Photo of the Faculty Talent Show Now: 12 March 2011

The Chelsea Music Boosters held its annual Faculty & Friends talent show fundraiser. If you’ve never been, you’re missing out on a fun evening: this is one of my favorite community events to photograph.

The show opened with synchronized “swimming”…

…and then it moved on to the musical acts.

CHS student Molly Turner sang “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” with accompaniment from her dad Rob Turner, a former Chelsea School Board member and current Washtenaw County Commissioner. His contributions were highly…dignified.

In fact, he was so dignified, he managed to make Molly laugh in the middle of the song.

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Photo of the Basketball Now: 9 March 2011

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.

Photo of the Basketball Now: 8 March 2011

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.

Photo of the Basketball Now: 7 March 2011

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.

Photo of the Basketball Now: 4 March 2011

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.

Photo of the Basketball Rivalry Now: 3 March 2011

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.

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Photo of the Hockey Now: 1 March 2011

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!

Photo of the Basketball Now: 1 March 2011

Chelsea boys basketball welcomed Ypsilanti for senior night. One senior saying farewell to the Robin Raymond Gymnasium (hey, don’t rule it out) was Patrick Roberts, a four-year varsity basketball player — and a talented multi-sport athlete — for the Bulldogs.

Patrick Roberts salutes you, Real Seniors of Genius.

Since the Ypsi paper needed photos and the Chelsea paper was saving its space for the huge season-ending Chelsea @ Dexter rivalry game later in the week — and because I had to leave at halftime to cover the last period of Chelsea’s first-round hockey playoff game — the bulk of my photos from the game feature Braves. (Yes, I’m aware there’s a different official school mascot. No, I have no interest in using it. Yes, I have company: a vast sea of Ypsi graduates who don’t care for the change.)

Photo of the Jaws of Lifin’ Now: 26 February 2011

Local organization SRSLY held a party at the Chelsea fire station. The biggest draw of the party was, of course, the promise of taking apart a car with the Jaws of Life. (These aren’t affiliated with the other famous Jaws, though their effects on objects are remarkably similar.)

The evening started with a presentation by the captain. As the party was aimed at kids who are either just starting to drive or will soon be starting to drive, the presentation featured photos of serious car accidents to which the Chelsea firefighters had responded, along with necessarily stern words about not being a moron behind the wheel. (The captain phrased it much more diplomatically, but as one with a…checkered driving history, I feel strongly about not being a moron behind the wheel.)

After the presentation (and some pizza), everybody headed outside to start cutting up the car. (Don’t worry: it wasn’t your car. It was already wrecked. And no, wise guy, it wasn’t my car, either.)