Chelsea Dominates Toronto Canada Northern 43-0

Chelsea Senior Cam Cooper celebrates his rushing touchdown

It was an absolutely perfect night for Chelsea’s first home football game of the season. The Bulldog faithful piled in and the student section and many fans were dressed in patriotic colors as Chelsea were set to take on the Toronto Northern Secondary School Red Knights from Canada. It was the first time a Canadian football team had ever played in Chelsea. There was no game film or scouting reports on the Red Knights but Head Coach Brad Bush had his team ready and prepared.

The Bulldogs kicked off and the defense shut down the Red Knights immediately. On fourth down as Northern punted hard hitting Junior Matt Weisberg plowed past his blocker and was able to block the punt. After a scramble for the loose ball, it was Chelsea that recovered and would start on offense on the Northern 21 yard line. It only took less than a minute and 3 plays for Gus Reynolds to put the ball in the end zone giving the Bulldogs the early lead. After another quick 3 and out and a great Cam Cooper punt return it was Quarterback Jack Bush taking off under pressure and making a great throw on the run, hitting Reynolds on a fade in the left side of the end zone to give the Bulldogs an early lead, 14-0 after the always reliable Chris Roush extra point kick.

After an excellent Roush kickoff and good coverage by Chelsea, Northern was backed up near their own goal line. After a few stops, it was right defensive end Travis Frazier shedding his blocker and putting pressure on the Northern quarterback and tackling him in the end zone. The ball was spotted at the 1-yard line though and Northern took the safety on fourth down instead of punting to the speedster Cooper.

“I really thought it was a safety, I had him good,” said an elated Travis Frazier. “But it’s ok, they took the safety on the next play, it’s all about the team.”

Chelsea took over with great field position again. With Chelsea lined up at the Northern 30 Bush threw a quick pass to Cooper who flew down the field and behind great blocking was able to score for the second time in the game putting the Bulldogs up 23-0. It was at this point Coach Bush started putting in some of the younger players to give them all a chance to play and gain experience.

In the second quarter, Drew Anstead took over at quarterback and completed a perfect pass to Tight End Alex Vasquez for the score, the team going 50 yards in just 3 plays. After another defensive stop, it was Reynolds picking up his second touchdown of the game  following his blockers and juking defenders to blast it in for a 27-yard score. Quarterback Bush came in to kick the extra point giving the Bulldogs a huge 37-0 lead going into the half.

In the second half, it was all Chelsea again but playing more conservative. Senior Mikal Nelson went in to finish the rest of the game at quarterback. Nelson scored late in the fourth on a 6-yard quarterback keeper, using his strength and power like he does in lacrosse.

“I used to play quarterback but then I stopped growing,” joked Nelson.

The Bulldog defense played exceptional forcing bad passes, making great tackles, and forcing turnovers. Hunter White and Braden Steele each had interceptions for Chelsea. Travis Frazier had an excellent game for Chelsea finishing with 5 tackles and 3 sacks in limited duty. James Mida finished with 2 tackles and a sack. The defense limited Northern to just 3 total yards of offense on 32 plays.

Bush finished perfect for the night completing all 6 of his passes for 86 yards and 2 touchdowns. Reynolds led all Bulldog rushers with 54 yards on 6 carries and 2 scores, while Junior Aiden Chisolm-Blockton finished with 23 yards on 3 carries. Cooper led all receivers with 46 yards on 2 receptions.

Chelsea plays host to their rival Dexter next Friday. Kickoff is 7 p.m.

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Friday Night Lights Shine On Chelsea’s Andrew Klink

 

Andrew Klink leads the team on the field in a home playoff game in 2015

It’s a frigid day in Jackson at Withington Stadium, the day after one of the worst blizzards in Jackson history. The snow was so bad it postponed the state semifinal football game between Chelsea & Coldwater for a day. The night before the game the Bulldog players are inudated with taunts on social media by the Coldwater players. The bulldogs don’t respond. At the game is when the Bulldogs respond as they overewhelmed Coldwater in the snow with a huge 35-7 victory!

“We do our talking on the field,” said Chelsea offensive lineman Andrew Klink. “They kept talking so much smack to us, we just ignored them and laughed. I couldn’t wait to play them to shut them up. That was a great game and our o-line did a great job and that’s the victory that  sent us to the state championship in Detroit.”

Klink, Angie or Klinker as he is know to his teammates, stands 6′ 4″ and weighs in at a solid 240 pounds and will be anchoring the left side of the offensive line for the Bulldogs this year.

“I have played baseball my whole life but I took a break last year to stay in the weight room and focus on football,” said Klink. “Last year I realized I have potential to play at the next level but I wasn’t happy with my strength so I decided to bulk up and focus on the gridiron. I still love baseball, I love football too, it’s so great forging friendships. When those lights go on Friday night, there’s just something about it”

Klink will be protecting the blind side of Bulldogs Quarterback Jack Bush this season and hoping to “pancake” defensive lineman.

“It’s a great responsibility to protect the blind side of the QB, which makes it a greater task and I’m glad the coaches feel I’m the man for the job, it’s an honor,” Klink states. “We have great coaches on our team and they make a big difference. I remember during a practice last year, we were doing short yard run against the defense and I was in and I had been angry about the last game which was the first game of the year and I thought I was practicing great and I didn’t get any playing time. So I made it my new mission to be as aggressive as I could but still play my position. And I was doing really good and  was dominating the guys across from me and Coach Moundrous pulls me aside and he said, “Don’t you think if you gave that much effort every play and pancaked guys just like that you would play more, even start?” And that wasn’t the last time he pulled me aside after doing something good or bad. It really clicked after that for me and I took it to heart and I’ve thought about that moment everytime Ive taken the field. Just go all out every play. It meant alot that a coach who didn’t coach my position but not even an offensive coach was critiquing me, it’s hard to describe. I’ll never forget that.”

Klink has a few colleges that have shown interest and hopes to have a big season and make a name for himself so he will get more offers. After High School he plans to go to college and play football and major in nursing specializing as a nurse anesthetist.

Klink thinks the team is going to do great this year. “We lost a lot of great players on both sides of the ball but our great coaching staff will have the team ready to go this season,” said Klink. “If everyone shows up to play and gives 100% and plays their position with a lot of heart, I feel we can beat anybody. We all have put in a lot of work and I wouldn’t trade our coaching staff for any other!”

Kilnk likes to listen to music in his spare time. He would also like to learn to play the piano someday. He loves to hangout with his dad (Tim) and mom (Celeste), hang with  friends, hunt, fish, and sometimes just drive around and chill and listen to music.

“I’m really excited about this season, I think the teams going to do great and our coaches will have us ready and we can’t be thin skinned when those lights get turned on Friday night.”