Freeburg uses consistent 7-point quarters to take victory from Chester
By Jim Beers, Contributing Writer
CHESTER – The Chester High School Varsity Football Team played better Friday September 9 at Freeburg in a non-conference match-up, but still could not find a way to bring home its first win of the 2022 season. The Midgets were thought to be a strong contender, but the Jackets started out the game with confidence and determination to give Freeburg a hard-fought contest throughout the game.
Just as in the first two games of the season against DuQuoin and Benton, Chester played hard in the first half and made it a competitive contest early on.
The Midgets managed just one touchdown in the opening quarter when Caleb Loftus, a senior 6’1”, 200 lb. running back broke loose and capitalized on a 58-yard run for the first score of the game. Kicker, Neil Thompson, a 5’10” junior kicker completed the score with a successful extra point.
The YellowJacket defense held the Midgets scoreless throughout the rest of the quarter, but Freeburg led, 7-0 at the end of the first period. To open the second quarter, Chester’s Will Schuwerk, a 5’11” senior linebacker, made a great tackle throwing Freeburg for a loss to stop a drive. He forced Freeburg to turn the ball over on downs at the 11:17 mark.
On the first play from scrimmage, CHS quarterback, Zain Al-Jassim threw a successful pass to sophomore Kolton Jany for a first down. On the next play, Al-Jassim threw another pass, this time to sophomore Devante Palacio who fumbled the ball on the play. Chester’s Matt James, a 5’11” senior lineman, saved the day and recovered the ball.
At the 9:20 mark Al-Jassim connected with Kolton Jany again for a huge pass completion giving CHS another 1st and ten. A third pass, this time to Palacio, resulted in a 10-yard gain at 8:57. Just two minutes later, Palacio caught yet another Al-Jassim pass for another Chester first down. It was first-and-goal from the 8-yard line.
Chester’s Gage Hopkins (#10), a 5’9″, 155 LB. junior YellowJacket running back scored Chester’s lone touchdown Friday September 9 when Chester traveled to Freeburg to take on the Midgets. Hopkins scored at the 3:59 mark of the second quarter to bring the Jackets within 1-point, 7-6. Zain Al-Jassim, Chester quarter back completed an 8-yard pass to Hopkins who ran for the 8-yard touchdown. Jim Beers Photo
At the 3:59 mark, Al-Jassim found junior Gage Hopkins, a 5’9”, 155 lb. running back, open for an 8-yard touchdown pass to give Chester just its second touchdown of the 2022 season. A 2-point conversion pass to Palacio failed, and Chester trailed by one point, 7-6.
The Jackets did a great job on defense the remainder of the half as James and Jany each had tackles for a loss and the Midgets were penalized twice for a false start. They were forced to punt with 2:38 remaining in the first half.
Chester burned clock and achieved a first down, but was unable to capitalize any further and Freeburg ended up with the ball with just 52.7-seconds left to play in the half.
A huge pass completion from junior quarterback Cole Stuart to 5’8” junior wide receiver Tucker Murphy gave the Midgets a 1st-and-10 with 34.4 seconds remaining.
Chester defensive lineman Shane Bicket, a 6’1″ 245 pounder, was tough on defense Friday September 9 when the Yellow Jackets faced Freeburg. Bicket led the team on tackles with 5 solos and 1 assist and 1 tackle for a loss. Jim Beers Photo
Chester’s Shane Bicket, a 6’1” 245 lb. senior defensive lineman, made a huge stop against Freeburg’s Caleb Loftus at the 27.2 mark, but on the next play, Loftus caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Cole Stuart to give the Midgets six more points. Neil Thompson kicked the extra point and Freeburg increased its lead to 14-6 to end the first half.
The Jackets controlled most of the second quarter and trailed by just one point until Caleb Loftus scored his touchdown with just 14-seconds to play in the half. It was still a very competitive game with Chester down by only 8-points, 14-6, going into the locker room at the half.
After halftime the Jackets received the opening second-half kickoff and had the ball for three minutes before they turned the ball over on downs at the 8:53 mark.
The Midgets had the ball for less than two minutes as Chester’s Shane Bicket and Gage Hopkins made huge defensive plays forcing them to punt at the 7:35 mark.
Freeburg then returned the favor to the Jackets making big defensive plays by Camden Stafko and Mason Walton. Chester was forced to punt at the 3:54 mark.
On Freeburg’s final possession of the third quarter the Midget’s made good use of the final 3:54. On the first play from scrimmage Calen Loftus ran the ball and Chester’s Shane Bicket stepped up for the third time in the game with a huge defensive play stopping Loftus.
A Cole Stuart pass to junior wide receiver Tucker Murphy resulted in a 1st-and-ten. Chester’s Trenton Eggemeyer made a good defensive play throwing Caleb Loftus for a 1-yard loss at 3:19.
Just when it looked like the Jackets would stall the Midget advances to end the 3rd quarter, Cole Stuart connected with senior A.J. Banks for a 23-yard touchdown pass with just 44-seconds left in the quarter. Neil Thompson kicked his third successful extra point of the game and Freeburg led Chester, 21-6 with 44-seconds remaining in the third quarter.
