Conference championship slips away in final minutes of game as Musketeers score winning touchdown
By Jim Beers
CHESTER – With the Cahokia Conference Illinois Division Championship on the line, the Chester High School YellowJacket Football Team traveled to Red Bud Friday October 13 to battle for the 2023 title.
Chester senior Gage Hopkins, a 5’10”, 170 lb. wide receiver and linebacker, scored Chester’s only touchdown Friday October 13 at Red Bud. His 7-yard touchdown pass, along with Karim Landeros’ extra-point kick, tied the game at 7-0 in the third quarter. Jim Beers Photo
Unfortunately “Friday the 13th” was not kind to the young men from “Popeye Town” as the Red Bud Musketeers used a last second touchdown to score the winning touchdown and claim the Cahokia Conference title at the tail-end after a hard-fought, great, defensive game that until the end, neither team was willing to give up!
The first quarter was a lock as both defenses held each other scoreless throughout the entire first quarter. Chester lost a key defensive player on the first play of the game when senior Nate Heuer, a 6’1”, 185 lb., lineman, was forced to leave the game with an extended knee.
Coach Billy Belton said, “The loss of Nate was certainly a blow to our team! He tried his best to go back into the lineup to help his team, but he was in too much pain and we could not allow him to possibly injure his leg more seriously.”
The loss of Heuer was definitely a negative factor in the game due to the fact that he has been a key player throughout the entire season and many of his huge plays have been key to the YellowJacket’s successes.
After one quarter of play the score remained locked, Chester 0- Red Bud 0, as both teams made big defensive plays held each other’s offenses in check.
In the second quarter Red Bud broke the tie on a 7-yard pass touchdown play that gave them a 6-0 lead. The extra-point kick was good and the Musketeers led, 7-0. The Chester offense was unable to respond and the defensive battle continued throughout the rest of the first half.
Red Bud took a 7-0 lead into the locker room at the end of the first half. The exciting, hard-fought game was far from over, however, as there was much more action to take place in the second half!
The third quarter continued as the first quarter did, with both defenses battling had to keep the opposing offenses in check. This quarter, however, the YellowJackets broke the ice with a 3-yard touchdown run by Chester’s Gage Hopkins. His score got the Jackets within one point, 7-6.
Chester kicker, Karim Landeros, a freshman, came on the field to kick the extra-point. He calmly “iced it” and the Jackets tied the game, 7-7. The rest of the third quarter was deadlocked as both defenses went back to work and the period ended with the score tied, Chester 7 – Red Bud 7.
The entire fourth quarter was deadlocked 7-7 with neither team able to get an efficient offense “fired up”. Defense was the theme of the night. With literally minutes left to play both teams had opportunities to score, but both defenses continued to make huge plays to keep the other from scoring.
Just about the time it was beginning to look like the game was heading into overtime, Red Bud capitalized on a YellowJacket mistake or two, and the Musketeers also got a break or two, to allow them to score the final touchdown of the game on a significant pass gain which set up a final drive to the goal line. Red Bud took the lead, 14-7, with little time on the clock for the Jackets to score again.
As time expired, the Musketeers led, 14-7 to win the game and claim the 2023 Cahokia Conference Illinois Division Championship.
An inspection of the stat sheets, might lead one to believe that Chester should have been the winner, but Red Bud’s last quarter breaks and last minute touchdown led to a much different conclusion.
Chester ran 43 plays. Red Bud ran 39 plays. Chester accumulated 195 total yards. Red Bud had 140 yards. Chester recorded 177 yards passing. Red Bud had 68 passing yards. Red Bud won the game on the ground with 72 yards. CHS could only muster up 38 yards rushing.
Red Bud had 23 first downs. Chester had 19 first downs. The Jackets had only 38% success on 3rd down efficiency (3-of-8) while Red Bud was 3-of-9 (33%) on third downs. Neither team had any luck on 4th downs. Both were (0-2) for 0%.
Penalties hurt Chester with 8 infractions for a total of 54 yards. Red Bud was only called for 3 penalties for a total of 28 yards. Chester also had 3 turnovers (1 fumble and 2 interceptions) while Red Bud had 1 turnover (1 interception).
For the game Chester quarterback Zain Al-Jassim passed 30 times connecting 19 times for a total of 177 yards. He was intercepted twice. Red Bud passed 21 times and connected 8 times for 68 yards and one touchdown and one interception.
Kolton Jany and Gage Hopkins were Chester’s key runners with Hopkins scoring the YellowJacket’s only touchdown. Chester’s top-3 receivers included Devante Palacio (6-for-53 yards), Gage Hopkins (4-for-51 yards), and Aden Runge (4 for 42 yards).
On defense, Chester had 33 solo tackles and 8 assists with 7 tackles for a loss. Korbin Jany had 6 solo tackles and 1 tackle for a loss. Ethan Colvis had 6 solos, 2 assists and 2 TFL’s. Gage Hopkins recorded 4 solos, 1 assist and 1 TFL. Cayden Brunkhorst had Chester’s only interception.
Head Coach Billy Belton said, “I am very proud of how hard our boys played and how the next guy stepped up. Both teams played a great game. It was a fun one to be a part of.”
With the loss. Chester now has an overall record of 4-4 and a Cahokia Conference Illinois Division record of 3-1 to end the season.
The YellowJackets finish the regular season this Friday October 20 when they host Warrensburg-Latham High School in a non-conference match up at W.O. Smith Field at 7:00 p.m. It is senior night at CHS when fall athletes will be recognized prior to the start of the game.