Last year, Chelsea High School (2006 enrollment: 1,022; class: B) completed the renovations of its football stadium; after several years of enduring a woefully-overmatched home seating area, one of the biggest improvements was the expansive new bleachers. The renovated stadium is now a point of pride for the football program.

Yesterday I traveled through the western side of the state, between Kalamazoo and South Haven. Being the high school sports fan I am, I couldn’t resist taking a look at the football stadiums in two of the small towns I encountered; what I found was a startling contrast.

One small town was Bloomingdale. The city itself is quite small, but the school had a 2006 enrollment of 355 (class: C). The high school looked new, but the football stadium was quite old. At first, I wasn’t sure it was actually the high school stadium. But I didn’t see a new stadium near the new high school, and it’s hard to believe such a small school district would maintain more than one lighted field. (Plus, a sign at the entrance referred to the BHS track.)

The other small town was Gobles. The downtown of Gobles seemed a bit more developed, but the school is practically the same size as Bloomingdale’s; 2006 enrollment was 368 (class: C); however, the football stadium was stunning. It outclassed Bloomingdale’s stadium, but that doesn’t really give it much credit. In my estimation, it rivals not just Chelsea’s stadium, but those of some small colleges. For a town as small as Gobles to have the high school stadium it does, there must be a serious love for football there.

If Chelsea football didn’t occupy my Friday nights in the fall, I just might consider seeing a game at Gobels, just to see if the atmosphere matches the stadium.

(Pertinent information: Michigan schools are separated into four classes, with A being the largest and D being the smallest. Chelsea is at the upper end of B.)

(School enrollment figures gleaned from a fascinating listing of Michigan high school football won-loss records since 1950; that list, along with a few other equally wonderful lists, can be found on michigan-football.com.)