By Kendall Patterson
Editor
Put a “W” in the win column for the Chester County Eagles Football team.
The Eagles left Fayette-Ware victorious as their first game of the 2022-2023 season.
The Eagles had to punt their first drive while the Wildcats scored on their first drive.
By the end of first quarter though, Eagles quarterback Evan Schippers had a quarterback keeper and took it to the house for 56 rushing yards.
Fayette-Ware responded with another score that was a pass over Eagles’ defenders and got the two-point conversion after failing at it the first time they scored. This gave the Wildcats a 14-7 lead.
Eagles runnning back Judiaz Prather helped the Eagles tie it at 14 after a rushing touchdown and take the lead as well following an interception by Jaleo Smith.
Going into halftime, the Wildcats attempted to score on a pass before halftime with six seconds remaining on the clock, but Aiden Welch intercepted the ball to end the first half with the Eagles in front 21-14. Starting the second half, the Wildcats scored but failed on the two-point conversion allowing the Eagles to maintain the lead by one point, 21-20.
Schippers responded with another quarterback keeper for a touchdown and after the extra point by Colston Callis, the score was 28-20.
Unfortunately, Fayette-Ware was able to complete a pass within the 5-yard line which led to a touchdown. They failed on the two-point conversion again making the score 28-26 with Chester County in front.
Fayette-Ware eventually scored again with 3:06 remaining in the game along with getting the two-point conversion, so the score was 34-28.
The Eagles kept fighting and responded with Schippers finding receiver Chad Barham on a short route midfield and Barham took it to the endzone with 1:54 remaining. That tied it at 34. The extra point by Callis was the winning kick for the Eagles as it gave them the lead, 35-34.
The wildcats tried to score with the time they had left, but accrued multiple penalites that backed themselved to their own 4-yard line on fourth down. This forced them to attempt a deep pass, but defensive back Aiden Timby came down with it to close out the game.
Player of the week went to Judiaz Prather who put up good stats on both sides of the ball.
On offense, he had 137 rushing yards and averaged 10.5 yards per carry with his longest run going for 46 yards.
Defensively, he recorded seven total tackles with five of them being solos. he also had 3.5 tackles for a loss.
Head Coach Dewond Johnson won his first game as an Eagle, and he said that his players mentioned that this was the first time any of them started their high school season 1-0, so it was huge for them.
“It’s big about us winning, because I asked the group, of the 80 kids I have, from seniors to freshmen, who has ever started their season 1-0 at Chester County High School on a varsity level? Not one kid raised their hand. Tonight, they-re 1-0. That’s all that matters.”
