Chelsea holds off Calera surge for first area win
Published 11:58 pm Friday, September 19, 2025
The Chelsea Hornets cruised to victory against the Calera Eagles in the second half, earning a 42-25 victory for their first win in area play on Friday, Sept. 19, at Ricky M. Cairns Memorial Stadium. (For the Reporter/Cari Dean)
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By DANIEL LOCKE | Staff Writer
CALERA – The Chelsea Hornets cruised to victory against the Calera Eagles in the second half, earning a 42-25 victory for their first win in area play on Friday, Sept. 19, at Ricky M. Cairns Memorial Stadium.
The game was close to being more of a nail-biter, however, as momentum swung back and forth throughout the first half.
Calera fumbled on the opening possession of the game, setting Chelsea running back Chase Malone up for his first score of the night. Caaleb Thomas intercepted a Calera pass when the Eagles got the ball back. Morgan Barnes, the other half of the Hornets’ explosive running back duo, found his way into the end zone to extend Calera’s lead to 14-0.
Malone and Barnes moved the ball down the field once again on Chelsea’s next possession, and Barnes added another touchdown to its tally.
When it appeared as though Calera was going to get run off its own field without a fight, a switch was flipped.
Drew Majewski connected with Cayden Specks for a gain of 45 yards. He found him again for a touchdown a few plays later to put the Eagles on the board. Camarien Yow forced a fumble on the Chelsea possession that followed, and John Tatum recovered it. Majewski found Specks in the end zone once again to make it a one-possession game.
The Eagles’ defense forced a punt, and Kristian Gallups found Ean Williamson for a 37-yard touchdown pass. If the Hornets had not blocked Calera’s extra-point attempt and the one on the previous touchdown, the game would have been tied. Instead, the Hornets’ lead had been cut to 21-19.
After allowing three unanswered touchdowns, Malone had seen enough, capping off Chelsea’s next drive with a 16-yard touchdown run.
“That’s a tough situation,” said Chelsea head coach Todd Cassity. “You get up 21-0, and then all of the sudden it’s 21-19. I felt like our kids didn’t put their heads down. The offense just said, ‘Hey, we gotta go score,’ and we did. We went up 28-19, and that made a big difference for us.”
A contributing factor to the shift in momentum was untimely Chelsea penalties that helped Calera on both sides of the ball.
“We had a very physical week of practice last week, we had our bye-week,” Cassity said. “We were not physical against Pelham. I felt like they came out a little mad. I don’t want to see the after-whistle penalties, but I was glad to see us play physical. We cleaned it up at halftime. I said, ‘Look, once that whistle blows, stop, but during the play we’ve got to be very physical.’ I thought we were tonight.”
The Hornets did not look back after putting an end to Calera’s run, scoring two more times while only allowing the Eagles to find the end zone once more on the way to their area-play win.
“It’s very important. It puts us 1-1 now,” Cassity said of the importance of taking an area contest on the road. “Now we’ve got a chance to make the playoffs. We’ve just got to go win some more area games and keep playing physical football, and we’ll be ok.”
The Hornets’ ability to move the ball on the ground was the difference-maker. Malone finished with 172 yards and three touchdowns off 26 carries, also catching three passes for 40 yards. Barnes’ night consisted of 87 yards and three touchdowns off 14 carries, adding 21 yards off two receptions.
The pair was responsible for 320 of Chelsea’s 376 total yards.
“They’re really good football players,” Cassity said. “They cheer for each other, they block for each other. When one scores, the other one is happy. You don’t get that a lot, sometimes you get some selfishness there, and those two are not. They’re just two really good teammates that play hard and are great running backs for us.”
Chelsea (3-1) will have a week off from area play next week when it hosts Paul W. Bryant at 7 p.m.
“Just continue doing what we’ve done this week and last week on the bye week,” Cassity said, thinking about the message heading into next week. “Practice better, we’ve got to get some kids healthy. Just continue to play very physical Chelsea football.”
Calera (0-5) also has a break from area play next week, hosting Brookwood at 7 p.m.
Stats provided by Mark McLaughlin
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