Both Dexter and Chelsea had already stamped their tickets to the playoffs with dominant regular seasons but when the two teams met on Friday night none of that really mattered. Neither the Bulldogs or Dreadnaughts were planning on resting key players getting ready for high school football’s second season – even with both in the mix for state titles.
Dexter vs. Chelsea. It’s the biggest game the two schools will play this season – well, maybe outside of a game at Ford Field next month.
And it was all Dexter from the opening bell on Friday night. The Dreadnaughts scored three touchdowns, including one by the defense, in the first quarter and never looked back in a 35-6 thrashing that will be the talk of the town until next October.
Dexter finished the season a perfect 9-0 while Chelsea heads into the postseason at 7-2. The Bulldogs lost the season opener and season finale but won all the games in between.
Superstar running back Ronny Johnson got the Dreadnaughts motoring in the right direction with touchdown runs of 2 and 5 yards in the first quarter. Senior Grant Goodrich then scooped up a fumble and went 27 yards to give Dexter a 21-0 lead.
After Chelsea finally got on the board with a pair of field goals, Dexter did what good teams do by answering field goals with touchdowns. Again, it was Johnson from 1-yard out to make it 28-6.
Johnson scored from 12 yards out in the fourth quarter to make it 35-6, again proving the point that this game matters.
Dexter junior QB Cooper Arnedt was 19 of 27 passing for 215 yards. He also had five carries for 47 yards. Johnson finished the game with 103 yards rushing on 23 carries and the four Dexter TDs.
Jaiden Juback had 10 catches for 108 yards, Cole Novara had 5 catches for 55 yards and Jack DeMerell had two grabs for 19 yards.
The Dexter defense dominated the line of scrimmage all night and proved to be playoff ready. Senior linebacker Owen Wondrash, junior linebacker Kyle Sislo and the defensive line (senior Chance Sobbry, junior Mateo Kipke, junior Sam Cormier and seniors Jacob Alvarado and Tanner Rinderknecht) were in Chelsea’s backfield causing havoc all game.
Leading tackles were junior Nathan Gersh with 12 tackles (1 for loss), Sam Cormier with 9 tackles, Mateo Kipke with 6 tackles (1 sack, 2 for loss), Chance Sobbry with 6 tackles (1 for loss), Owen Wondrash with 6 tackles, and Kyle Sislo had 2 sacks and a tackle for loss. Senior Mathew Clayton forced a fumble on a kickoff and Goodrich ran it back for the score.
Dexter ended Chelsea’s multiple decade long winning streak with a 45-0 win in 2022. Chelsea returned to the win column last year with a 31-21 victory.
Football: Dexter opens postseason play at home against South Lyon East
