Come Mingle with Football, Volleyball, Golf, Cross Country, Dance and Cheer athletes; the watch 2025 Football Scrimmage
By Jim Beers
CHESTER – CHS is in the second week of school and it is time for the Annual Fall Sports “Meet the Players Night” at Chester’s W.O. Smith Field. The tradition has continued for decades and 2025 will expand to include not only the YellowJacket Football Program, but will include all fall sports and athletes.
The Chester High School 2025 Football Team will preview its season this Friday August 22 at W.O. Smith Field with a scrimmage at 7:00 p.m. The public is encouraged to come out and meet ALL of the six fall athletic teams beginning at 5:00 p.m. Jim Beers Photo
The event is this Friday August 22, 2025 at the Chester High School W.O. Smith Football Field. Activities will kick-off at 5:00 p.m. ON THE FIELD!
Fans are invited to get on the field and take pictures as they “get-up-close-and-personal” with all fall athletes including Football (all levels), Cheerleading, Golf (Both Girl’s and Boy’s Teams), Volleyball (all teams), CHS Dance Team, and Cross Country Teams (Girl’s and Boy’s).
Athletes will be available on the field for 45-minutes, from 5:00 p.m. until 5:45 p.m. During that time players will meet and greet fans, pose for pictures, and discuss the upcoming fall seasons.
At 5:45 p.m., fans will exit the field and players will organize for the introduction of all fall athletes of the six fall athletic groups. Introductions will take place for Football, Dance, Cheer, Golf, Volleyball, and Cross Country.
At 6:00 p.m., the YellowJacket Football Team will begin its warn-up
At 6:45 p.m. the CHS Cheer and Dance Teams will perform the CHS Loyalty
At 6:55 p.m. everyone will stand for the National Anthem
At 7:00 p.m. the Varsity will scrimmage
Note: Following the Varsity Scrimmage, the Sophomore or JV Team will scrimmage
There is a long tradition of previewing the CHS Football season with a scrimmage the week prior to the start of the official competition season.
In the past the event had numerous names such as the “Soup Game”, “Soap Game”, “Scrimmage Game”, “Gatorade Game”, or even the “Sports Drink Game”.
Admission to the event is a bottle of Gatorade or a canned food item. The Gatorade is used by the football program throughout the season during practice or games. The food items are donated to a local food entity.
The 2025 YellowJacket season will open next Friday August 29 at CHS W. O. Smith Field. Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m.
Chester will host just four home games this year starting with August 29 vs. East Alton-Wood River.
CHS will then hit the road for three weeks going to Pinckneyville Friday September 5; West Frankfort Friday September 12; and at Sparta * Friday September 19.
The Jackets will return home Friday September 26 to host Wesclin *. Then, they travel to Carlyle * Friday October 3. CHS returns home again Friday October 10 to host Dupo *, CHS then travels to rival Red Bud * Friday October 17.
The YellowJackets return home again to close out the regular season Friday October 24 when Nashville comes to town (Senior Night).
* Cahokia Conference, Illinois Division game.