It wasn’t a perfect performance, but a strong second half defensive effort and nearly 300 yards rushing led to a 24-11 victory for the Chester Yellow Jackets over Fredericktown in week two of the football season.
“Fredericktown is a very good team and we overcame a lot of mental mistakes to pull out this win,” said Chester coach Bryan Lee. “Fredericktown is always a tough team to play. Last year, I thought they were just as good as Du Quoin. Offensive coordinator  Jim Howie called a great game and so did our defensive coordinator Jeremy Blechle.”
Chester overcame eight penalties, two lost fumbles and an 11-8 halftime deficit to improve to 2-0 on the season for the first time since 2002.

“It feels great to be 2-0,” said Lee. “This year’s senior class wants to show that last year wasn’t a fluke and they have been working really hard. The amount of penalties we had is just unacceptable. But I am happy with how the kids came back in the second half.”
After Chester forced Fredericktown to punt on their first drive, the Jackets put together a  five-play drive that racked up 24 yards before a fumble gave the ball back to Fredericktown.The Blackcats began their next possession from the Chester 36 yard line and gained 21 yards before settling for a 37-yard field goal. With 3:24 to play in the opening quarter, Fredericktown led 3-0.

Chester answered right back with a monster 21-play drive that used up over 11 minutes on the game clock. The Jackets marched down the field 90 yards resulting in a four-yard touchdown dash by John Baughman. Chester quarterback Zach Lochhead completed a pass to Dan Adams for the two-point conversion and with 2:53 to play in the first half, the Jackets led 8-3.
The 90-yard scoring drive was highlighted by a key third down 12 yard pass play from Lochhead to Chasten Hecht, and a 17-yard rush by Baughman. Tim Sullins carried the ball eight times on the possession and picked up 29 yards.
Fredericktown only connected on two big plays on their next drive, but it was enough to reclaim the lead 11-8 with under a minute to play in the first half.
Fredericktown quarterback A.P. Lewandowski completed a 12-yard pass to Jon O’Neal on third down to keep the drive going. After a questionable personal foul call that went against Chester, Lewandowski struck again, this time on fourth down as he connected with Jacob Farmer on a 37-yard scoring pass play. Farmer then ran in the two-point conversion to give his team an 11-8 lead with 55.9 seconds to play in the first half. That lead would hold up to the break.
It didn’t take Chester long to respond in the second half, just two minutes and 23 seconds. The Jacket offense gave Fredericktown a heavy dose of Sullins up the middle as the senior fullback gashed the Blackcats with runs of 18 yards, 16 yards, five yards and two yards. Just when the Fredericktown defense began to cheat to the inside, Chester handed the ball to the speedy Baughman, who found a hole and then outran the defense for a 36 yard touchdown run. Lochhead connected with Justin Woodward for the two-point conversion and with 9:30 to play in the third quarter, Chester had the lead again 16-11.
The Chester defense was solid in the second half and forced Fredericktown to go three-and-out on their first drive of the half. However, the Chester offense gave the ball back to the Blackcats four plays later on a fumbled exchange from Lochhead to Sullins.
Three plays later, it was the Chester defense causing a turnover as a hard hit made Fredericktown put the ball on the turf and the Jackets recovered.

The Yellow Jackets began their next possession on the Fredericktown 33 yard line, but another costly penalty caused the drive to stall. Chester turned the ball over on downs after just four plays.
Fredericktown, however, still couldn’t figure out the Chester defense and were again forced into a three-and-out.
Chester took over from their own 45 yard line and this time nothing was going to stop the orange and black attack. The Jackets put together a 11-play 55-yard scoring drive that was capped off by a two-yard score by Danny Roth.  Baughman ran in the two-point conversion and Chester’s lead was up to 24-11 with 6:47 to play in the game.

Fredericktown picked up a couple of first downs on the next drive, but facing a fourth down and 28 yards to go, backup quarterback Cody Smother’s pass was picked off by Justin Eggemeyer.
All Chester need to do was pick up a first down and then run out the clock. The first down came just three plays later as Baughman broke off a 30 yard run to seal the victory.
“This team has a lot of weapons,” said Lee. “Sullins, Baughman, and (Clint) Cole, they all had nice runs for us. “Sullins is emerging as a great fullback for us.”
  Sullins led the Chester running attack with 22 carries for 119 yards, while Baughman added 103 yards on the ground on eight attempts. Roth had 53 yards rushing on 12 carries, Cole had two rushes for nine yards and Isaac McMullin had one rush for 11 yards. The Chester ground game as a whole had 299 yards on 51 attempts.
Lochhead completed one-of-three passes for 12 yards, while Hecht brought in that 12-yard reception.
On defense,  Aaron Grah led the team with four solo tackles and three assists, while Baughman added three solo tackles and two assists. Jake Rock, Sullins and McMullin each added two solo tackles and an assist Sullins also record two sacks, as did Carlo Marconi.
Chester improved to 2-0 on the year with the win, while Fredericktown fell to 0-2. Chester will host Wesclin Friday night.