Hathaway's 135 leads Chester freshmen past V-G
<span>CHESTER -- Jack Hathaway ran for 135 yards and two touchdowns on eight carries, leading the Chester freshman football team to a 30-18 win over Vienna-Goreville on Thursday at W.O. Smith Field.</span>
<span>Hathaway finished the game four yards short of cracking the freshman Top 10 list for single-game rushing performances, as current CHS senior Andrew Frazer's 139-yard performance against Christopher-Zeigler-Royalton on September 15, 2011, is 10th.</span>
<span>"They ran hard," said CHS freshman coach Jake Cowan of his running backs. "They put their heads down and ran hard.</span>
<span>"They didn't try to dance too much, they ran to what they saw and ran over guys."</span>
<span>It was the sixth straight home opener victory for the young Yellow Jackets, who have won 17 of their last 18 games at Smith Field. A stretch of 16 in a row ended with a 26-12 loss to Eldorado last season.</span>
<span>"I just think we get a good vibe from it," Cowan said of winning at Smith Field. "It's a great atmosphere every time we play here. The fans are awesome, the guys feed off the fans and I guess there's something special about us wearing all-black."</span>
<span>Wyatt Roth added 70 yards on 11 carries and two scores for Chester, which trailed 18-16 after a 31-yard run by Vienna-Goreville's Jacob Breeden with 9:09 left in the second quarter.</span>
<span>The ensuing two-point conversion attempt failed, and the touchdown would end up being Vienna-Goreville's last of the night as Chester shut out the Eagles the rest of the way.</span>
<span>"The second half we came out and played Chester football," Cowan said. "In the first half, we were a little too finesse, we didn't just come up and hit guys and in the second half, we really stressed being physical and playing good ol' fashioned Chester football."</span>
<span>Roth's second touchdown of the night, an 8-yard scamper with 5:35 left in the second quarter, put Chester up 24-18 after Roth ran in the conversion and the Yellow Jackets took that lead into the halftime intermission.</span>
<span>Hathaway, who had 86 of his yards in the first half, added a 5-yard run on the last play of the third quarter to give Chester its 12-point advantage after the conversion failed.</span>
<span>Defensively, Hathaway led the freshmen with nine tackles (four solo), while Wyatt Roth and Luke Ramos each had eight.</span>
<span>Up next, the freshmen travel to Sesser-Valier-Waltonville-Woodlawn for a Thursday contest against the Red Devils. Kickoff is 6 p.m.</span>
<span>"We've got to get better at every single spot," Cowan said. "The line's got to get a little bit better, the (running) backs have to get a little bit better, everybody's got to get better in one way or another."</span>
Stat of the Game:
<span>Three of Hathaway's rushing attempts went for more than 30 yards. The 5-foot-8, 150-pound running back passed the century mark with a 6-yard run in the third quarter.</span>
Last time against S-V-W-W:
<span>Leading just 8-0 at halftime, Chester scored 20 points in the third quarter of a 36-0 victory over the Red Devils at W.O. Smith Field last season.</span>
<span>Demontae Martin ran for 55 yards and two touchdowns, and ran a punt back 60 yards for another score for Chester.</span>
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