Despite over 200 yards of total offense from John Baughman, Chester fell to Johnston City 33-25 Friday night in a battle for the top spot in the Black Diamond Conference. Both teams came into the game with perfect 4-0 records.
“This was one of the best individual performances I have seen,” said Chester coach Bryan Lee on Baughman’s play. “He kept us coming back, and he made several huge plays. He is a hard runner and has great speed, He never gave up and fought till the end.”
The difference in the game turned out to be Johnston City’s ability to run the ball up the middle against the Yellow Jackets with its powerful junior fullback Taylor Kirkman. Kirkman racked up 229 yards on 25 carries in the win.
“Kirkman is a great player, and we had trouble tackling him,” added Lee. “My hat is off to coach Berry and his staff. Their team was well-prepared and play a great game. We made some execution errors in the first half. But the bottom line is you have to play better than we did to win against a good team on the road. We haven’t faced adversity all year, so now let’s see where we go after this.”
The Chester defense got a taste of Kirkman on the first drive of the game, as the junior carried the ball three times for 42 yards setting up an eight-yard touchdown run by Jory Kee. The extra point kick was missed, and with 10:12 remaining in the first quarter, Johnston City led 6-0.
The Yellow Jacket offense struggled to move the ball on their first possession, picking up just one first down before having to punt the ball away.
The Indians moved the ball into Chester territory on their next drive, but a fake punt on fourth down was stopped in the open field by Danny Roth. Chester took over on downs from its own 33-yard line.
Chester opened up the Johnston City defense with a 40-yard pass play from Zach Lochhead to Baughman that was followed up by a 42-yard touchdown run by Stephen Roth. Roth looked to be stopped in the backfield before breaking several tackles and busting loose on the long touchdown run.
Seth Johnson’s extra point kick was blocked, and with 2:26 left in the first quarter, the game was tied up at 6-6.
Chester regained control of the fumble four plays later after recovering a Johnston City fumble at midfield.
However, the drive stalled due to two penalties and two incomplete passes, which moved back the Chester offense to face a fourth down and 20 yards to go.
Baughman was set up to punt, but pressure by the Johnston City defense forced him to scramble. The move paid off, as he outran the entire Indian defense for a 60-yard touchdown. Chester’s two-point conversion was stopped short and with 11:46 left in the first half, the Jackets were up 12-6.
Johnston City answered right back on the very next play from scrimmage as coach Berry pulled out a play from his bag of tricks to get back on the scoreboard.
A backwards pass from Kee to Brandon Crider was completed, then Crider found Angelo Hightower wide open down the field for a 50-yard touchdown pass. The Indians knocked through the extra point kick to reclaim the lead, 13-12 with 11:31 left in the opening half.
That lead would hold up until halftime, as both defenses seemed to dig in for the battle.
Chester moved the ball 45 yards on three plays to start the second half but couldn’t convert another first down after reaching the Johnston City 25-yard line. Facing a fourth down and two yards to go, a Blake Nanney run was stopped a yard short as the Yellow jackets turned the ball over on downs.
Johnston City added on to the lead on its first drive of the second half. Kirkman ran the ball twice for 84 yards, including a 72-yard touchdown run to give his team a 20-12 lead with 7:35 left in the third quarter.
The Johnston City defense forced Chester to go three plays and out on its next drive, but on fourth down, Baughman again tried to run past the defense and was stopped short. Johnston City took over from the Chester 38-yard line.
The Indians took advantage of the short field and put together a six-play scoring drive that was capped off by a seven-yard run by Tyler Johnson. The extra point attempt missed, and with 2:05 left in the third quarter, Chester trailed 26-12.
Baughman got his team back in the game just three plays later when he broke free for a 48-yard touchdown run. Johnson added the extra point, and with just over 50 seconds left in the third quarter, Johnston City’s lead was reduced to 26-19.
On Johnston City’s next drive, the Chester defense got a heavy dose of Kirkman, as the junior carried the ball six times for 30 yards, which included a two-yard touchdown run that gave his team a 33-19 lead, with 6:41 left in the game.
Down two scores, the Chester offense needed to act fast, and that is exactly what the team did. On the next play from scrimmage, Lochhead connected with Baughman on a swing pass, and the speedy wingback raced down the sideline 75 yards for the touchdown. The two-point pass fell incomplete, and with 6:20 left in the ball game, Chester trailed only 33-25.
The Yellow Jackets had two timeouts remaining and enough time to get the ball back if they could stop the Johnston City offense. That task proved to be too much too late in the game as the Indians picked up four first downs on 12 plays to run out the clock and seal the important victory.
Johnston City picked up 416 yards of total offense, 330 of which came on the ground.
Chester finished with 377 yards of total offense on the night. 271 on the ground and 106 through the air.
Baughman led the rushing attack with 138 yards on just seven carries, while catching two passes for 76 yards. Stephen Roth finished with 108 yards on 14 carries.
Lochhead was 3-for-12 passing for 106 yards.
With the loss, Chester dropped to 4-1 on the season and will host Eldorado (4-1) Friday night for its homecoming game.