Eastern Michigan University hosted the division 2 swimming finals.
My primary job at the finals was to keep an eye on the many Dexter swimmers who had qualified. Joining me in that task was a large and vocal crowd of Dexter fans.
As a team, Dexter finished third overall.
Chelsea faced Gabriel Richard in the second round of the playoffs.
It didn’t take long for GR to build a small lead, and they held that lead for much of the game. Chelsea chipped away at it several times, but GR always found a way to get it back.
Still, the Bulldogs kept working, and in the fourth quarter they finally managed to close the gap.
The Bulldogs’ late surge sent the game to overtime, but GR found its touch again in OT, and Chelsea’s season came to an end.
A few days after defeating Gabriel Richard to win the district championship, the Chelsea girls basketball team headed up to Linden to face Olivet in a (very dimly-lit) gym.
The Bulldogs brought a small but vocal student section:
Chelsea kept it close through the first half, but Olivet pulled away in the second half to bring Chelsea’s playoff run to an end.
The boys basketball playoffs started with two games in Onsted: Chelsea vs Ida and Milan vs Onsted.
In the first, Chelsea defeated Ida by a comfortable margin.
When I turned to get shots of the players on the bench, several players noticed my camera pointing in their direction and…well…
In the second game, Milan faced Onsted — and a substantially partisan hometown crowd. Despite the raucous support for Onsted, Milan managed to built an ostensibly comfortable 15-point lead early in the fourth quarter.
It may have been a decidedly pro-Onsted crowd, but the Milan student section had a noticeable presence:
Late in the game, Milan’s seemingly comfortable 15-point lead disappeared entirely; with less than a minute to play, Onsted completed its remarkable comeback by taking a one-point lead. Milan was left with one chance to prolong its season…
…and that’s exactly what they did thanks to the layup pictured above. And there was much rejoicing — though after surrendering a 15-point lead and managing to win only by a last-second shot, there was just as much relief as there was rejoicing.
Gibraltar Carlson faced Lumen Christi in the playoffs. Why did I shoot a game between Gibraltar Carlson and Lumen Christi, you might ask? Well, I had two reasons: first, it was in Chelsea, and second, Carlson is covered by the downriver Heritage newspaper.
The first period of the game was reasonably competitive, but after that it was nearly all Lumen Christi.
Carlson scored a goal later in the third period…
…but it was too little, too late.
After recently completed a renovation of its community pool, Dexter held a ribbon cutting to celebrate.
After the brief ceremony, they opened the pool to the kids who had gathered to enjoy the renovations.
A day after the boys ended their regular season, the Chelsea girls played in their district championship game against Gabriel Richard.
Thanks in large part to excellent free throw shooting late in the game, Chelsea eked out the win.
As usual, Chelsea ended its basketball regular season with its big rivalry game at Dexter; as usual, the game drew a big crowd that produced a fantastic atmosphere.
The evening started with Dexter’s senior night festivities, including 6’9 Cornell-bound senior Dave LaMore…
…the national anthem…
…and the introduction of Chelsea’s starting lineup…
…and then things got interesting. Dexter decided to have some fun with their introductions: to the delight of the crowd, they shut off the gym lights, turned on a couple spotlights and gave the starting five an introduction to remember.
That’s LaMore being introduced as the Dexter student section, highlighted by one of the spotlights, gives him a rousing welcome.
Dexter girls basketball faced Ann Arbor Huron in the playoffs. Huron had given Dexter big problems during the regular season, so the Dreadnaughts desperately wanted to get a win over the River Rats,
Dexter played an excellent first half, building a double-digit lead by halftime.
The second half wasn’t as kind to Dexter, though, and Huron came back to take a slim lead late in the fourth quarter.
But Dexter fought back, retook the lead and used excellent defense to force a turnover and a foul on Huron’s last possession to seal the win.
And there was much rejoicing.
Finally, on a humorous note: sometimes signs just aren’t enough to get your message across.
If you can’t read it, the sign says “Please Do Not Sit Above This Sign”.
In the first round of the playoffs, Chelsea hockey faced rival Lumen Christi. Due to the Chelsea/Ypsi basketball game that overlapped the hockey game, I could shoot only the third period of the game. That meant I missed Chelsea’s building a lead over LC and instead arrived just in time to see LC tie the game.
That was actually the go-ahead goal in the third period, but the sentiment was the same.
Because it’s an intense rivalry, the Chelsea students aren’t afraid to let the LC players know what they think:
He’s not celebrating a goal; he’s jumping to avoid the player on the ice. The puck is under the logo.
The go-ahead goal shown in the first picture proved to be the winning goal for LC, bringing Chelsea’s season to an end.
Oh, and is hockey a rough sport? Uh…yeah. Look what can happen even with a full face shield!
