Chester falls in season finale
Yellow Jackets surrender 28-straight points in 35-28 loss to Waterloo
10/26/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
CHESTER - Saturday afternoon the Chester Yellow Jackets came out fired up in their contest against 4A playoff bound Waterloo.

Honoring the American Armed Service for the day and wearing their camouflaged uniforms, the home team came out with a big effort.

Coach Billy Belton's team jumped out to an early 14-0 lead and pushed it to 21-7 late in the second quarter.

But a crucial turnover deep in Waterloo territory stopped a scoring chance and the visitors took control after intermission.

The Bulldogs, who are now 8-1 after the win, got 239-yards and four touchdowns from junior running back Derez Sayles and the defense allowed the offense to reel off 28-unanswered points

Waterloo escaped with an entertaining and hard fought 35-28 victory.

Chester had its hopes of an unbeaten regular season end as the Jackets will head into the 2A playoffs next weekend at 8-1.

Coach Belton's club will host 6-3 Westville at 3 pm on Saturday.

“I'm so proud of the boys. They played so hard today. Playing against those big schools is tough because you just run out of bodies,” said Coach Belton. “You could see it in the second half we were getting kind of gassed. They (Waterloo) have a few more people they can put in. This was a great game for us to get ready for the playoffs.”

Waterloo will have 5-4 Taylorville come into town next weekend with the day and time yet to be determined.

Bulldogs' mentor Dan Rose got a great game from Sayles, as the 5-9, 175 speedster scored on runs of 29, 64, 41 and 70 yards, with the final scamper coming with 1:20 left in the contest to give his club a 35-21 lead.

Chester, who proved all season long that they could score in bunches, moved the ball down the field and scored on a touchdown pass from senior quarterback Zain Al-Jassim to junior Ethan Colvis with :02 left in the game.

An onside kick was recovered by Sayles as time expired on both team's regular season.

Al-Jassim passed for 318-yards and a pair of TD's on 23-of-38 passing.

Chester out-gained the Bulldogs 422-338 in total yards and had more first downs 23 to 10.

Nevertheless the long scoring runs by Sayles and stingy defense that allowed yardage but no points on five-consecutive Chester possessions proved to be the difference.

“You have to fell like they (Waterloo) is one of the better teams we will see and we know that we can play with them,” said Coach Belton. “The main thing I was worried about was their physicality and I think we handled that. We knew #21 (Sayles) was a special athlete and this was a great tune up game to get us ready for the playoffs.”

Chester took the opening kickoff and cruised down the field for an extended 60-yard drive that took 12-plays.

A key early gamble paid off for Coach Belton as the Yellow Jackets converted a fourth down and 14 from the Waterloo on a 16-yard pass and catch from Al-Jassim to wide receiver Devante Palacio which got the Yellow Jackets to the Waterloo 15.

Senior running back Kolton Jany, who led Chester with 71-yards rushing on the day, got the ball inside the Bulldogs' 10 before Al-Jassim scored the first points on a one-yard run.

Kicker Karim Landerous booted his first of four PAT kicks for a 7-0 lead with 6:19 left.

Waterloo's first offensive series was a quick three-and-out after gaining just one-yard.

The next Chester possession after a punt produced the next scoring march.

The Yellow Jackets took nine-plays to cover 86-yards with Al-Jassim hitting on a trio of completions while Jany delivered an 18-yard run to the Bulldogs' 19.

Al-Jassim found Jany in the right corner of the endzone from 12-yards out.

Another PAT made it 14-0 Chester over a stunned Bulldog bunch.

This turned into a bit of a wake up call for Waterloo as they responded.

It took a while for the offense to get clicking but behind Sayles running and a key completion from junior quarterback Conrad Lindhorst, the Bulldogs got into Yellow Jacket territory.

Sayles broke through the line and sprinted down the middle of the field on a 29-yard scoring jaunt.

A successful point after kick from freshman Cameryn Woolley cut the Chester lead to just 14-7.

(CONTINUED)
Facing a fourth-and-four from their own 45, Coach Belton called for a fake punt and a direct snap to junior Trey Peters turned into a 23-yard run to the Waterloo 32.

Chester converted its second fourth down try with a run by Jany.

