Chelsea High School Football record through week 6: 13-5 (1-2 week 6; 11-4 SEC).
It was a very rough week for Chelsea football. The freshmen lost, and then the JV won a highly entertaining game, so Thursday was fairly standard. But it stopped there.
The varsity game against Saline had loomed large on the schedule since the beginning of the year. Both teams entered the year with high expectations, and both had maintained those expectations by staying undefeated through week 5. There was quite a bit of anticipation for the meeting of two of the area’s top teams. Unfortunately, though the game stayed close for much of the evening, Saline left with a 37-28 victory; Chelsea’s offense hit a lull it couldn’t afford, and the defense simply couldn’t make the big stops it needed. Those shortcomings were tough to overcome against a good team like Saline.
However, the loss on the scoreboard was not the most painful loss of the evening. On a second and goal play in the fourth quarter, quarterback Seelbach scrambled and met two defenders at the goal line. He did not get up after the collision. After several minutes, the trainers helped him off the field, but he required significant assistance, and he put no weight on his left leg. Later, we learned the difficult news: he had suffered damage to his knee, and his season was done.
This is hard news not just for the team — it is always at least initially difficult to lose a starting quarterback — but also for Seelbach himself. He is a senior, and this injury means his high school football career is done too early. I never like to see a senior’s season end prematurely like this. The team will work to adapt to the different skills of the next quarterback, but I wish Seelbach would not have to adapt to his unexpected role of spectator. Not during his senior year. But that is the reality.
Friday’s game against Dexter will be the first public indicator of the team’s state of mind; Seelbach’s state of mind will be difficult for anyone outside the team to gauge.
On a lighter note, among the many spectators at the Saline game was a notable former Bulldog: Tony Scheffler, the second-round draft pick of the Denver Broncos; he was the first Chelsea football player to be taken in the NFL draft. It was nice to see him keeping an eye on his old team.