Goal line stands give West Frankfort win over CHS frosh
<span>WEST FRANKFORT -- In a way, the Chester freshman football team came a combined 10 yards away from potentially beating West Frankfort in a 12-0 loss to the Redbirds on Thursday at Johnson Field.</span>
<span>In the first matchup between the teams since at least 1998, and perhaps ever, Kyle Hammers and Madison Allen had first-half touchdowns for the SIRR Ohio's Redbirds.</span>
<span>West Frankfort stuffed the Yellow Jacket offense twice while standing in the shadow of its own goalpost and also had a 65-yard touchdown run from Hammers called back on a block in the back penalty.</span>
<span>Trailing 6-0 late in the first quarter, Chester quarterback Nick Meyer thought he had a touchdown on third and goal from the WF 2, but the far side official ruled the ball didn't break the plane of goal line.</span>
<span>A delay of game penalty on the Yellow Jackets moved the ball back five yards and Tristin Hobeck was tackled for no gain on a lateral on fourth-and-goal from the 6.</span>
<span>"West Frankfort is a good team," said Chester coach Charles Colvis. "They played well."</span>
<span>Chester had another chance to crack the scoreboard late in the fourth quarter, but this time Drake Bollman was tackled for a two-yard loss on fourth-and-goal from the 4.</span>
<span>Aside from those two drives, West Frankfort contained the Yellow Jacket attack and held Chester to just five first downs and 115 yards of total offense.</span>
<span>Bollman led Chester with 106 all-purpose yards, including 63 yards rushing. His 30-yard run during the Yellow Jackets' first offensive drive was the team's longest of the game.</span>
<span>Defensively, Chester limited West Frankfort to a couple of explosive plays.</span>
<span>Hammers found the end zone from 38 yards out with 6:24 left in the first quarter and Allen hauled in a 24-yard pass from quarterback Brendan Johnson for the Redbirds' score in the second quarter.</span>
<span>The extra point try after Hammers' score missed and West Frankfort's two-point conversion attempt after Allen's touchdown also failed.</span>
<span>Eathan Thompson led Chester with 12 tackles, including one for loss. Bollman had nine tackles, two for loss, while Hobeck had five tackles.</span>
<span>The Yellow Jackets will return to Black Diamond Conference play to host Sesser-Valier-Waltonville-Woodlawn on Thursday at 6:15 p.m.</span>