CHS threw a successful pass to Gage Hopkins to start the final series of the third quarter resulting in a 1st-and-ten for Chester. On the next play the Jackets were called for off sides for a 5-yard loss. On the final play of the quarter Zain Al-Jassim attempted a quarterback keeper and was sacked as time ran out to end the third period.
Chester still had the ball to start the 4th quarter but had difficulty getting anything going on offense. Passes to Devante Palacio and Kolton Jany were incomplete and the Jackets were called for a false start penalty. Freeburg took over at the 11:49 mark.
For the next four minutes the Midgets had the ball. Matt James stopped Caleb Loftus on a run at the 9:56 mark and Will Schuwerk made another stop of Loftus at 9:01. Freeburg was then called for a holding penalty and lost 10-yards. Facing 2-and-20, the Midgets lost 3-more yards and then faced 3-23 with 8:02 to play in the game. Chester was keeping the Midgets in check!
On the next play, however, Cole Stuart completed a huge pass to Tucker Murphy who made his way to the 8-yard line. On the final play of the series, Murphy ran the final 8-yards for a fourth Freeburg touchdown at the 6:28 mark. Neil Thompson kept his perfect kicking streak alive making his fourth extra point of the evening. Freeburg led, 28-6.
The game was far from over, however, as Chester would have two more possessions and Freeburg would sandwich in one more possession before the final buzzer.
On Chester’s first possession, the Jackets got a 1st-and-ten on a 9-yard Korbin Jany pass reception with 6:03 to play. CHS was unable to move the ball any further, however, in the next 2-minutes and turned the ball over on downs at the 4:25 mark.
On Freeburg’s next and final possession, Chester’s Matt James and Aaron Runge made sure the Midgets would not advance and forced Freeburg to punt at the 1:58 mark.
In the final 1:58 Kolton Jany had a decent run to start the possession. Senior Branden Whitley, a 5’8” running back gained 6-yards and sophomore Kolton Jany got Chester a first down with 49.1-seconds to play. Two plays later time ran out and Freeburg had succeeded in winning the game, 28-6.
Overall, in spite of the loss, the YellowJackets did play better against Freeburg and had many bright spots for the evening. Chester ran 70 plays vs 60 for Freeburg. The Jackets recorded a total of 357 yards for the game (322 passing & 35 rushing). The Midgets recorded only 327 yards for the game (123 passing & 204 rushing).
Chester was 7-of-15 on 3rd down efficiency (47%) while Freeburg was 7-of-14 on 3rd down efficiency (50%). The YellowJackets only committed one turnover, an interception, while the Midgets did not have any turnovers.
In the loss, Chester’s quarterback Zain Al-Jassim completed 19-of-32 passes for 322 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Freeburg quarterback Cole Stuart completed 10-of-18 passes for 123 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Kolton Jany led the Jackets in rushing with 36 yards on nine carries. Tucker Murphy led Freeburg with 8 carries for 51 yards.
Devante Palacio led the Jackets in receiving with 7 receptions for 122 yards. Kolton Jany had 5 receptions for 72 yards and Gage Hopkins recorded 3 receptions for 45 yards and 1 touchdown. For Freeburg, Tucker Murphy led the Midgets with 4 receptions for 62 yards. Caleb Loftus and AJ Banks also had touchdown passes.
On defense, Chester’s Shane Bicket led the team in tackles with 5 solos and 1 assist. Matt James had 4 solos and 1 assist while Cayden Brunkhorst had 4 solo tackles. Mason Walton led the Midgets in tackles with 4 solos and 2 assists. Keenan Marsh had 3 solos and 3 assists and Lucas Pajak had 3 solos and 3 assists.
CHS Head Coach Billy Belton said, “Our boys played well on both sides of the ball tonight. The defense was good all night and our offense kept the ball for more time giving the defense time to recover.”
“I was very proud of Zain Al-Jassim for throwing for 322 yards tonight. I can’t remember too many quarterbacks that have accomplished that level of completed passes. Then we had Davante Palacio catching seven passes for a total of 122 yards. Quite impressive!”
“We have had a rough start to the season with DuQuoin, Benton and Freeburg on our non-conference schedule. Benton and Freeburg were in the Elite 8 last year in Division 2A and Division 4A. No excuses, but our boys are young and went up against players from bigger schools with more upper classmen with much more experience.”
“We have faced some pretty tough competition in the first three weeks. Hopefully that has prepared us for the conference season which starts this week when Sparta comes to town. From here on out we should be ready for our competition.”
“It has been quite a while since Sparta has come to Chester for a game. I am looking forward to it and think the boys will be ready.”
“After having lost 14 experienced seniors this year to graduation, is has taken some time for us to replace all of that talent and experience. We are still trying to figure out a few things, but I am confident that the rest of the season we should be much better prepared and competitive!”
With the Freeburg loss the YellowJackets are 0-3 in non-conference games. This week starts the Cahokia Conference portion of the season when the Sparta Bulldogs come to W.O. Smith Field to battle the Jackets. Kickoff is 7:00 p.m.