10/14/2022
BY JACK BULLOCK
CHESTER - The Chester Yellow Jackets had their 'backs against the wall' (goal line) late in the fourth quarter of their home game against Red Bud on Friday night.

Trailing 7-6 with under five minutes to play, and with Red Bud driving for a game clinching score, head coach Billy Belton needed his defense to step up.

With the Musketeers having a first-and-goal on the Chester nine-yard line it didn't look good for the hosts.

All Red Bud needed was to keep the clock moving, drive on in for the score and ice the road win and the Cahokia Conference Illinois Division championship.

As it turned out, Chester put together the defensive stand that they needed.

A combination of three Red Bud penalties and three other failed plays that pushed the ball back to the Chester 34-yard line, Red Bud faced a fourth-and-goal.

Coach Dave Lucht and staff decided to go for the touchdown instead of a short punt to try and pin the Yellow Jackets inside their five-yard line.

Junior lineman Garret Hopkins rushed Red Bud quarterback Thomas Friess from his blind side and hit him as he was trying to throw a pass.

The ball was ruled a fumble and junior lineman Nate Heuer scooped up the ball and raced 64-yards to the endzone for the game winning score as the Yellow Jackets came away with a 12-7 win.

A successful onside kick, after the TD, by Chester and a fourth-and-one conversion with 1:23 left sealed the win for Coach Belton as his club qualified for the playoffs by winning the league title.

“Garret Hopkins caused the fumble. He's one of those kids that won't say much but every play he's doing what he's supposed to,” said Coach Belton. “Every play he is in the right spot and that play was awesome. Heuer ran it back. The kids worked hard and they deserved this win. Red Bud is a great team and they are well coached. We just found a way to win and that's what you want your boys to do.”

Chester is now 5-3 on the season while clinching the conference crown and the automatic playoff bid with the victory on Senior Night.

Red Bud saw it's mark slip to 6-2 overall as they fell one win short of a perfect division run at 4-1.

The Musketeers, who entered the game with just a single loss overall (17-6 at Breese Central), were held well below their game scoring average in their six victories (41-points per game).

“We won't know until we see the film and maybe we will be able to see that but it doesn't matter now,” said Coach Lucht about the fumble. “Punting the ball (on fourth down) was an option but our long-snapper hurt his shoulder and we had our backup in there. Maybe we should've punted the ball but hindsight is 20/20.”

Chester was led by sophomore quarterback Zain Al-Jassim with 92-yards passing on 8-of-14 attempts with a TD pass.

The top rusher for the Yellow Jackets was sophomore Kolton Jany with 58-yards on 13-attempts

Senior Will Schuwerk added 53-yards on 19-attempts.

On this night, however, it was the defense the stood out.

Heuer, along with teammate junior linebacker Gage Hopkins, led Chester with seven solo tackles each.

Coach Belton has now led his program to its second consecutive unbeaten league run and with the victory they get an automatic bid to the IHSA playoffs.

For the Musketeers it was a rough ending in what appeared to be a hard fought win until the fumble return.

Red Bud, with six victories, has also secured a spot in the playoffs but the loss probably means they will be on the road the first weekend of the postseason.

In a contest of heavy hitting and not many yards surrendered (373 total from both teams) it was Chester who made the key stops.

Five-eleven senior quarter Thomas Friess ended up 7-of-15 for 98-yards passing and he scored the Musketeers' only TD on a 1-yard run in the third quarter.

Sophomore running back Lucas Schewartzkopf ended up with eight rushing attempts for 41-yards to led his team.

As a whole Chester held Red Bud to just 68-yards on the ground on 31-attempts.

Senior Nick Gantner carried the ball 12-times for just 23-yards while 6-3 senior tight end Devin Hall rushed just one time for eight-yards.

But the Hall run turned out to be a fourth-and-four conversion, moving the ball to the Chester 21 in the final minutes.

One other statistic that favored the hosts was turnovers as Red Bud lost a pair of fumbles that were recovered by the Yellow Jackets.

The first turnover came early in the second quarter on a Musketeers' drive into Chester territory.

Following two possessions to start the game that added up to four punts, Red Bud made a stop on a fourth down and took over at their own 22.

Coach Lucht's club moved the ball into the Chester side of the field, helped by a 23-yard pass play from Friess to Hall.

However two plays later, Friess fumbled the ball and it was covered by Chester at its own 27.

The Yellow Jackets took 11-plays to go 73-yards for their best drive and only score of the first half.

