Chase Malone leads Chelsea to dominant win over Paul Bryant
Published 11:39 pm Friday, September 26, 2025
Chase Malone’s dominance on the ground led Chelsea to another convincing win. (For the Reporter/Cari Dean)
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By DANIEL LOCKE | Staff Writer
CHELSEA – It took some time for the Chelsea Hornets to get into an offensive groove, but once they clicked, there was nothing Paul Bryant could do to slow them down. As a result, Chelsea was victorious for the second week in a row, earning a 30-7 win on Friday, Sept. 26, to ensure a happy homecoming.
Similar to last week, Chase Malone made his mark on the game. The senior running back ended up with 188 yards on 12 carries.
After watching Malone run up and down the field at will once again, Chelsea head coach Todd Cassity couldn’t help but be impressed.
“He’s such a good back, he makes cuts,” Cassity said. “That last touchdown, it’s a midzone, he just cuts that thing all the way back across the flow, absolutely amazing. He’s a great player, and I cannot believe some big colleges have not offered that kid yet. He’s such a good player.”
Both teams were slow to get in rhythm on the offensive side of the ball. The first quarter and five possessions had elapsed before either side managed to put any points on the board.
Malone carried the ball 26 yards into the end zone to put the Hornets on the board with 10 minutes remaining in the first half.
Despite throwing an interception on its next possession and allowing the Stampede to drive down the field, Chelsea didn’t panic.
A sack by Adam Brooks caused the ball to come free. Luke Beavers secured it and took it 70 yards, all the way to the pay dirt, allowing the Hornets to extend their lead to 14-0 in the waning moments of the first half.
Between finding the end zone and limiting Paul Bryant to one score, Chelsea had a performance to remember on the defensive side of the ball. After the unit had some shaky moments in an otherwise solid performance during the Hornets’ win over Calera last week, Cassity was glad to see it perform well once again.
“I thought we actually played pretty good defense last week, we just had a couple big plays we gave up,” Cassity said. Our defensive staff, they work so hard. They put in a lot of hours, and they had these guys prepared for tonight.”
The Hornets wasted no time extending their lead once the second half began, as Malone traded carries with Morgan Barnes, the other half of Chelsea’s explosive duo of ball carriers, before finding his way into the end zone for the second time.
Despite not adding a score to his tally, Barnes had a night to hang his hat on, picking up 77 yards on 13 attempts.
Malone went on to score two more times, bringing his total for the evening to four. His second-to-last touchdown carry spanned 67 yards, and the final went 36.
On the drive prior to Malone’s final touchdown, Brandon Johnson Jr. had a touchdown run of 13 yards for Paul Bryant’s lone score of the night.
The Hornets performed well in all three phases of the game, as they didn’t have any special teams blunders. They hit all four of their extra-point attempts and their punt-return unit forced a safety after Paul Bryant had a bad snap that ruined an attempt to flip the field near the end of the third quarter.
“It’s a win. That’s sort of what we’re looking for, to continue to get better and have wins,” Cassity said. “That is our biggest thing, we just want to continue to get better and figure out ways of getting better. I thought we did tonight.”
After penalties were a common theme of their previous outing, cleaning those up was a priority for the Hornets this week. Cassity ultimately thought his team made progress in that area.
“We had some holding penalties on the outside again on our receivers,” Cassity said. “We really focus on locking those arms into the numbers and driving our feet. I think the referees saw us finish a couple blocks they called holding on. I thought our receivers blocked really well out in space against some faster-type guys.”
Chelsea did not come away from this game with nothing but positives, however, as center Adam Brooks went down with an injury. On the bright side, Cassity doesn’t think it will hold him out for too long.
“We had a big injury to Adam (Brooks) tonight, I think he’ll be back in a week or two,” Cassity said. “Our center. But we’ve just got to make sure we find another piece on the o-line to fill that spot for him.”
The Hornets (4-1) will return to area play next week when they travel down to Clanton for a matchup against Chilton County (1-4) on Friday, Oct. 3. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Stats provided by Mark McLaughlin
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