On the next carry, Jany went nine-yards up the middle as he dived into the endzone for the third score.

The PAT made it 21-7 with just 7:08 left in the half.

Lindhorst completed just 3-of-11 passes on the day but the biggest toss came on a fourth-and-15 play from the Chester 27.

Lindhorst stepped up and found senior wide out Chris Pete crossing the field in front of defender Peters near the endzone.

Pete snagged the pass and went into the endzone for a touchdown.

Although the PAT kick failed, the Bulldogs were back in business down just 21-13 with 3:07 left in the second quarter.

Then came the lone Chester turnover and drive stopping change of momentum.

The Yellow Jackets were again moving down the field and into Waterloo's side of the field when Al-Jassim was forced out of the pocket and was heading down the right side of the field where he was hit by Bulldogs' linebacker Brock Arpin and fumbled.

Junior linebacker Tyler Theobald recovered the fumble at the Waterloo 33 which turned out to be a huge turnover with :41 left.

Although Coach Ross' club didn't score in its possession, the tide seemed to shift heading to the break.

After an exchange of punts to begin the third quarter, Waterloo quickly tied the score on its second chance with the ball.

Sayles took a direct snap with the line of scrimmage at their own 36.

The junior took off down the right sideline and out-raced the Chester defense 64-yards to paydirt.

The two-point conversion run by senior running back Justin Manning evened the score at 21-21 at the 7:23 mark of the third quarter.

Chester picked up only six total first downs in the final four chances with the ball.

Coach Belton saw his club punt twice and turned the ball over one time on downs before scoring in the final seconds.

Waterloo got the ball back after stopping the hosts on downs at its own 40.

With a third-and-one at the Chester 41, Sayles struck again.

This time he went to his left and found room to head down the field.

Sayles sped past the Yellow Jackets for his third TD run to give the Bulldogs their first lead at 28-21.

Down just a score late in the fourth quarter, Chester was knocking on the door again.

However a fourth down pass from Al-Jassim to Jany was out of the receiver's reach and the ball went back to Waterloo with just 1:35 left.

Crowding the line to try and stop the run with timeouts remaining was a gamble that didn't pay off.

Sayles again took a direct snap and he broke through the first wave of defenders.

This time the running back went 70-yards for a back-breaking score.

The PAT kick from Wolley left little time for Chester as they led 35-21 with 1:20 to go.

To the credit of the Yellow Jackets, they responded.

Eighty of the passing yards from Al-Jassim came on four pass completions in the final minute.

His touchdown toss to Colvis closed the scoring in the hard played contest.

Lindhorst finished with just 52-yards passing but the 27-yard scoring play was pivotal.

Besides Sayles, the Bulldogs got 25 rushing yards from Manning and 20 from senior Austin Crider.

Palacio caught seven passes for 97-yards for Chester while Jany grabbed six of the Al-Jassim throws for an additional 80-yards and a score.

Colvis had three receptions for 30-yards.

Chester had 83-yards on seven penalties that didn't help the cause.

“It wasn't just during the season, they did it (lead) during the off-season,” said Coach Belton about his seniors and their leadership. “I'm so impressed on how they did it and I know there are some broken hearts in there now but I told them they have another mission now. We wanted to go 9-0 but now we have to focus for the playoffs.”
Non-Conference
1
2
3
4
-
F
Waterloo
0
13
15
7
-
35
Chester
14
7
0
7
-
28
Team
Qtr
Time
Scoring Plays
W
C
C
1
6:19
Al-Jassim 1-yard run. PAT kick good.
0
7
C
1
1:58
Jany 12-yard pass from Al-Jassim. PAT kick good.
0
14
W
2
11:51
Sayles 29-yard run. PAT kick good.
7
14
C
2
7:08
Jany 9-yard run. PAT kick good.
7
21
W
2
3:07
Pete 27-yard pass from Lindhorst. PAT kick failed.
13
21
W
3
7:23
Sayles 64-yard run. PAT run good.
21
21
W
3
1:10
Sayles 41-yard run. PAT kick good.
28
21
W
4
1:20
Sayles 70-yard run. PAT kick good.
35
21
C
4
0:02
Colvis 25-yard pass from Al-Jassim. PAT kick good.
35
28