Freshmen: d. by Monroe, 6-54
JV: d. by Monroe, 7-27

Varsity 2010 record: 2-0 (0-0 SEC White)

Location: Chelsea, MI
Opponent: Monroe
Mascot: The Trojans
Real Mascot: The Fighting Scrub Brushes.  Wouldn’t this make a great mascot?
Last Decade vs. Chelsea: 0-1.  Monroe never faced Chelsea until joining the SEC in 2009.
Last Game vs. Chelsea: Chelsea defeated Monroe 41-7 in 2009

The story so far:
The victory over Huron provided a highly positive start to the post-Nick Hill era, with the security blanket of a stout defense complementing a considerably more diverse offense.  Week 2 brought all those positives back to Jerry Niehaus Field to start the home schedule against Monroe, a team that suffered a number of lopsided losses in 2009 but demonstrated ample improvement in 2010 with a close week 1 loss to perennial SEC contender Adrian.

First Quarter:
As they did last week, the Bulldogs started the game faster than Lightning McQueen on a caffeine buzz.  After a Monroe three and out and a short punt, Chelsea marched down the field and finished its opening drive with a two-yard Truman Hadley touchdown run; another Monroe three and out yet again provided good field position, and that good field position turned into a nine-yard Berkley Edwards touchdown run.  The resulting 13-point deficit finally irked the Scrub Brushes enough to prompt some life out of them, and a 48-yard kick return into Chelsea territory gave the Monroe offense the spark it needed to find the end zone near the end of the first quarter.

Second Quarter:
The second play of the quarter was a Chelsea punt, and it started to go steeply downhill from there; the punt left Monroe on its own 12, but before long the Scrub Brushes had a first and goal on Chelsea’s nine, threatening at least to tie the game with a touchdown and even — gasp! — to take the lead with an extra point.  Facing a fourth and goal on the three, Monroe elected to avoid the field goal attempt in favor of the siren song of the potential of six points; that proved to be a mistake, as the Chelsea defense made the stop at the one.  On the next play, quarterback Brian Paulsen connected with receiver Mason Borders for 33 yards, and before Monroe could blink as many times as one might blink in a minute and a half, Chelsea had finished its 99-yard, 90-second scoring drive with a nine-yard Paulsen touchdown pass to Chris Ballow.

The rest of the quarter was relatively uneventful; Monroe fumbled once, but Chelsea couldn’t capitalize on the turnover.  Still, Chelsea retained its 19-7 lead at the end of the half.

Third quarter:
The start of the second half was a mirror image of the first, with Monroe forcing a Chelsea three and out and moving down the field to score.  A second Chelsea punt paved the way for another strong drive by Monroe, but it ended in disaster when the Scrub Brushes fumbled the ball away inside the Chelsea 20.  The Bulldogs offense ate up the last two minutes of the third quarter…

Fourth Quarter:
… and the first two minutes of the fourth quarter on its way to a 17-yard Paulsen touchdown pass to Borders.  Monroe soon fumbled the ball yet again, and three minutes later a one-yard Paulsen touchdown run to provided a considerably more comfortable 31-13 lead…that lasted all of 14 seconds thanks to a 77-yard Monroe touchdown run.  Oops.  Chelsea recovered Monroe’s onside kick, but an interception gave the Scrub Brushes the ball on the sunny side of midfield with just under five minutes to play; however, though Monroe worked its way into another first and goal, the Chelsea defense again stood tall on fourth and goal, making the stop on the five yard line with only 59 seconds left in the game.  Two knees later, the game was done.

Final Score:
Chelsea: 31
Monroe: 20

Don’t Forget My Number:

• Joey Newland led Chelsea in rushing with 121 yards on 18 carries.  Berkley Edwards followed with 62 yards and one touchdown on 14 carries.
• Mason Borders led Chelsea in receiving with 122 yards and one touchdown on five receptions.  Also, for the second consecutive week, Borders caught a pass from receiver Nate Udell.
• The Bulldogs committed no turnovers this week, but they did have a problem with one particular penalty: five of their nine penalties were defensive offsides.
• The bulk of the statistics were remarkably even, with Chelsea having only an eight-yard advantage in total yardage.  However, two numbers doomed Monroe: they lost three fumbles, and they were only 2 of 11 on third down conversions.

Photographic Evidence:

Chelsea linemen practice an alternative to the Heimlich Maneuver.

This is not a stickup.  They’ve just got spirit.  Yeah!

Coach Scheese is begging you to gain yardage.  Please?

Conor Tait is singin’ in the rain, but without the rain.  And the singing.

Joey Newland has a strict no-hitchhiker policy, but some hitchhikers are persistent.

There used to be a lineman over center, but David Slusser vaporized him with his glare.

It’s the newest Olympic sport: synchronized footballing!

Apparently someone made the mistake of telling Logan Yordanich to “take his head off.”

Mason Borders does his best Blues Brothers imitation.

It’s so hard to stiff arm a defender when nobody volunteers to be stiff armed.

Obviously, it is the opinion of this jury that the Chelsea football team is good-looking.

Andrew Koch is always ready to comfort those who mourn.  Even if they’re mourning the end of the play and he’s the one ending the play.

Truman Hadley must be looking for #1, Matt Gillespie.

Braylon Edwards’ beard can actually prevent concussions.

Charlie Kempf will not let you derail the Berkley Express.

It’s hard to tell if the defender is running towards Brian Paulsen or away from the edge of the frame.  Either way, he’s in trouble.

Yes, Mason Borders.  The goal posts are that way.  But don’t tear them down just yet!

Cal Bauer and Ray Zielinski must have just seen Justin Bieber!

Matt Gillespie is so happy, he feels like he’s floating.  He looks like it, too.

Next Week:
The Bulldogs face the Controversial Mascots of Ypsilanti.  The game is in Chelsea on Friday at 7pm.  Be there!