Chester outscores DuQuoin, 20-13 in second half
BY JIM BEERS
CHESTER – The Chester High School Football YellowJackets opened the 2023 season Saturday August 26 at W.O. Smith in Chester. CHS hosted the DuQuoin Indians of the Mississippi Division River-to-River Conference in a hard-fought battle, falling, 48-20, in the first game of the season.
The score wasn’t totally reflective of the game, however, as the YellowJackets, with only eight seniors, fought hard throughout the game, and in spite of being down 28-0 at halftime, came back and tied the Indians, 20-20, in the second half.
Coach Billy Belton said, “I will take our guys into battle any time. They played with heart and fought hard the entire game. They maintained a great attitude and came back after halftime and played with confidence. I am very proud of them!”
“I have to take responsibility for not having them prepared. We have to have more alternatives to counter adversities when they arise. DuQuoin was much bigger than us up front and they had more substitutes to come in to relive tired players. Those are factors we cannot control. Early in the game they got the edge on us and it took us a while to recover.”
Belton continued, “Overall we played well. I was impressed with how we came out and kept fighting after the halftime break. Our performance was good. Penalties hurt us, though and it is up to me to fix several things before we play at Benton this Friday.”
The first quarter was very competitive with both teams playing hard and protecting their goal lines. Chester’s first possession was short-lived. The Jackets had the ball for just 17 seconds before senior Aden Runge was forced to punt.
DuQuoin returned the punt to the 45-yard line and on the second play from Scrimmage, Da’Marion Johnson scored an Indian touchdown on a 48-yard pass from quarterback Camden Waller. Joey Wood kicked the extra point and DuQuoin led, 7-0, at the 9:50 mark in the opening quarter.
The remainder of the first quarter was deadlocked at 7-0. The YellowJackets played great defense in the final 7:55 and held the Indians scoreless.
Chester had two possessions in that final portion of the period and threatened twice, but penalties and bad breaks thwarted those attacks. Gage Hopkins demonstrated his potential with great runs that achieved back-to-back 1st and tens.
On the Jacket’s final possession of the 1st Quarter, Devante Palacio started a great effort catching three nice passes from quarterback Zain Al-Jassim. A Gage Hopkins run got CHS to the 21-yard-line with 48.4-seconds remaining in the quarter. On the final play of the period, junior Cayden Brunkhorst was thrown for a 6-yard loss to end the 1st Quarter.
Chester had the ball to begin the second quarter, but failed to score and had to turn the ball over on downs. That was the start of a 21-0 DuQuoin effort that turned out to be a killer for the YellowJackets.
The Indians scored their first touchdown of the 2nd Quarter at the 10:01 mark on a 45-yard run by junior Triston Webb. Joey Wood kicked the extra points and DuQuoin led, 14-0.
On Chester’s first possession, Cayden Brunkhorst received the kickoff and ran to the 32-yardline. Junior Kolton Jany ran for a 1st and ten to the 45 yard line. With the Jackets on the move and excitement running high, a Zain Al-Jassim pass was tipped and intercepted by DuQuoin to end the CHS drive.
The Indians had the ball with 8:15 left to play in the half. Tristin Webb ran the ball for the first two plays from scrimmage, but Chester’s Gage Hopkins put a quick stop to Webb’s efforts with great tackles.
At the 6:46 mark, quarterback Camden Waller ran the ball facing 3-and 2. CHS was called for a personal foul penalty giving the Indians a 1st and ten. On the next play, senior Cameron Ford ran the ball for another 1st and ten. On the next play, Waller ran for a 16-yard touchdown with 5:46 remaining in the half. Joey Wood kicked his third extra point of the night and DuQuoin extenfded its lead to, 21-0.
Chester’s third possession of the second quarter lasted two minutes and 34 seconds with Kolton Jany catching a great pass for a first down. Once again, things were looking good for the Jackets when quarterback Zain Al-Jassim bobbled the hike, but recovered his own fumble. Facing 4-and-11, Chester turned the ball over on downs at the 3:32 mark.
On DuQuoin’s first play, senior PJ Winters took the ball to the 8-yard line. On the second play from scrimmage, quarterback Camden Waller threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to senior Jace Colvin at the 2:57 mark. The extra point kick by Joey Wood was good and the Indians led, 28-0.
On Chester’s final possession of the first half, one again, the Jackets looked as if they might get something going to end the half. DuQuoin kicked the ball all the way to the goal line on the kickoff, so CHS got the ball placed at the 20-yard line.
