Freshmen: d. Adrian 49-42
JV: d. by Adrian 13-19
Varsity: 3-1 (0-1 SEC White)

Varsity 2008 vs. Adrian: 41-31w

The SEC’s rampant expansion and realignment wrought yet another change to Chelsea’s world: Adrian, a burgeoning rival of the Bulldogs, moved from the big-boned SEC Red to the svelte SEC White, making the Maples a direct conference rival.  That meant Chelsea’s week 4 encounter with Adrian wasn’t just a game featuring two of the SEC’s better teams; in Adrian’s first season in the SEC White, it was a clash of two of the favorites to win the division.  Seriously, it was a big game: though more than half the season still remained, this game promised to go a long way in deciding the SEC White champion.  A game of that magnitude might have attracted bushels and pecks of hype, but since this particular Game of Awesome didn’t involve a team from Ann Arbor, four or maybe five people outside Chelsea and Adrian knew there was a game.

Chelsea entered the game undefeated, but Adrian didn’t have such good fortune: the Leaves fell to Saline in overtime in their week 2 non-conference conference game.  But the schedule smiled on Adrian following that loss by providing a week 3 stress ball in the form of perennially hapless Dexter, and a convincing victory put the Fronds back in a winning mindset just in time for their trip to Jerry Niehaus Field.

“Good game…good game…good game…good game…”

How powerful is Blake Blaha?  When he does jumping jacks, the earth tilts.

All Coach Bush said was, “Who wants a fist bump?”

Despite its extraordinary amount of almost-hype, the game started just like every other game: with a kickoff.  This particular kickoff landed in the arms of a Not-Toronto Leaf, a fact Chelsea regretted when, twelve plays and 78 yards later, Adrian took a 7-0 lead.  After a Chelsea punt, the Maples had hopes of staging another lengthy scoring drive; however, they forgot one minor detail: scoring requires possession.  The Fronds handed the ball back to Chelsea by way of a fumble only three plays into the drive, a mistake they regretted when, on the very next play, the Bulldog offense went one and WOOOOO! with a Nick Hill twenty yard touchdown run.

With the score evened and the scores odd, the Chelsea defense dug in its heels and forced a three and out.  That set up a 37-yard catch by Chris Ballow, which set up a 14-yard catch by Ballow, which set up a 26-yard touchdown run by Hill to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the game.  A missed extra point limited the lead to six points, but a lead is a superiority is an ascendancy, so I wasn’t complaining.  The local happiness continued with another Adrian three and out — or, as the cool kids call it, a throut — and Charlie Hess finished a drive with a 29-yard field goal to extend the lead to 16-7.

This is totally going on YouTube.

No, Dakota Cooley isn’t angry with you.  Not yet, anyway.

A Dakota Cooley interception prompted further optimism, but the ensuing drive ended in a punt, and that led to trouble for the Bulldogs.  Buoyed by good field position and the scent of touchdowns in the cool autumn air, the Leaves strolled down the field and scored with only seventeen seconds left in the half.  Chelsea’s lead was down to a mere two, and as halftime loomed, it was obvious: the SEC White Game of Awesome was indeed proving to be awesome.

Scott Devol has always been the affectionate type.

Is Brian Paulsen purposely posing like the Statue of Liberty?  Nobody knows.

Chelsea received the second half kick with intentions of replicating Adrian’s first drive, but fourth and long tends to get in the way of that sort of thing.  And when the punt team took the field, the Bulldogs suffered from the first of their two Blue Screens of Death: the snap sailed over punter Nate Udell’s head, giving the Fronds possession inside Chelsea’s 20.  The Bulldog defense stood tall, holding Adrian out of the end zone, but the damage was done: the Maples reclaimed the lead with a short field goal.

Irked by the essentially free points they’d just handed Adrian, Chelsea put together a 13-play, 87-yard drive and emphatically snatched back the lead with a one-yard touchdown run by Brian Paulsen.  Another missed extra point held the lead at five, but it didn’t seem to be a big deal; after another Adrian throut, the Bulldogs made the Maple defense look practically invisible as they effortlessly marched inside the ten yard line.  All was well and good for Chelsea — until the second Blue Screen of Death struck.  On first and goal from the three, Hill fumbled the ball, and it ended up in the arms of a pleasantly surprised Adrian defender.

Chris Ballow was tackled by the terrifying two-headed three-legged defensive monster.

“Get that camera out of my face!”

Nick Hill prefers not to share.

