CHS FROSH: Yellow Jackets hammer C-Z-R, 54-0

Posted October 08, 2015 11:00 pm

By Pete Spitler Staff Writer

Eathan Thompson ran for 141 yards and two touchdowns, and the Chester freshmen racked up nearly 400 yards of offense in a 54-0 win over Christopher-Zeigler-Royalton on Thursday.

Tailback Drake Bollman and quarterback Nick Meyer also had multiple touchdowns for the Yellow Jackets, who recovered four C-Z-R fumbles and scored on seven of their eight offensive possessions.

"We put in a lot of new plays," said Chester coach Charles Colvis. "You've seen the hook and ladder, which worked perfectly, and for a two-week period like that, it's hard to keep the kids entertained, basically. "You can only run so many drills over and over and we tried to mix things up a little bit."

Chester got the party started early - forcing a C-Z-R fumble on the game's opening kickoff - and the Yellow Jackets took a 34-point lead despite running only a combined eight plays from scrimmage.

Showing some new offensive wrinkles coming off their bye week, Chester (3-2, 3-0 Black Diamond Conference) got touchdowns from five different sources - with even lineman Chase Colvis getting into the action at fullback.

Colvis also led the Yellow Jackets defensively with 11 tackles (two for loss) and teamed up for a sack with Hunter Munie. Thompson finished with eight tackles, while Munie and Tristin Hobeck contributed six each.

"I had an old college friend of mine who played college ball and he called me three times and finally got through to me and the first words out of his mouth were 'I don't think you need to be doing the gap pressure,'" Coach Colvis said. "'You need to take someone like Chase - who is big and strong and fast - and play him heads-up and let him dish instead of shooting the gap.

"It worked out tremendously for him."

C-Z-R's best chance to break the shutout came late in the second quarter when the Bearcats advanced to the CHS 15. But Bollman picked off C-Z-R quarterback Noah Hervey to end the threat.

The Yellow Jackets also showed a bit of trickery just before halftime on a hook-and-ladder play that turned into a 55-yard touchdown by Bollman.

Meyer connected with Colin Wingerter on a five-yard pass and Wingerter then pitched the ball back to Bollman, who took it the rest of the way for the score to give Chester a 40-0 lead at the break.

Bollman finished with 63 yards rushing and two touchdowns on just two carries, good enough to pass Jack Hathaway for third overall on the modern freshman top 10 list of single-season yards.

Munie (4-45), Wingerter (4-15), Hobeck (1-57) and Colvis (1-3) all factored into Chester's successful ground game.

Meyer was 2-of-4 passing for 73 yards and two touchdowns, including an 18-yard TD pass to Erik Cowell to open the scoring. On defense, Meyer picked up a CZR fumble and returned it 56 yards to paydirt to give Chester a 14-0 lead.

Up next for Chester is a road contest against SIRR foe Anna-Jonesboro (7-0), which defeated Du Quoin, 68-34, on Thursday to clinch the Mississippi Division crown.

"They're 30 strong, they run that option, we've got a lot of work to do," Coach Colvis said. "Our defensive ends have to be disciplined. They've got to execute perfectly."

Kickoff at The Pit next Thursday is scheduled for 6:15 p.m.

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