On the first play, Al-Jassim threw a great 14-yard pass to Korbin Jany. On the second play, Al-Jassim struck again with a nicely placed pass to junior Davante Palacio who made it to the 45-yard line. Sophomore Ethan Colvis then ran the ball, taking a hard hit for a 6-yard loss. On the next play, Chester’s drive was ended when Kolton Jany fumbled the ball and DuQuoin’s Dwayne Willington recovered the fumble with 1:37 left to play.
On DuQuoin’s final possession, Chester held the Indians tight and ended the first half with a touchback. The Indians led, 28-0, heading into the locker room.
DuQuoin received the opening kickoff of the second half. The YellowJacket defense came out strong in the second half and held the Indians to “four-and-out” forcing a turnover on downs. Quarterback Camden Waller was shaken up on the third play and came out of the game.
On Chester’s first series of the third quarter, Kolton Jany had a great run to the 36 yard line, but CHS was penalized for a personal foul. On the next play, Davante Palacio then caught a pass as did Kolton Jany giving CHS a 1st and ten at the 43 yard line at the 9:04 mark.
Ethan Colvis carried the ball to the 16 yard line at 8:48 and on the next play, Al-Jassim was sacked. Facing 3-and-20, Al-Jassim’s next pass was foiled, bringing the Jackets to 4-and-20 at the 7:41 mark. On the next play, Zain Al-Jassim threw a sweet 21-yard pass to Gage Hopkins for Chester’s first score of the game. Freshman Kareem Landeros kicked the extra point. Chester trailed by just 21 points, 28-7 at the 7:33 mark.
The Jackets attempted an on-side kick on the ensuing kickoff which was controlled by the Indians on the 47 yard line. That gave DuQuoin excellent field positon to start the series. On the third play of the possession, DuQuoin’s starting quarterback, Camden Waller, returned to the game. Two plays later, Waller threw his third touchdown pass of the game, this time to Da’Marion Johnson, an 18-yarder which put DuQuoin up by 28 points again, 34-7. Joey Wood’s kick was good and the Indians led, 35-7 at the 5:53 mark.
On the ensuing kickoff, Chester’s Davante Palacio returned the ball to the 40 yard line giving the Jackets good field position. Al-Jassim’s first play was a nine yard completion to Kolton Jany, followed by completed pass to Gage Hopkins for a 1st and ten.
Chester ran the ball for six yards on the next play and Al-Jassim hit Davante Palacio with a pass for another YellowJacket 1st and ten with 4:05 to play in the 3rd quarter. On the next play, Al-Jassim fumbled the ball on the snap, and the Jackets were called for a 5-yard illegal motion penalty call taking the ball back to the 30-yard line. CHS faced 2-and-15 at the 3:30 mark.
A great 19-yard pass to Kolton Jany gave the Jackets another 1st and ten with 2:58 remaining. Another pass to Davante Palacio was thwarted, however, facing 2-and-10, Al-Jassim connected with Kolton Jany on an 80-yard pass at the 2:41 mark for Chester’s second touchdown of the game. Kareem Landeros kicked the second extra point of both the game and his short, rookie, high school career. The Jackets trailed, 35-14 at the 2:41 mark.
To close out the third quarter, the Jackets held the Indians for three plays as the clock ran out to end the period.
DuQuoin had the ball to begin the 4th quarter facing 3-and 4 from the Chester 23 yard line. CHS threw the Indians for a 1-yard loss on the first play, but, facing 4-and-5, Luke Bauman, a junior running back, caught a pretty 21-yard pass giving the Indians a 1st-and-ten on Chester’s 2-yard line.
On the next play, Bauman ran it in for DuQuoin’s 6th touchdown of the game. The extra point kick was defended and the Indians led, 41-14 at the 11:37 mark. It took DuQuoin just 23-seconds to score that touchdown.
The game was far from over at this point with 11:37 to play in the game. Chester and DuQuoin would each have two possessions left in the game.
Chester’s next possession would be fruitful as Davante Palacio took the kickoff and returned it to the 42 yard line. The opening running play of the series led to no yardage. On the second play, DuQuoin was called for pass interference and gave CHS a 1st-and-ten.
On the third play of the series with 9:40 to play, Chester quarterback, Zain Al-Jassim, fell and was shaken up. He came out of the game and was replaced by sophomore quarterback Tray Peters. Peters handled the ball for one play while Al-Jassim was being evaluated. Al-Jassim returned for the 4th play of the series. Al-Jassim then threw to Gage Hopkins who caught great pass to give CHS a 1st-and-ten.
With 8:51 to play, Al-Jassim connected to Kolton Jany for a 5-yard pass and back-to-back 1st downs. With 7:59 to play, Gage Hopkins had a fantastic 14-yard run to the one-yard-line. That run set up Chester’s third and final touchdown of the game when Gage Hopkins bulldozed across the goal line for his second touchdown of the game.