Though the turnover was a boon for the Fronds, it left them with nearly the entire field to cover for a go-ahead touchdown — a task made more daunting by their offense’s surprising dormancy in the third quarter.  (Would you believe Adrian didn’t gain a single first down the entire third quarter?)  But to the great dismay of the Chelsea faithful, the Leaves lumbered down the field, devouring both yardage and time on their march towards the end zone.  The Bulldog defense provided a glimmer of hope when, facing first and goal on the two, it stiffened and forced Adrian into fourth and goal from the four; however, the fourth-down pass was complete for the touchdown, giving the Maples the lead once again.  A successful two-point conversion pushed Adrian’s lead to three, leaving Chelsea four minutes to find enough points to stay in the game.

The final drive had a promising beginning as Chelsea moved to the Adrian 42 with 1:30 to play; with two timeouts left, the Bulldogs seemed certain at least to attempt a game-tying field goal before time expired.  However, the drive died at the 37 when the Maple defense sacked Paulsen on fourth down.  Adrian failed to gain a first down, but it didn’t matter; when their final punt was downed, the clock read all zeros on Chelsea’s first loss of the season.

Odds & Ends

• Chief among the many frustrations of this loss was this: statistically, Chelsea outperformed Adrian in nearly every category.  But the two missed extra points and the two Blue Screens of Death, along with Adrian’s backbreaking fourth-quarter drive, doomed the Bulldogs.
• The field turned into a bit of a hospital ward: as the game wore on, a number of players were limping, one Adrian player was taken off on the cart, and one Chelsea player was missing a chunk of his lip.  Also, Nick Hill was fighting cramps the entire second half.
• Despite the loss and his painful cramps, Hill had a productive evening: he rushed 37 times for 222 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Next Week
The Bulldogs face the Railsplitters of Lincoln; the game is in Chelsea on Friday at 7:00PM.

Freshmen: def. Skyline 28-20
JV: def. Ypsilanti 44-0
Varsity 2009: 3-0 (1-0 SEC White)

Varsity 2007 vs. Ypsilanti: 26-14w

Week 3 featured another first-ever SEC game for the Bulldogs, this time against the Ypsilanti Name-Changers.  Unlike last week’s game against Monroe, this was only a first-ever conference game: Chelsea’s first-ever game against Ypsilanti occurred at the Big Day Prep Showdown in 2007, a game Chelsea won, 26-14.  Also unlike last week’s game, this would not be an irregular occurrence: while Monroe joined the big-boned SEC Red, the Name-Changers joined the more svelte SEC White, making the 2009 game the first of many annual conference meetings to come.

When they asked who was ready for some football, Conor Townsend responded enthusiastically.

There’s no humor here.  The flag was at half-mast because it was 9/11.

Beware the steely gaze of cheerleaders.

One of the challenges for a strong team like Chelsea is maintaining its intensity for games it’s expected to win, and this game was no exception: the coaches found reason to be irked at the team’s lackadaisical approach to pregame routines, and the futility of the Bulldogs’ first drive didn’t warm the cockles of anyone’s heart.  But the defense forced Ypsi into a poor punt — seriously, it didn’t even cross the line of scrimmage, so it was more of an intentional fumble than a punt — and Nick Hill defibrillated the Chelsea sideline with a 40-yard touchdown run to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead.

Isn’t it obvious?  Cal Bauer’s favorite song is Van Halen’s “Jump.”

“I know it’s after Labor Day, but we’re the visitors, so we have to wear white anyway.”

In the battle between punters and Zak Giller…well, it’s really not much of a battle.

Another short Ypsilanti possession gave Chelsea the ball on the sunny side of the 50, and Hill finished the drive with a three-yard touchdown run.  His second touchdown of the game happened to be his last: with the game’s writing quite legible on the wall, Hill became a spectator.  A Michigan State-bound spectator who accumulated 98 yards and two touchdowns in less than 10 minutes, but a spectator nonetheless.  (Don’t worry, Chelsea fans: he’s fine.)

Staring sternly at Nick Hill isn’t the same as tackling Nick Hill.

Nick Hill is on a fast bicycle to nowhere.

Trevor Mattson tried to stow away, but the trip ended quickly.

The writing on the wall seemed to become a bit less legible when Ypsilanti marched down to Chelsea’s 14, but Dakota Cooley quashed the Name-Changers’ uprising with a timely interception in the end zone; with that comeback nonsense out of the way, the Bulldogs cleared up the writing with an 80-yard drive capped by a 19-yard touchdown catch by Mason Borders.  As the end of the first half approached, Ypsilanti threatened to score once more; however, the threat and the half ended with a sack by Trevor Mattson, and Chelsea’s 21-0 lead settled down to enjoy the halftime show.

