Monroe turnovers help Chelsea in 31-20 win

Chelsea senior Joey Newland runs through a Monroe tackle during the Buldogs' 31-20 victory on Friday night.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

Ray Zielinski recovered three Monroe fumbles and Brian Paulsen threw two touchdown passes as the Chelsea High School football teamheld on against a pesky Monroe team 31-20 on a windy, fall-like Friday night at Jerry Niehaus Field.

Unlike last week, when the Bulldogs put 19 points on the board in the opening 129 seconds, it took some time for Chelsea to get on the board against the Trojans.

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After holding Monroe to just one yard on its opening drive, Chelsea moved 49 yards in 10 plays, scoring on a Truman Handley two-yard run with 7:31 left in the first quarter.

The Chelsea defense locked down even more on the next Monroe drive, backing the Trojans up 10 yards and forcing another three-and-out. Just three plays and 52 yards later, Berkley Edwards outran a host of Monroe defenders to the corner of the end zone for a nine-yard TD run and a 13-0 lead.

At that point it looked like Chelsea might be on its way to repeating last year's 41-7 thumping of the Trojans.

Those thoughts were quickly erased as Reginald Allen returned the ensuing kickoff 48 yards into Chelsea territory and on third and one from the 3-yard-line, quarterback Mitchell Keuhnlein got Monroe on the board with 39.5 seconds left in the opening quarter.

Chelsea's next drive stalled at midfield leading to likely the most crucial stretch of the game. Monroe (0-2, 0-1 SEC Red) took over on its own 12-yard line and held the ball for more than four minutes while driving to the Chelsea 3-yard-line where, on fourth and goal, Samuel Quinn was stuffed by a host of Chelsea defenders at the one.

Chelsea's Ray Zielinski (54) had three fumble recoveries and a forced forced fumble.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

"It was nice to make that big play," Zielinski said. "We've been playing solid defense, and it was nice to give it back to the offense and trust our offense."

The offense repaid that trust quickly, using a 33-yard fade from Paulsen to Mason Borders to kick-start a 99-yard scoring drive. The Bulldogs (2-0, 1-0 SEC) scored on a nine-yard pass from Paulson to Chris Ballow to put go up 19-7 heading into halftime.

"The fade on the first play was a great start for us on that drive," Paulsen said. "Our defense helped give us the lead early and that was a big defensive stop our defense made on the goal line."

After a Monroe touchdown, one of Zielinski's fumble recoveries led to a 14-play, 83-yard drive capped by a Borders 16-yard touchdown on a slant to the inside to give Chelsea a 25-13 lead with just under 10 minutes to go.

On the second play of Monroe's next drive, Zielinski struck again, getting loose in the Trojan backfield and punching the ball loose from Monroe quarterback Keuhnlein and recovering it on the 45-yard line.

Paulsen eventually scored on a one-yard TD run to give Chelsea an 18-point cushion with 6:07 left.

Monroe gave itself a fighting chance, scoring on a 77-yard run on the first play of its next drive and then picking off a Chelsea screen pass at the Bulldog 43 with 4:42 to go and trailing by 11.

Chelsea's defense again came up strong, keeping Monroe in bounds and running the clock down to 1:11 when linebacker Cal Bauer stuffed Keuhnlein on fourth and goal to end the game.

"I think both teams hurt themselves tonight," Chelsea coach Brad Bush said. "They had the turnovers, and we had seven offsides penalties by my count (actually 6). We've got to shore that up."

Bush was happy with his team's defensive play, especially that of his 5-foot-8 defensive tackle, Zielinski.

"Ray is an outstanding football player," he said. "We struggle to block him in practice. He's what high school football is about."