Prep Football: Crown Them Kings
What's past is now present for the Eldorado football team.
Trey Vessel ran for 103 yards and four touchdowns, and Payton Price added 161 yards and a score to help give the No. 10 Eagles a 40-36 win over No. 9 Chester on Friday at Boz Adams Field.
The victory capped Eldorado's first undefeated regular season since 1957 and only the third in program history. The Eagles also won their first conference title since 1974.
"It just means a ton for everybody that's involved," said Eldorado coach Brandon Hampton. "Credit goes to your seniors because you win with seniors.
"I had a very good coach tell me that a long time ago and he's right. Our seniors stepped up and got the job done (Friday), but this was a history-making night for us."
Chester had the ball at the Eldorado 17 with 14.4 seconds left. With Hampton screaming at his defense for somebody to be a hero, Eldorado got one.
With 6-foot-6 Yellow Jacket standout Jordan Berner on the sideline after being shaken up on Chester's previous play, Chester sophomore quarterback Curt Meyer dropped back to pass looking for junior receiver Savion Smith.
But Eldorado's Tyler Gass snuck in from the blind side and flushed Meyer from the pocket, stripping the ball for a game-clinching fumble that was recovered by Eagle Logan Bowen.
"Logan Bowen made a tremendous play, Tyler Gass got pressure (and) we caught a break with the big man being out," Hampton said. "Tyler Gass got the ball on the ground, Bowen jumped on it and the rest is history."
The game resembled a heavyweight fight, with each team responding to the offense of the other. The lead changed seven times, with Eldorado getting the go-ahead touchdown on a 1-yard run by Vessel with 1:58 remaining.
Vessel also had touchdown runs of 2, 1 and 4 yards for the Eagles, who trailed 22-20 at halftime, and 28-26 after three quarters.
Chester took its final lead of the game, 36-34, on a 23-yard run by Demontae Martin - with Berner adding the conversion - with 7:49 left.
"There are no shortcuts," Hampton said. "We won this football game because we blocked and tackled better and I'm extremely happy for our community.
"It was a total team effort between our administration, our community and our players and coaches. I'm happy for all those people."
Adam Ninness went 3-for-6 for 105 yards and a 60-yard touchdown to Drew Woolcott that accounted for Eldorado's first score of the game. The Eagles compiled 471 yards of offense, while Chester finished with 413.
"What we'll do is we'll get together on Sunday," he said. "We'll get together as a staff (Saturday) and when that announcement comes out, we'll quickly get to work on Athens," Hampton said.
"We'll present the plan to our kids on Sunday at 4 p.m. and I feel like our best football is ahead of us."
Chester 8 14 6 8 - 36
Eldorado 6 14 6 14 - 40
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
CHE - Eggemeyer 10 run (Eggemeyer run), 5:40
ELD - Woolcott 60 pass from Ninness (run failed), 3:51
Second Quarter
ELD - Price 10 run (Woolcott run), 3:19
CHE - Berner 81 pass from Meyer (pass failed), 2:35
ELD - Vessel 2 run (run failed), 0:42
CHE - Lang 52 pass from Meyer (Smith pass from Meyer), 0:20
Third Quarter
CHE -Eggemeyer 1 run (kick failed), 8:46
ELD - Vessel 1 run (pass failed)5:33
Fourth Quarter
ELD - Vessel 3 run (Vessel run), 10:41
CHE - Martin 23 run (Berner run), 7:49
ELD - Vessel 1 run (run failed), 1:58
Team Statistics
CHE ELD
First Downs 13 20
Total Yards 402 451
Rushing Yards 194 347
Passing Yards 208 104
Passing 8-21-1 3-6-0
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 3-1
Penalties 9-72 6-75
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: CHE - Eggemeyer 13-45, Lang 6-40, Berner 6-54, Martin 3-52. ELD - Vessel 23-103, Price 20-162, Woolcott 11-64.
PASSING: CHE - Meyer 7-15-1 174, Berner 1-3-0 34. ELD - Ninness 3-6-0 104.
RECEIVING: CHE - Berner 3-90, Lang 3-71, Eggemeyer 1-25. ELD - Kasiar 2-44, Woolcott 1-69.