“Is that the football field?  I’ll remember this time, I swear!”

Isn’t that nice?  Bobby Hall is helping him down to the ground.

The third quarter was largely uneventful for eleven and a half minutes, but Ypsilanti ruined the monotony with 15-yard touchdown pass that cut the lead to 21-6.  The trend of excitement continued in short order with a Chelsea touchdown courtesy of a 38-yard reception by Chris Ballow; not to be outdone, Ypsilanti added a second touchdown, and the suddenly-exhausted scoreboard gasped to a 28-12 Chelsea lead.  After a six-minute respite filled with punts and turnovers on downs — well, okay, just one of each — the scoreboard had to work just once more as Chelsea ended the evening’s scoring with a two-yard Joey Newland touchdown run.  After the totally unremarkable final 90 seconds of the game unremarkably expired, the Bulldogs boarded the buses with a 35-12 victory in hand.

Odds & Ends

• The game was played on the eighth anniversary of 9/11.
• The foofaraw over Ypsilanti High School’s mascot ended with a new mascot (the Phoenix) chosen by the school board — the board inexplicably rejected the students’ choice of the Royals — but to the joy of many alumni, not all vestiges of the Braves mascot have been expunged: the water tower that looms over Shadford Field still proclaims Ypsilanti to be the “Home of the Braves.”
• Chelsea accumulated 9 penalties, but that was an improvement over both the first and second games (11 and 12 penalties, respectively).
• A helicopter from Detroit’s Channel 7 circled the game for ten minutes, shooting video for that evening’s 11:00 news broadcast.  Thanks to its presence, the Detroit TV market got to see a Chelsea touchdown on the 11:00 news.

Next Week:
The Bulldogs take on the Adrian Maples.  The game is in Chelsea on Friday at 7PM.

Freshmen: d. Monroe 21-20
JV: d. Monroe 39-6
Varsity 2009: 2-0 (0-0 SEC White)

Varsity 2008 vs. Monroe: n/a

The last decade has brought considerable change to the Southeastern Conference, one of the most recent of which was the addition of Monroe High School.  The SEC is split into Red and White divisions based on school size, and Monroe’s enrollment of more than 2,000 students — more than twice that of Chelsea — compelled its placement in the big-boned SEC Red; however, the strange concept of non-conference conference games still managed to put Monroe on Chelsea’s schedule in week 2.

In an effort to promote a positive attitude, the Chelsea training staff is enforcing a mandatory thumbs-up policy.

They just keep coming!  It’s like the plague of locusts, but without the plague or the locusts.

Nigel Schuh is in the Red Sea.  But not that Red Sea.

What made this game more appealing was its unmistakable new-series smell: the first ever SEC meeting between Chelsea and Monroe also happened to be the first ever meeting…uh…ever.  (Ever ever.  Ever?  Ever!)  The comfortable malevolence of well-worn rivalries is the lifeblood of sports, but the occasional first-ever game provides a refreshing dose of unfamiliarity to contrast with the established rhythm of games against old-school foes like Saline or Dexter.  Like an Ohio State student walking into a classroom, Chelsea found itself walking into an unknown environment in Monroe, and it was exciting.  (Of course, that Ohio State student doesn’t find his scholastic unfamiliarity exciting, but no analogy is perfect.)

Nick Hill just can’t shake the feeling somebody is after him.

Not even the glare of the setting sun can prevent Brad Bush from glaring in your direction.

Mason Borders may look like he’s trying to play an invisible violin, but he’s actually catching a touchdown pass.

Illegal…elbow to the face?

Though Monroe may have been entirely unfamiliar, Chelsea’s approach to its first drive was as familiar and comfortable as Linus’ blanket: Nick Hill carried the ball seven times in the drive’s eleven plays, the last of which was a two-yard touchdown run.  A few technical difficulties on the extra point held Chelsea’s lead at six, but 6 > 0, and nine out of ten mathematicians agree: being on the greater-than end of the expression is the best possible start in a new venue.  (The tenth mathematician must have been the trepidatious Ohio State student.)  After the defense multiplied Monroe by zero, the Bulldogs celebrated offensive diversity with a 32-yard touchdown catch by Mason Borders for a 13-0 lead.

