted all of 10 minutes though as Huntsville scored on the other end to cut the deficit to 2-1.

However, Max Wever restored the lead thanks to a service from Dean as he made the lead 3-1 going into halftime.

The Hornets faced some adversity in the second half as the Panthers knocked on the door of the lead once again. Huntsville made a run down the right side and served a cross towards the left post before converting that chance to make it a 3-2 game.

Chelsea’s defense fended off the Panthers’ lengthy possession in the attacking third and saw out the 3-2 victory to earn a win over one of last year’s Class 7A Final Four sides.

Dean finished the game with two goals and an assist while Wever scored the other goal.

The Hornets faced an even greater challenge in their tournament finale against Grissom on Saturday, Feb. 15: an early 1-0 disadvantage after the Tigers scored the opening goal.

That lead persisted into halftime as Chelsea was unable to convert on its early chances, but it set the Hornets up for a big response in the final 35 minutes.

Early in the second half, Wever sent in a booming cross that Grissom’s keeper struggled with. Shon McKinney was there for the clean-up finish to knot the game up at 1-1.

Eleven minutes later, Wever was at it again in the build-up, sending a ball to Cooper Baumbaugh that the junior hurtled toward goal. The shot ricocheted off the post and into the goal to put Chelsea up 2-1.

The Hornets got a chance to build on their lead just a few minutes later off a corner kick. Marcus Garcia’s service went in to Garrett McLeavine, who headed the cross in and increased the lead to 3-1.

The Tigers got back within a goal of the lead about 10 minutes later, but Chelsea saw out the final 10 minutes of the match without allowing another goal to see out the 3-2 win.

McKinney, Baumbaugh and McLeavine all had goals in the win while Wever finished with two assists and Garcia had one.

Thompson also took a 5-1 loss to Oak Mountain in its opening game, but the only difference in the Warriors’ Wednesday, Feb. 12 showdown at Heardmont Park was that they got the opening goal of the match.

Dylan Huerta struck off a set piece with a header off his brother Erick’s service to give Thompson a 1-0 lead.

However, Oak Mountain scored a minute later and finished the game with five unanswered goals.

The Warriors had two nights to recover from the result before they squared off against the No. 10 Bob Jones Patriots down at the Eagle Sports Complex.

This time, Bob Jones struck first, catching Thompson on a counterattack to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Later in the first half, the Warriors got a golden opportunity to equalize thanks to a handball call in the box on the Patriots. Dylan Huerta stutter-stepped to the spot to take it and buried a rolling shot into the bottom right corner to knot the score up at 1-1.

That proved to both be the halftime score and final score as Thompson couldn’t take advantage of its numerous offensive chances despite controlling possession down the stretch but held strong against Bob Jones’ counterattack.

The next day, the Warriors returned to Calera and came up with a top-five win as they came up with a dominant victory over No. 5 Huntsville on Saturday, Feb. 15.

All-Tournament Team player Brayden Herrera came up big off corner kicks as he scored twice from set pieces during the match. The sophomore took advantage of services from Aram Arreola and Erick Huerta to give Thompson a commanding 2-0 lead.

The Warriors used that advantage to dominate in open field for the rest of the game. However, the Panthers joined the set-piece scoring party late in the match with a 67th-minute goal to claw back within a goal of tying.

It proved to be too little, too late as Huntsville was left searching for its first win and Thompson took its first of the tournament to wrap up third place.

Chelsea improved its record to 4-1 but dropped in the rankings to No. 4 in Class 6A after the Lakeshore Shootout.

The Hornets will play their second and final tournament of the season next as they prepare to host the Melrose Cup. Chelsea will play Leeds on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m., Hewitt-Trussville on Thursday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. and the Westminster School at Oak Mountain Knights on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 3 p.m.

As for the Warriors, they are now 4-1-1 and No. 6 in Class 7A after their two tournaments. They will play their first 80-minute match of the year on Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 7:30 p.m. as they travel to face the Briarwood Christian Lions at Lions Pride Stadium.

More Sports

Guy Howard wins first two games as Pelham coach as Panthers beat Chilton County, Lincoln

Montevallo boys soccer finishes as runner-up in Copper Division of Lakeshore Shootout

Spain Park, Oak Mountain, Chelsea claim wrestling state titles; Helena, Pelham wrestlers place

Shelby County’s Sykes and Shook, Montevallo’s Adams win state wrestling titles