CAMP COUNTDOWN: Chester football prepares for fall camp
<span>SPARTA -- On the final night of summer camp, the Chester High School football team squared off against one of its longest rivals, Sparta, during a 7-on-7/Lineman Competition on Friday at Pierce Field.</span>
<span>With both teams preparing to enter the IHSA's mandated "Dead Week" next week, now is a time for reflection on the results of June and July before beginning the final three-week push to the season opener on Aug. 28.</span>
<span>"It's a typical Chester group," said Chester football coach Jeremy Blechle. "If they have a mission or a goal, they'll do anything they can to achieve it.</span>
<span>"We had high attendance all summer, 40s, low-50s, which is really good for a school with 340 people."</span>
<span>The Yellow Jackets came into the summer having returned some of the critical pieces of the puzzle that made the 2014 campaign such a success.</span>
<span>Tight end/linebacker Jordan Berner, fullback Blake Eggemeyer and wingback Luke Hartman are just a few of the names that helped give Chester its best statistical season in program history with a Class 2A Elite Eight appearance.</span>
<span>On Friday against Sparta, the Yellow Jackets featured some members of its talented junior class with Chris Lang, Demontae Martin and Savion Smith lining up with Eggemeyer and Berner.</span>
<span>"We're definitely young, but we have a very talented bunch," Blechle said. "We have some good skill players and some linemen who are returning two and three-year starters.</span>
<span>"We have a young quarterback, but we found out through the summer that he can do the job and be a good leader."</span>
<span>Soon-to-be sophomore Curt Meyer appears to be the frontrunner for the starting quarterback job. Meyer is coming off a freshman season in which he threw for 689 yards and nine touchdowns - including 205 yards and three scores in the season-ending, 40-34 Heritage Bowl win over Sparta.</span>
<span>But varsity is a big step up from freshman.</span>
<span>"Unless somebody transfers over to Chester, he's probably the guy at this point unless something gets crazy," Blechle said. "He's the guy taking the first two snaps."</span>
<span>New this summer was weekly competitions, with rewards. Players were split into different groups, with groups competing in both mental and physical challenges that ranged from relay races to being able to accurately draw plays and formations from memory.</span>
<span>"I think, how society is today, everything they do is competing," Blechle said. "If you're going to get kids to really buy in and get involved, you've got to make it a competition.</span>
<span>"It isn't just 'Here we go, run Prides, take some handoffs, get some passes and that's practice.' If you're going to get the full potential out of all your players, you've got to be competing."</span>
<span>Blechle said the team had three "Competition Mondays" with the final competition being a talent show on Thursday that featured judges from the community.</span>
<span>"It was a fun time, the community came and you get to see football players who are always tough and macho become vulnerable," he said.</span>
<span>In terms of cosmetic changes, Blechle said the team will have a new helmet design this year that's being held under wraps. The only hint the coach would give the Herald Tribune is that it won't be a return to the all-black helmets and fans will have to wait until the season opener to see them.</span>
<span>"We're going to decal them the Thursday night before Fairfield," Blechle said. "That will be the big one. It's a big change."</span>
<span>Blechle said one of the things he is hoping to learn more about during fall camp is his team's depth.</span>
<span> </span>"Depth chart is a big one," he said. "To see how deep we are when it comes to the wingback spot, fullback or lineman one side or the other, stuff like that.
<span>"The other thing in fall camp is to see those who didn't shine in the summer, if they start stepping up in the fall."</span>
<span>The Yellow Jackets will have their annual Midnight Madness event, a holdover from the Bryan Lee era, at Chester High School on Aug. 9. The players will have a team meal, watch a movie and then practice under the lights of W.O. Smith Field starting at 12:01 a.m. Aug. 10.</span>