I could continue to describe the first half, but there’s an easy way to simplify this narrative.  Here’s a handy summary of Monroe’s first-half drives:

1. Monroe obtained the ball, and
2. Monroe gave the ball back to Chelsea.

And here’s a handy summary of Chelsea’s first-half drives:

1. Chelsea obtained the ball, and
2. Chelsea scored.

Whee!

It was at this moment Conor Townsend began to regret stapling his opponent’s hands to his jersey.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have told him he’d have to go through me to get to the end zone.”

You may think I’m exaggerating or being lazy or exaggerating lazily, but with one exception, it’s true: each of Monroe’s six first-half drives ended with a punt or a turnover on downs, while all but one of Chelsea’s six first-half drives ended with touchdowns.  Hill scored his second of the game on a 45-yard run, Borders scored his second on a 5-yard pass, and Chris Ballow used his 71-yard reception to set himself up for a six-yard run to give Chelsea a 34-0 halftime lead.

Sometimes Joe Tripodi needs a snack.

“If I’m going down,” thought Andrew Nold, “I’m taking this guy with me.”

“Hey, could you get me a Dr. Pepper?  Thanks.”

With the scoreboard tilted firmly in Chelsea’s direction and Monroe futilely spinning its wheels like Cameron’s Ferrari, the second half loomed as a steady march toward a Bulldog victory; however, the Trojans, unwilling to go gentle into that good night, opened the third quarter with a rousing eight-minute, 16-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to narrow Chelsea’s lead from a commanding 34 points to a mostly assertive 27 points.  But the touchdown’s feel-good moment proved to be Monroe’s only incursion into happiness: the Chelsea defense allowed the Trojans only 26 yards through the rest of the second half.

Meanwhile, though the Chelsea offense didn’t maintain its blistering first half scoring pace (83 percent!), it wasn’t entirely done; after two drives ended in punts, Tyler Frank scored on a two-yard touchdown with just under three minutes to play.  Finally, after a Charlie Hess interception brought Monroe’s final drive to a close, Frank knelt to zero out the clock on a 41-7 Chelsea victory.

Odds & Ends

• The win over Monroe was Brad Bush’s 100th win as Chelsea’s head coach.  He reached the milestone in just over 12 seasons, which means he’s averaging over 8 wins a season; his record at Chelsea stands at 100-31, giving him a winning percentage of .763.
• Chelsea had no fumbles.  No, I don’t mean Chelsea didn’t lose any fumbles; I mean Chelsea had no fumbles at all.  Hooray for ball security!
• Thanks in large part to that eight-minute drive, Monroe actually had the edge in possession time (25:36 to 22:24).  Taking two-thirds of an entire quarter to score certainly helps boost possession time!  Unfortunately, taking two-thirds of an entire quarter to score in the face of a 34-point deficit doesn’t boost chances of victory.
• Since Monroe is in the SEC Red, Chelsea may not face the Trojans again for a while; the other Red teams have to cycle through Chelsea’s non-conference conference schedule, too.
• Check out the full gallery of game photos.

Next Week

Chelsea faces the [insert mascot here] of Ypsilanti; the game is in Ypsilanti at 7PM.  (Which…uh…means it already happened.  But just pretend this post happened before the Ypsi game, okay?)

Freshmen: defeated Huron 34-18
JV: defeated Huron 19-6
Varsity: 1-0 (0-0 SEC White)

Varsity 2008: defeated Huron 35-27

After a one-year absence from the somewhat awkwardly-named season-opening Big Day Prep Showdown — I would have called it the Weekend of Awesome — Chelsea returned to hawk its winning wares at Eastern Michigan University’s Rynearson Stadium.  (What’s that?  No, Chelsea wasn’t scheduled to play EMU.  But now that you mention it…does anybody have Ron English’s phone number?)  Chelsea entered the game with a 2-1 record in the BDPS; on the other hand, Huron entered the game with a record of preventing Chelsea from playing in the BDPS in 2008.  But that was okay, because Chelsea also entered the game with a five-game winning streak against Huron dating to 1998, way back when Aerosmith didn’t want to miss a thing.

“I don’t know…this iPod seems a little bulky.”

He are serious Nick.  This is serious game.

As in 2008, the Chelsea/Huron pairing brought together two much-ballyhooed athletes to thrill fans and dismay defensive coordinators: Chelsea’s Nick Hill and Huron’s Jeremy Jackson.  The two have been conference rivals through high school, and that won’t change when they start college; Hill will play for Michigan State, and Jackson will play for Michigan.  Of course, that’s also where it gets confusing: Jackson wears Huron’s green, while Hill wears Chelsea’s blue.  Does that seem backwards?  Yes, it does.  But much to the delight of football fans everywhere — or at least those at Rynearson — they decided to play the game anyway.

