Chester football learned an important lesson Friday night in its first ever Black Diamond Conference game.
The Yellow Jackets learned  they won’t be able to walk over every opponent and this new conference is for real.
“We learned the best kind of lesson tonight,” said Chester coach Bryan Lee. “We learned  the Black Diamond plays pretty good football and we were able to fight back and play a nice second half for the win.”
Chester trailed 14-6 at halftime but fought back to outscore the defending conference champion Sesser-Valier Red Devils 12-0 in the second half for the 18-14 victory in week one.
“We got a first half baptism in the Black Diamond,” added Lee. “It really took us a half to find ourselves. We have a lot of new starters and it showed in the first half.”
In typical Chester fashion, the Yellow Jackets took the opening kick and marched down the field 61 yards on seven plays, all runs, for a touchdown.
Clint Cole out-raced the Sesser-Valier defense for the 28-yard touchdown run to give his team the 6-0 lead with 8:24 to play in the opening quarter.
The Chester running attack looked unstoppable on its first drive as the team averaged nearly nine yards a carry.
The extra point kick failed as the lead held at 6-0.
Sesser-Valier answered back with its first possession of the game, a 61-yard 10-play scoring drive that was capped off with a nine yard touchdown run by Curtis Edwards. The Red Devils’ extra point kick also failed and the game was tied at 6-6 with 3:36 remaining in the first quarter.
The Yellow Jackets managed to pick up just one first down on their next drive as they were stopped three yards short at the Sesser-Valier 24 yard line on a fourth down pass play.
Sesser-Valier picked up two first downs on its next drive and moved the ball all the way to the Chester 35 yard line. But the Jacket defense stopped Edwards short on a fourth down run to take over possession with 8:57 left to play in the second quarter.
The momentum was on Chester’s side and the Jackets moved the ball 55 yards on five plays which included a 24-yard run by Cole for a first-and-goal from the Sesser-Valier 10 yard line.
However, the scoring threat was ended on third down when quarterback Zach Lochhead’s pass was intercepted in the end zone by Shane Bennett.
The Red Devils took advantage of the turnover and put together a 94-yard, 11-play scoring drive that resulted in a six-yard touchdown pass from Dawson Verhines to Johnnie Vercellino with under a second left to play in the first half. Sesser-Valier also connected on the two-point conversion for a 14-6 lead at halftime.
The second half was all Chester but the team had to overcome a 15-yard delay of game penalty for  failing to return to the field by the end of the halftime period.
The penalty didn’t phase the Jacket defense caused a fumble on the second play from scrimmage.
Chester took over from its own 47 yard line and gained 46 yards on nine plays including a 43-yard pass completion from Lochhead to John Baughman. The Orang and Black  managed to gain a first-and-goal from the three yard line but the Sesser-Valier defense stopped Chester’s offense on four consecutive runs to end the scoring threat and take over possession of the ball.
“We had some red zone troubles tonight,” said Lee. “I felt like we left two touchdowns on the field and you can’t do that against a good team.”
Sesser-Valier’s offense was held to just 12 yards on its next drive and were forced to punt after just six plays.
Chester took over from the Sesser-Valier 37 yard line, but the good field position didn’t help the Jackets as they failed to pick up a first down on the drive and were forced to punt after just three plays to end the third quarter.
The Chester defense again stepped up its determination and forced Sesser-Valier to a three-and-out. After a good punt return by Baughman, Chester started its next drive from the Sesser-Valier 26.
It took the Yellow Jackets just two plays to reach the end zone this time as Lochhead hooked up with Baughman on a 16-yard touchdown pass. The two-point conversion pass was deflected away by Sesser-Valier and with 9:36 left in the game, Sesser-Valier led 14-12.
Once again, the Chester defense took control and pushed the Sesser-Valier offense backwards on its next possession. On three plays, the Red Devils lost eight yards and were forced to punt.
The Yellow Jackets began their next drive from the Sesser-Valier 48 yard line. Baughman ran the ball four times during the drive for 48 yards including a six-yard touchdown run for the go ahead score. The two-point conversion failed and with 1:51 to play in the game, Chester held an 18-14 advantage.
“John was just everywhere tonight,” said Lee. “We don’t give game balls out here but maybe we should start because John definitely earned one. He is just a play maker and he carried us to the win tonight.”
Just four plays later, the Chester defense ended the game by stopping Sesser-Valier on fourth down.
“Our conditioning was the difference in this game,” said Lee. “We worked hard all summer and in the fourth quarter we still had fresh legs. I think we just wore them down.”
Chester finished with 276 yards of total offense with 170 coming from the ground and 106 from the passing attack. Sesser-Valier had 167 rushing yards and 65 passing.
Baughman led a three-headed rushing attack for Chester with nine carries for 66 yards while Stephen Roth had 16 carries for 61 yards and Cole added 59 yards on seven attempts.
Lochhead completed 6-of-9 passes for 106 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Verhines finished with 68 yards rushing and 65 yards passing to lead the Red Devils.