Al-Jassim completed an 18-yard strike to junior Korbin Janey which was followed by an 18-yard run by Kolton Janey and another rush by Schuwerk for 12-yards.

The Schuwerk run got the ball to the Red Bud 16.

A nine-yard run by Kolton Janey to the seven brought up a fourth-and-one.

Al-Jassim dropped back to pass and found Palacio over the middle near the endzone.

The 6-1, 185 receiver caught the ball and then 'bullied' his way into the endzone for the game's first score.

Although a two-point PAT run failed, the Yellow Jackets were on the board at 6-0 with 4:34 remaining in the half.

Both teams had possessions the remainder of the second quarter but neither team could score as the half ended with the hosts ahead.

“Tonight wasn't a lack of effort, that's for sure,” said Coach Lucht. “They (Chester) made some plays and their number nine (Palacio) made some catches that were 'wow'.”

(CONTINUED)
Taking the second half kickoff, Red Bud 'took it to' Chester on an eight-play, 56-yard touchdown drive.

After a couple of first downs to get into Yellow Jackets' territory, Red Bud faced a key third-and-15 from the Chester 33.

Friess found Hall again over the middle and the tight end made a catch for a 27-yard gain to the six-yard line.

A five-yard run by Schewartzkopf and a one-yard touchdown plunge on a quarterback sneak by Friess got the Musketeers on the scoreboard.

An extra point kick by junior Lane Brockmeyer made it 7-6 Red Bud with 7:59 left in the third quarter.

Two straight Chester drives, one of which was a time consuming 13-play, 47-yard march that took 6:34 off of the clock, came up empty on failed fourth downs.

The final Red Bud drive started at their own 31-yard line with just over 11 minutes left in the game.

Friess connected on a 17-yard pass play to junior Owen Liefer and then the running of Schewartzkopf, the fourth down run by Hall and another fourth down conversion on a middle screen pass from Friess to Gantner, had the Musketeers set up to close out the victory.

But the penalties and a quarterback sack set up the Yellow Jackets for the game-changing defensive play.

When Friess dropped back to pass on the fourth down play, he moved to his right and when he was hit by Cowan, his arm was moving forward when he released it.

Nevertheless, the ball bounced right up into the hands of Heuer and the junior lineman knew what to do.

He took off towards the goal line down the left sideline in front of the Chester bench while being chased by several Red Bud players.

No one caught him.

The 64-yard sprint home put the Yellow Jackets back in front.

Although a PAT run failed, Chester led 12-7 with 3:28 remaining.

“Our defensive line has played so well this year. Matt James, Shane Bicket, Nate Heuer and Garret Hopkins have played 'light's out' all year for us,” said Coach Belton.

Red Bud needed to get the ball back and drive down the field for a score and they had plenty of time to do it.

But Chester executed an on-side kick that bounced off of a Musketeer player and was recovered by Yellow Jackets' sophomore lineman Nate Maes.

With only one timeout left after using their first two on their final drive, Red Bud managed to force a fourth-and-two at their own 35 with 1:23 remaining.

On the previous third down play, Al-Jassim was tackled and lost his helmet.

By rule he had to come out of the game for one play.

Chester reserve quarterback, junior Aden Runge, tried to get Red Bud to jump off-sides on the fourth down but the Musketeers didn't budge.

After a Yellow Jackets timeout, Runge had to make a play.

The junior took the snap and ran to his left for a three-yard gain and a game-clinching first down.

“We wanted a safe play. We hadn't ran that play at all and Runge has done a great job for us. He got the ball, ran hard and got us the first down,” said Coach Belton. “On all levels tonight it was a great job of finding a way.”

Consecutive kneel downs by Al-Jassim closed out the Senior Night win and the league championship.

Next week the Yellow Jackets hit the road (200-miles north) for a game against the Lanark-Eastland/Pearl City co-op which will be played at Tremont.

“Last year we played Mount Vernon on our final game and we want to play a school more of our size so we found this game. We told them we would come up there this year,” said Coach Belton.

Red Bud will close out it's season with a home game against 6-2 East Alton-Wood River from the Cahokia Conference Mississippi Division, who lost Friday to Roxana 35-27.

“We had our chances but we didn't get it done. We knew since last week that getting six (wins) put us in the playoffs. Every week we have had something to play for. Playoffs and then conference and then to get a better seed in the playoffs and now we have a tough opponent next week,” said Coach Lucht. “Realistically we know what we are looking at now is being on the road in the playoffs. The kids are down right now be we'll bounce back.”