Landeros missed the mark on his third extra point attempt of the night, but finished 2-of-3 to start a predicted successful high school kicking career. Chester trailed 20-41 at the 7:34 mark.
Chester attempted another on-side kick on the kickoff to DuQuoin. This attempts was more unsuccessful than the first one the Jackets attempted after their first touchdown at the 7:33 mark of the 3rd quarter.
This time DuQuoin’s Brayden Jokisch, a senior wide receiver, took the kickoff and ran it all the way back for a touchdown. It took just 10 seconds to accomplish this feat and the Indians extended their lead to 48-20. The extra point attempt was no good.
The rest of the game was a defensive battle with both DuQuoin and Chester holding each other scoreless for the final 7:13.
In the loss Chester ran a total of 73 plays while DuQuoin ran just 50. DuQuoin racked up 445 yards comparted to Chester’s 321. Of DuQuoin’s yardage, 160 yards were from passing and 285 were from the ground. Chester’s 321 yards came from 275 yards passing and just 46 yards rushing.
Chester had 20 first downs compared to DuQuoin’s 17. The Jackets had a 3rd down efficiency of 1-of-11 (9%) while the Indians recorded 4-of-8 (50%). CHS was 5-of-7 on 4th down efficiency (71%) and DuQuoin had 2-of-3 or 67%.
Chester had just two turnovers, one from a fumble and one from an interception. DuQuoin did not have any turnovers. Penalties plagued the YellowJackets with 10 for 68 yards. DuQuoin had just three for 15 yards.
In the passing game, Chester’s Al-Jassim completed 17-of-31 passes (54.8%) for 275 yards and 1 touchdown and 1 interception. DuQuoin’s Camden Waller completed 7-of-9 passes (77.7 %) for 160 yards and 3 touchdowns.
The YellowJackets recorded 46 rushing yards led by Kolton Jany (11 attempts for 63 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 fumble); and Gage Hopkins (7 attempts for 33 yards and 1 touchdown).
Davante Palacio led the team in receiving with 7 receptions for 103 yards. Kolton Jany had 4 receptions for 79 yards and Gage Hopkins had 4 receptions for 59 yards and 1 touchdown. Korbin Jany had 2 receptions for 34 yards.
Cayden Brunkhorst and Trentin Eggemeyer led the team in tackles with 5 apiece. Brunkhorst also had 3 assists, and a tackle for a loss. Gage Hopkins had 4 solo tackles 2 tackle assists and 1 tackle for a loss. Korbin Jany recorded 4 solo tackles, and 1 tackle assist.
Coach Belton said, Overall we played well. I was impressed with how our guys kept fighting and never gave up. Our second half performance was especially notable. We have a three-game schedule to start the season that is particularly challenging, but we can fix a few things and be alright.”
The Jackets travel to Benton Friday September 1 to take on the Rangers. They return home Friday September 8 to host Freeburg. That will be the night of the CHS Cheer Camp performance.
The Chester High School YellowJackets take the field for the first time this 2023 season Saturday August 26 when Chester hosted the DuQuoin Indians in the season opener at W.O. Smith Field. The Indians of the Mississippi Division of the River-to-River Conference had the advantage with more numbers and bigger players and took home a win over the Jackets, 48-20. After being down 20-0 at halftime, however, Chester came back with a vengeance and scored 20 points against the Indians. CHS travels to Benton next Friday September 1 to challenge the Rangers. Jim Beers Photo
Cayden Brunkhorst (3) a 5-7″ 155 lb. junior Wide Receiver is brought down by DuQuoin’s Jaelyn Smith (9), Jaxon Obertini (4), Avery Webb (8), and Eli Nehring (16) in the game against DuQuoin Saturday August 26. Brunkhorst, a Wide Receiver and Defensive Back, led the team in tackles with 5 solo tackles, and returned a kickoff in the Jacket’s loss to the Indians in the season opener. Jim Beers Photo
Chester’s Davante Palacio (9), a 6’2″ 200 lb. junior wide receiver, is brought down by DuQuoin’s Jubal Alvis (26) Saturday August 26 when Chester hosted the Indians at W.O. Smith Field. For the night Palacio recorded 7 pass receptions for a total of 103 yards. He added 5 kickoff returns and punted the ball once. Jim Beers Photo
Gage Hopkins, a Chester High School senior football player, was key in the YellowJacket’s success Saturday August 26 when the DuQuoin Indians came to town. Hopkins ran seven times for 33 yards and 1 touchdown; had 4 pass receptions for 59 yards and 1 touchdown; and had 4 solo tackles,1 tackle for a loss, and 2 tackle assists for the game. Jim Beers Photo