Defense, Berner power Chester past Fairfield
<span>EDITOR'S NOTE: See more pictures of the game in the Herald Tribune's "10 Best" gallery in our photos section online.</span>
<span>Chester got the start it wanted to in jumping out to a three-score lead, and the Yellow Jackets kept the Mules out of the end zone for three quarters in a 21-6 win over Fairfield on Friday at W.O. Smith Field.</span>
<span>Chester senior Jordan Berner was everywhere for the Yellow Jackets, which tends to be a good thing these days.</span>
<span>"Jordan Berner has to get the ball on that and it couldn't have worked better," Blechle said, speaking about the team's new tactic of using the Berner-focused Wildcat formation. "My anxiety was the first time the center (Tyler Redeker) long-snapped it back to him (and) it worked like it was supposed to, that was a surprise."</span>
<span>Berner finished with 109 yards of total offense and a touchdown against the Mules, with a stat line that broke down like this: 40 yards rushing, 69 yards receiving and 0-1 passing.</span>
<span>The 6-foot-6, 250-pounder also recovered a fumble, caused another one, intercepted Mules quarterback Brendan Mitchell and finished with 16 tackles.</span>
<span>"On the first week, you never know how to gauge what's going to happen," Blechle said. "Fairfield is a true test. They are a fantastic ballclub and hats off to the defense, they came out and played hard."</span>
<span>Blechle also praised the effort of Demontae Martin, who finished with 44 yards on five carries to spark a struggling Yellow Jacket ground game. Martin's 8-yard run with 5:18 left in the third quarter helped give Chester a 21-0 lead.</span>
<span>"Demontae stepped up," he said. "I mean absolutely stepped up. The play had broken down, kid played hard, couldn't ask for anything more from a guy who had no varsity reps last year."</span>
<span>Fairfield coach Justin Townsend seemed to indicate that his team's lack of execution was the biggest reason for the loss.</span>
<span>"Offensively, I felt like we were moving the ball, we would just shoot ourselves on first down and put ourselves in a bad situation," he said. "A first-and-long, second-and-long is not where we want to be. We want to be a second-and-6 or something like that.</span>
<span>"We shot ourselves in the foot, but I have to give Chester credit, they made some big plays on us."</span>
<span>Colton Land ran for a game-high 145 yards for the Mules, finally getting Fairfield on the scoreboard on a 2-yard run with 7:23 left in the game. Fairfield finished with 223 yards on the ground, with Wyatt Borah adding 75 yards and Scott Esmon chipping in 22.</span>
<span>"Whether it was illegal procedures, missed blocks or not sustaining blocks, the holes were there," Townsend said. "It was our execution that was lacking."</span>
<span>Blake Eggemeyer led Chester with 78 yards rushing on 19 carries, but a lot of it was hard earned as the Fairfield defense seemed determined to bottle up the senior running back. Thirteen of those attempts went for less than five yards.</span>
<span>As a team, the Yellow Jackets finished with 239 rushing yards, but averaged only 2.28 per carry. Sophomore quarterback Curt Meyer went 6-for-10 for 136 yards and a touchdown in his first varsity contest.</span>
<span>"I think a lot of Black Diamond teams would scout us as a all-run with a sophomore quarterback who is very young with only freshman snaps under his helm," Blechle said. "But, we want to be able to fire on all cylinders. Run, pass, whatever it may be to score points and we were able to do that tonight."</span>
<span>Up next for Chester is a road contest with Hamilton County, which fell to Johnston City, 52-0, on Friday. Kickoff next week in McLeansboro is scheduled for 7 p.m.</span>