Big plays help Chester JV beat Johnston City

<span>CHESTER -- Most of Monday's game between Chester and Johnston City could be classified as a defensive battle.</span>

<span>Savion Smith returned a Luca Gualdoni pass 99 yards for a touchdown, Demontae Martin ran 89 yards for another score and the Chester Junior Varsity football team came away with a 18-6 win at W.O. Smith Field.</span>

<span>The teams were tied at 6 at halftime thanks to two touchdowns 2.1 seconds apart late in the second quarter. Savion Smith's touchdown gave Chester a 6-0 lead after the failed conversion, and Johnston City's Hunter Creamer ran the ensuing kickoff back 65 yards to tie the game.</span>

<span>"We talked at halftime about the team that wants it more and the team that makes the least amount of mistakes," said Chester offensive coordinator Trevor Kelkhoff. "We had a couple of big run plays where (Johnston City) could have had us for losses and guys got outside and broke some tackles and those mistakes led to some quick points for us."</span>

<span>Leading 12-6, Chester stopped Johnston City at the 1 on fourth-and-goal from the 4 with 9:14 remaining. A couple of plays later, Demontae Martin took off down the left sideline for an 89-yard touchdown with 7:39 to go.</span>

<span>Martin finished with 99 yards on six carries for the Yellow Jackets, while Colt Ramos had 94 yards on 11 carries with a touchdown.</span>

<span>"The whole defense, the D-line and all those guys, are going both ways," Kelkhoff said. "We can't take a break on defense, that's where we set the tone and it's one thing to take a play off on offense, but defense had to be strong and they gutted it out."</span>

<span>Chester's defense dug in during the second half and Colt Ramos gave the Yellow Jackets the go-ahead touchdown on a 35-yard score with 3:12 left in the third quarter after the conversion try failed.</span>

<span>Savion Smith finished with 24 yards rushing on five carries, while Matt Smith had 18 yards on one carry. Nick Heffernan added two yards on one carry as well.</span>

<span>"Our runners are great, they all run hard," Kelkhoff said. "They don't go down easy, they bounce off and roll back out.</span>

<span>"There's a lot of different weapons and a lot of weapons we didn't get a chance to use, just a lot of depth."</span>

<span>Defensively, Jack Hathaway led Chester with eight tackles, including four solo. Heffernan had six tackles, including two for loss. Daltyn Korando (6), Wyatt Roth (5), Garret Welker (5) and Martin (5) rounded out the defensive leaders.</span>

<span>Now 3-1 on the season, Chester will travel to Christopher-Zeigler-Royalton on Monday. Kickoff is set for 6:15 p.m.</span>

<span>"It's a really good group here, the combination of freshmen filling in with the sophomores," Kelkhoff said. "We've got a good sophomore core and some key freshmen at the skill positions that make a good balance there."</span>