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Chester football earns share of BDC title

Posted October 25, 2014 11:00 pm

By Pete Spitler The Herald Tribune

For the third straight year, Chester has claimed at least a share of the Black Diamond Conference title.

Blake Eggemeyer's 1-yard run with nine seconds left propelled Chester to a 33-28 win over Fairfield on Friday and a share of the BDC crown with Johnston City, which defeated Hamilton County, 47-6, in its final game of the regular season.

The Indians get the nod as conference representative due to winning the head-to-head contest with the Yellow Jackets in Week 5.

"Last year was kinda weird because our co-championship last year, we were hoping we would take it all and it was a little disappointing," said Chester coach Bryan Lee. "This year we had to earn it. From Week 5 on, we knew we were going to have to run the table to take that trophy and to be able to do that is amazing."

The Yellow Jackets trailed 28-27 on a 23-yard touchdown reception by Fairfield's Devon Davis with 5:19 remaining. On its final drive, Chester converted twice on fourth down and took advantage of a pair of Fairfield pass interference calls to get to the Mules' 5.

Faced with a fourth-and-goal on the 1, Eggemeyer found the end zone for his third touchdown of the game.

The junior running back finished with 93 yards on 21 carries and now has 730 yards rushing and 16 scores through nine games.

"We practice clock management all the time," Lee said of the final drive. "That's the difference between a good high school team and a team that doesn't take care of the small details.

"There was 39 seconds left and we ran a running play and were right back on the ball. That's just how we do it and I'm really proud of them."

Jordan Berner and Luke Hartman also had touchdowns for Chester, but it was a controversial Hartman fumble in Yellow Jacket territory that led to Davis's go-ahead touchdown.

"I've not come close to getting (penalized) 15 yards in a long time," Lee said. "This close."

Berner had three catches for 102 yards, including a 54-yard reception on a pass from quarterback Wyatt Ruehling with 8:59 left in the game. Ruehling finished 6-of-18 for 145 yards to surpass the 1,000-yard mark on the season.

"When we needed big plays, we got them," Lee said. "Sometimes we had some penalties and that's unfortunate, but to be able to overcome a lot of obstacles and to hold (Colton) Land to 58 yards, people thought he would be one of the best running backs in the South."

Land - who had 1,105 yards rushing entering the game - was held to just 2.8 yards per carry against Chester. Sophomore Wyatt Borah had 76 yards on three carries with a 42-yard touchdown that helped give Fairfield a 14-6 lead with 4:57 left before halftime.

Chester came right back with a 14-yard run by Eggemeyer with 14 seconds left before the break to tie the game at 14 at intermission.

"I think it was very big that we scored right before half," Lee said. "It's a fairly easy speech to go in at halftime 14-14 talking about how it's a 0-0 ballgame and talk about the things we need to do."

The Black Diamond Conference has scheduled its all-conference meeting for today, but results aren't typically released until all teams are eliminated from the postseason.

Up next for Chester is a rematch with Carmi-White County in the first round of the IHSA Class 2A playoffs. The Yellow Jackets beat the Bulldogs, 41-18, in Week 4.

For more playoff coverage, see Sports in the Oct. 29 edition of the Herald Tribune.

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