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Chelsea proud of D3 state runner-up football team

Photo by Burrill Strong of the Chelsea fans in Ford Field.
Photo by Burrill Strong. A sea of Chelsea fans in Ford Field for the D3 championship game Saturday night.

(Chelsea Update would like to thank Burrill Strong for the two photo galleries at the end of this story.)

The Chelsea Community is proud of this Bulldog football team that played with determination, class and integrity throughout the 2015 season finishing as the runner-up D3 state champions.

From the send-off on Main Street as the team headed by bus to Ford Field Saturday afternoon – to their attendance at the game itself and subsequent Facebook comments – the community supports this team that accomplished something no team in Chelsea history has done before.

Photo by Terry Turner.
Photo by Terry Turner. Lots of fans turned out to root on Chelsea Saturday night.

The Bulldogs took home the runner-up D3 state championship trophy, finished this season with a terrific 12-2 record, and, they will be remembered as something super special for years to come. Coming into the game, the team was averaging about 250 yards and 30 points per game, and had only allowed about 9 points per game while grabbing 22 turnovers.

They headed to Ford Field to play the defending D3 state champion Orchard Lake St. Mary’s — a school that had made 13 previous trips to the state finals and had more than 245 wins on its resume under Coach George Porritt.

In the end, the Bulldogs lost 29-12. They weren’t able to stop a physical, run-heavy offense or the Eaglets relentless, athletic, and powerful defense. But they played hard and smart all game long.

Head Coach Brad Bush was in it to win it and put together play calling that included several trick plays – one of which that resulted in a 47-yard touchdown pass from DB Graham Kuras to Noah van Reesema. (Kuras finished the game with an interception and 9 tackles, while van Reesema caught four passes for 91 yards.)

The other, a fake field goal, which was not as successful.

To recap: St. Mary’s (12-1) employed a steady diet of run plays, most up the gut of the Chelsea D-line, and took five minutes off the clock in the first quarter to go up 6-0, then added a 2-point conversion when the extra point snap went awry.

Chelsea got the ball and QB Jack Bush was picked off in the second play from scrimmage and the Eaglets took the ball 45 yards into the end zone on three plays in 58 seconds and just like that, St. Mary was up 15-0.

Chelsea added 6 in the second quarter on the Kuras-van Reesema trick play and held St. Mary’s to a goose egg in the quarter going into the halftime down 15-6 but with momentum.

Also of note in the second quarter, Chelsea thought it had recovered a fumble in the second quarter, but the refs ruled the St. Mary’s QB was in the act of throwing so it was nullified.

The Bulldogs won the toss and deferred to the second half so they’d have the ball to begin the second half.

But it was three plays and out and St. Mary’s added another TD to make it 22-6. Not giving up, the Bulldogs stormed back on an 8-play, 43-yard scoring drive that ended with a Cam Cooper TD catch. The Bulldogs went for 2, but it was no good.

So, with the score 22-12, Chelsea recovered a fumbled punt but the drive ended with an unsuccessful fake field goal attempt on 4th down and St. Mary’s took over.

In the fourth quarter, St. Mary’s added another 7 points for the 29-12 final. In fact, by midway through the final quarter, St. Mary’s had used more than 40 running plays and the team had logged more than 20 first downs in the hard-nosed battle.

Although it was not the result the Bulldogs played hard for all season, this team won the hearts of everyone in the community.

Bulldog Pride is alive and well in the streets of Chelsea for this terrific team of talented young men.

 

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