Reaves leads Chichester to stunning win over his old team

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CHESTER — Staring Reaves was a freshman at Chester High in 2019. He saw a good deal of playing time in the defensive secondary and was an impactful player for the Clippers.

On the final day of the season, Chester scored 60 points in a home win against Interboro to finish with a winning record for the first time in 11 years. In that game, Reaves got his first chance to show what he could do with the ball in his mitts when he hauled in a 33-yard touchdown catch. It was his first touch of the season.

At the time, Reaves believed he was a big part of the program’s future, but little did he know that game would be his last at Chester. After his freshman year, he transferred to rival Chichester and became an Eagle.

Reaves is injecting new life in a program that struggled to compete for 15 years. Last spring, in his Chi debut, Reaves loaded up his highlight reel as he displayed an uncanny ability to make huge plays in all facets of the game.

On Saturday morning, Reaves faced his old friends in Chi’s biggest game in more than a decade. The 5-9 athlete delivered, but he was far from the only star to shine in the Eagles’ 14-0 victory.

Reaves broke a scoreless deadlock three minutes into the third quarter when he exploded through the line of scrimmage and took a carry 30 yards to the end zone.

“I was very hyped today,” said Reaves, who had a game-high 67 yards rushing and three catches for 36 yards. “We’re the underdogs coming into this. That win right there just solidified us for the Del Val. We’re the Del Val champs.”

Indeed, the win gave Chi at least a share of the Del Val League title, their first since at least the 1990s. Interboro had ruled the league most of that decade and throughout the 2000s. Academy Park was the team to beat during the 2010s. Penn Wood, Chester and Interboro also earned at least a piece of the title one year. Chichester, though, was always left in the dust.

“Not anymore,” Reaves said with a big grin.

The victory may have clinched a winning season for the Eagles (5-2, 3-0) for the first time since 2005. They play Bishop Shanahan to conclude the regular season before the District 1 Class 4A playoffs start in two weeks. Saturday’s stunning shutout of the Clippers (7-2, 2-1) catapulted the Eagles into the No. 1 spot. The top-four teams qualify for the Class 4A tournament.

It’s worth noting that Academy Park can share the title with Chichester, if the Knights beat Chester next Saturday. AP took care of business Saturday with a 49-0 rout of Penn Wood.

Last month’s scheduled game between AP and Chichester was canceled after a social media threat caused the Southeast Delco School District to shut down a day before the teams were scheduled to play. Chichester was unable to host the game the following Monday and the league ruled it a no-contest. Little did anyone know at the time it could have league title implications.

Make no mistake, the Eagles are proud to call themselves champions, and they certainly earned it, knocking off a Chester team that started 7-0 and was ranked No. 3 in the Daily Times Super 7. The Clippers tired to bounce back from a 34-28 home defeat to District 1 Class 6A powerhouse Coatesville, but they couldn’t get anything going offensively against Chi’s excellent defensive front, which caused havoc in the backfield and chased senior quarterback Isaiah Freeman (8-for-18, 73 yards) all day.

Chi’s defense, which was powered by intimidating lineman Eyan Thomas and linebackers Eddie Swinton and Walter Jones III, limited the Clippers to 177 yards of offense.

“These are my brothers,” Reaves said. “We worked hard in summer camp together, we spend all of our time together, we do homework together. We do everything together. We wanted this, to prove who were are.”

After Reaves’ 30-yard touchdown sprint, the Clippers started their next possession at their 45. On 4th-and-1, Freeman tried to sneak for the first down, but Jones came crashing into the backfield to make the tackle.

Chi sealed the win when quarterback Idrees Holloman (8-for-12, 71 yards) connected with Swinton on a 10-yard touchdown pass. Swinton then came back with a strip sack of Freeman, and lineman Andrew Foster pounced on the loose ball for the recovery.

That was all she wrote.

“Especially since this is my senior year, it feels great to win,” Jones III said. “We came out and we wanted it. We played great.”

Chester’s defense played great, too. The Clippers were led by linebacker Noble Thompson, who had several tackles near and behind the line of scrimmage. He also had an interception at the end of the first half.

“It was a tough battle, going back and forth with them knowing that we had to fight hard because we weren’t getting any points on the board,” said Chester’s Makel Martin, a 6-4, 255-pound senior lineman and co-captain. “This game today, there was some added pressure, but we tried to keep everyone calm. This was a big game. We kept fighting, but unfortunately we just couldn’t get the ‘W’ today.”

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Matt Smith

Matt Smith
Matt Smith is a sports writer with the Delaware County Daily Times. To contact him, email msmith@delcotimes.com or follow him on Twitter @DTMattSmith.

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