CAMP COUNTDOWN: Chester line readying for Soup Game debut
<span>With the season opener a week away, the Chester High School football team heads into Soup Game tonight eager to give the fans a taste of what they can expect after an Elite Eight season in 2014.</span>
<span>But, like any good football team, it all starts up front and new line coach Charles Colvis has picked up where former head football coach Bryan Lee left off.</span>
<span>"Just their overall size and speed is impressive," Colvis said of this year's group of linemen. "Being as big as they are, and still be agile.</span>
<span>"We also have our two guard positions where you want a quicker, light-footed player. We've got extreme speed at the guard position, but they still can pack a punch."</span>
<span>Colvis, whose son Chase is a freshman lineman, made the jump from Chester Stingers coach to high school coach.</span>
<span>"It's a lot more detail," Colvis said of the difference between youth and high school ball. "Every play is designed to be a touchdown, so everybody has to do their job.</span>
<span>"With the Xs and Os, you have to draw the play up and show the kids exactly where to block. Whereas at the Stinger level, you put five or six kids on the line, you're blocking to a hole."</span>
<span>As dad/coach, Colvis said it was great to be able to continue following his son's career to the next level.</span>
<span>"It's great to be there every day," Colvis said. "That's the reason why I do it. I didn't realize how many hours it was going to be - I kinda did - but it's a huge jump going from a Stingers program four days a week to a high school program seven days a week."</span>
<span>Colvis is also calling the defense for the freshman team this season with Michael Heffernan as freshman offensive coordinator.</span>
<span>"Some of these guys I've coached and it's great to see them progress and be there to watch that," Colvis said.</span>
<span>On varsity, Tyler Redeker, Garret Hoffman and Zack Conner are part of the nucleus of a senior lineman group.</span>
<span>Hoffman was a first-team, All-Black Diamond Conference selection in 2014 and later earned All-South honors after a season in which he recorded 35 tackles (11 solo) and two sacks.</span>
<span>"Redeker has worked extremely hard in the offseason," Colvis said. "I can remember going in for basketball and watching him with a weight suit on running steps.</span>
<span>"He's thinned down and put on some muscle. He's extremely quick for a center his size."</span>
<span>When asked what fans should look for out of the linemen tonight, Colvis said "execution."</span>
<span>"The problem is up in the stands as a typical bystander, you won't see it," he said. "It's amazing how, even as a football coach, I sat up in those same stands and I didn't see some of the pulling of the guards and tackles because it happens so fast."</span>
<span>This is an important year for Chester, which brings back a lot of talent from last year's record-breaking season.</span>
<span>"I think we go into it with the same attitude as last season," Colvis said. "We don't rebuild, we reload and that's been our motto the whole year long.</span>
<span>"With some of our personnel, juniors who stepped up and sophomores that are now juniors, we have a talented, talented backfield," Colvis said. "I have no qualms or worries with our line."</span>
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TONIGHT:
<p dir="ltr"><strong>SOUP GAME</strong></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>6 p.m. - Media availability and family pictures</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>7 p.m. - Scrimmage (15 plays freshman, 20 JV and 25 varsity featuring each side of the ball)</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Admission - One non-perishable canned good or a bottle of Gatorade.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><strong>WEATHER:</strong></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Scrimmage time temperature of 77 degrees under a partly cloudy sky with 67 percent humidity.</span></p>
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