Chelsea football traveled to Ypsilanti to take on the Braves Phoenix Grizzlies. This is the first year for Ypsilanti Community High School — formed as a result of the merger of the Ypsilanti and Willow Run districts — but the school is at the old Ypsi facility, so the football stadium is the same old stadium. Of course, that means it’s the same marvelously old-school scoreboard that has been in use for…well, for a long, long time. Here, take a look:

I hope that scoreboard stands for another 50 years. That thing has character!

Ypsi is one of the few Ann Arbor-area high schools with a real grass football field. That meant Chelsea had to bring this:

As you may have seen in the first sentence, Ypsi has had a few different mascots in recent years: after being the Braves for many years, they switched to the Phoenix only a few years before merging with Willow Run and becoming the Grizzlies. However, the water tower overlooking the stadium prefers to stick with the longtime Ypsilanti High School terminology:

Chelsea dug a bit of a hole in the first half, but this touchdown narrowed the gap:

If you weren’t sure if it really was a touchdown, this may help:

The game started dry, but at some point in the first half it started raining, and that rain persisted the rest of the evening.

Another Chelsea touchdown narrowed the gap even more:

There were a number of turnovers in this game. Defenses tend to get excited about turnovers:

Chelsea’s punter can beat up your punter:

As I said, there were a number of turnovers. Here’s another fumble Chelsea forced:

Artificial turf has its advantages, but from my perspective as a photographer, grass and mud stains make pictures just a little bit better.

Chelsea next faces the Adrian Maples. The game is in Chelsea on Friday at 7pm. There are only two home games left this year — be there!