Even opponents can’t help but admire Nick Hill’s muscles.

“Look!  It’s Ed Hochuli!”

Chelsea came into the game with high expectations for the season, but apparently somebody forgot to have high expectations for the beginning of the game: a simple miscalculation of the kickoff put the Bulldogs at their own one yard line to start their first drive.  It didn’t get any better when, on third down, the Huron pass rush caught up to Chelsea quarterback Brian Paulsen in his own end zone; not even two minutes into the game, Huron had a 2-0 lead that would be more at home at a baseball game.  Oh, and guess what?  Shortly after the safety, the River Rats quickly scored another touchdown to push their lead to 9-0 before Chelsea could even gain a first down.

Ouch…

Ouch…

And even more ouch.

The world grew a little brighter when the Chelsea offense put together a promising drive, but it fell short of points, and Huron responded with another quick touchdown.  With thirty seconds left in the first quarter, the River Rats had a 15-0 lead, and the Bulldogs had an incalculable lead in anxiety.  Unfortunately, anxiety doesn’t win football games, so head coach Brad Bush had to find a way to get his Bulldogs back into the game after a first quarter one analyst described as “uglier than a Pontiac Aztek.”  (This analyst may or may not be a figment of my imagination.)

Gravity holds no power over Dakota Cooley.

“Please, please, please let the running back through!”

Did the Bulldogs play Huron…or Geraldo?

Why do scrambling quarterbacks always look so suspicious of defensive linemen?

I didn’t eavesdrop on the conversation between the first and second quarters, so I don’t know what the coaches said, but it must have been good: Chelsea marched down the field and scored a touchdown (Paulsen).  The Bulldogs were on the board!  Hooray for points!  Chelsea fans celebrated the positive turn of events…for all of 13 seconds, which is how long it took the River Rats to run back the kickoff for a touchdown.  Huron fans celebrated their positive turn of events…for all of 11 seconds, which is how long it took Zak Giller to run the kickoff back to the Huron 11 yard line.  A touchdown (Hill) followed in short order — making for 20 points scored in less than two minutes — and Huron’s lead was cut to 21-14.  And Chelsea’s revival wasn’t done: after a very welcome stop by the Chelsea defense, Hill finished off another drive with another touchdown with his second touchdown of the day, and the extra point evened the score at 21.

Dakota Cooley is divisible by Spencer Mykala.

Zak Giller will not share with you.

“I told you: the football field is over there!”

Thanks to their rousing comeback in the second quarter, the Bulldogs were in a good mood after halftime.  But the Menace of the Odd-Numbered Quarters was not yet satisfied: Huron’s first drive of the second half ended with a 54-yard touchdown run that yet again left Chelsea playing catch-up.  Of course, with that pesky menace making life difficult, Chelsea didn’t play catch-up very well, so the Bulldogs managed to score exactly zero points in the third quarter.  But wait!  There’s good news, too!  Huron failed to score again, so the deficit was still at eight when the fourth quarter began.

When push comes to shove, Scott Devol comes to destroy.

Chelsea Bulldogs: always ready with a hug.

Since the fourth quarter is not an odd-numbered quarter, the Menace of the Odd-Numbered Quarters held no sway within its borders.  The Bulldogs didn’t wait long to take advantage of the menace’s absence: shortly after a 65-yard Chris Ballow run, Hill tallied his third touchdown of the game.  And finally, with under five minutes to play, Hill followed a Giller interception with his fourth touchdown to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the game.  A missed extra point left some room for anxiety, but Huron’s last drive ended in futility, and Chelsea celebrated its season-opening 35-29 victory over the River Rats.

Odds & Ends

• Chelsea’s 2-1 BDPS record featured a split with Novi and a victory over Ypsilanti.  Obviously, now the record is 3-1, and it features a victory over Huron.
• How did the much-ballyhooed athletes perform?  Hill finished with 147 yards and four touchdowns on 36 carries; Jackson finished with 88 yards on 5 receptions.
• Since the Bulldogs seem to prefer even-numbered quarters, it might be a good idea to abolish all odd-numbered quarters.  Of course, to maintain the original length of the game, that means the team will play second, fourth, sixth and eighth quarters instead of first, second, third and fourth.  Is that a good idea?  No, that’s a great idea.
• Be sure to check out the full gallery of game photos.

Next Week
Chelsea faces the Trojans of Monroe; the game is in Monroe on Friday at 7PM.