Speed kills, and it was the overall team speed of Carmi-White County that proved to be the difference in its 47-20 win over Chester on the road Friday night.
“Our offense just couldn’t get into rhythm tonight,” said Chester coach Bryan Lee. “You have to give some credit to Carmi, they have a really great defense. The biggest difference was Carmi’s speed, they are fast everywhere and we just don’t have that kind of speed to match up with them.”
Carmi set the tone for the entire night on the very first play from a scrimmage. A trick play that had the halfback throw a 60-yard touchdown pass to Dylan Rankin for the 6-0 lead.
Chester couldn’t do anything with the ball on its first possession, going three-and-out and being forced to punt.
Carmi’s attack was slowed down by a holding penalty and a couple of incomplete passes as the Bulldogs were forced to punt without gaining a first down.
However, Carmi would get the ball back just two plays later after intercepting a pass thrown by Jake Cowan.
The Bulldogs would move the ball into Chester territory but a key third down sack by Casey Venable stalled the drive.
Chester took over from its own 12-yard line but still couldn’t find an answer for Carmi’s defense. After a couple of short runs and a recovered fumble, the Chester offense was again forced to punt.
After a short punt, Carmi took advantage of the good field position and put together a  four-play scoring drive that was capped off by a 34-yard touchdown run by Ryan Farr. The kick failed and the Bulldogs led 12-0 with 2:03 left in the first quarter.
Chester was able to pick up its first first down of the game on its next possession a 51-yard pass play from Cowan to Caleb Arbeiter but another interception would kill the drive just two plays later.
Carmi marched down the field on four plays that resulted in a 55-yard touchdown pass from Chase Sailer to Trenton Veach to go up 20-0 after the two-point conversion.
A nice kickoff return by Austen Barnhardt set up Chester’s next drive from around mid-field.
Sophomore Joel Clendenin took control of Chester’s running game with gains of seven and 38 yards before scoring from seven yards out. The extra point kick was good, and Chester trailed 20-7 with 9:46 remaining in the first half.
“Joel did a nice job of running the ball,” said Lee. “He did what he could against a very good defense. We were able to move the ball at times and he was a big part of that.”
Carmi would steal the momentum back with a 76-yard touchdown run by Sailer and a 64-yard touchdown pass play from Sailer to Farr for a commanding 34-7 lead at halftime.
Chester was able to move the ball into Carmi territory on its first drive of the second half after a 20-yard run by Stephen Roth but a third down pass was intercepted by Veach and returned 77 yards for the score. With 9:40 left in the third quarter, the Yellow Jackets were down 41-7.
The Jackets got back on the scoreboard on their next drive. Clendenin set up the score with a 53-yard run. He would find the end zone a second time on the next play. A four yard touchdown run. The kick failed and Chester was down 41-13 with 8:26 left in the third.
Carmi put together its final scoring drive in the last seconds of the third quarter. The Bulldogs picked up 66 yards on nine plays that was capped off by a four-yard touchdown run by Cameron Gunter.
Chester’s final score was set up by a 49-yard,  six play drive that was highlighted by a 19-yard pass play on fourth down from Cowan to Boyd Miles. The drive resulted in a four-yard touchdown run by Roth for the final score of 47-20.
The Carmi attack racked up 485 yards of total offense, 291 of which came from the rushing game. Sailer led the ground attack with 128 yards on 10 carries.  Farr finished with 70 yards on five carries and Gunter added 61 yards on 12 carries.
Sailer was 3-for-8 passing for 134 yards.
The Yellow Jackets finished with 342 yards of total offense, 273 of which came on the ground. The ground attack was led by Clendenin (14 carries for 147 yards).
Cowan was 3-for-9 passing for 69 yards with three interceptions.
Carmi improved to 3-0 on the young season, while Chester dropped to 1-2. The Yellow Jackets will travel to take on CZR (0-3) Friday night.