Former Pioneer quarterback Danny Dresselhouse (#7) leads the Capital City Stealth, a Lansing-based minor league football team, onto the field at Thirlby Field in Traverse City. Dresselhouse is one of several former local players suiting up for the Stealth.

Photo courtesy of Capital City Stealth

A bevy of graduates from Washtenaw County high schools are shouldering pads, lacing cleats and strapping helmets for a minor league football team based in the Lansing area.

The Capital City Stealth, a member of the North American Football League is a first-year team that includes many members of the now defunct Ypsilanti Yellow Jackets, which folded a year ago for financial reasons.

One player who transitioned from the Yellow Jackets to the Stealth is Danny Dresselhouse, a 2008 Pioneer graduate and former starting quarterback, who now starts under center for Capital City.

Fellow Pioneers graduate Andre Bouldin, who played at the University of Toledo and other Washtenaw County natives like Ray Spears (Ypsilanti), Steven Bell (Saline), Vance Johnson (Lincoln) and Jonathan Hart (Milan), among others.

“It’s fun going from being a rival with someone, and now you’re a teammate with them,” said Dresselhouse. “It’s definitely interesting. It’s kind of cool to play with people who you played with during school.”

But unlike high school, NAFL players aren’t playing for school pride or the Friday night lights glory. They play to, well, play.

“Mostly it’s just guys wanting to play football and maybe have a second chance at doing it,” said Dresselhouse, who noted some are holding out hope of making it to the pros.

“It’s a lot of time and travel. It’s a pretty big commitment,” he added.

In fact, Dresselhouse and his area teammates carpooled to the Lansing area multiple times each week for preseason workouts, which started back in February, and games, which kicked off in June. For games, the Stealth travel to neighboring states and into Canada.

The Stealth, however, aren’t going anywhere this weekend.

After finishing with a 9-1 regular season record, capped by a 22-12 win over the Traverse City Wolves, the Stealth advanced to the NAFL playoffs and secured home field advantage.

Capital City will have a rematch with Traverse City in the first round of the playoffs at 4 p.m. Saturday at Chippewa Middle School in Okemos.

“We were a little surprised that the wins kept coming in,” admitted Dresselhouse, referring to the team being a first-year squad. “We just felt more comfortable and things kept rolling, and we starting feeling like the wins were supposed to come.

“Everybody is definitely excited and we want to try and go as far as we can.”

CAPITAL CITY STEALTH PLAYERS FROM AREA SCHOOLS

• Steven Bell (Saline)

• Andre Bouldin (Pioneer)

• Danny Dresselhouse (Pioneer)

• Jonathan Hart (Milan)

• Vance Johnson (Lincoln)

• Andre Martin (Ypsilanti)

• Sawyer Paull-Baird (Pioneer)

• Mark Phillips (Pioneer)

• Greg Sizemore (Willow Run)

• Ray Spears (Ypsilanti)

• Eric Stevens (Ypsilanti)

• Eric Tyus (Lincoln)

• Damien Williams (Lincoln)

Kaleb Roedel is a sports writer for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734)623-2562 and e-mailed at kalebroedel@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @Kaleb_R.