Freeman’s big plays help undefeated Chester clip Henderson

West Chester >> Chester remained undefeated with a 42-27 win at West Chester Henderson Friday evening, surviving a spirited Warrior rally in the fourth quarter.

“I think the best thing about the win tonight is that we persevered,” said Chester head coach LaDontay Bell. “We’ve had some ups and downs, but we continue to fight. The guys played well tonight. We had some [plays] happen in the second half that we’re not proud about, so we have to work on those at practice.”

The victory improves Chester’s record to 6-0, while the Warriors drop to 2-4.

At the center of Chester’s offense Friday night was senior quarterback Isaiah Freeman. The 6-foot-3, 195-pound senior threw touchdown passes of 62 and 49 yards, and scored on TD runs of 42 and 33 yards. On each of Chester’s touchdown marches, he came up with some key plays, running and passing.

“Some plays you just can’t dial up and you have to let the players be athletes, and tonight Isaiah showed that he’s a tremendous athlete,” said Bell. “We’re very pleased with his play tonight.”

West Chester Henderson kept Chester’s explosive offense off the field for the first 7½ minutes with an opening possession of 15 plays, a 65-yard touchdown drive. That drive was kept alive when, on 4th and 11 at the Chester 30-yard line, Henderson senior quarterback Eddie Smink hit senior back Terrance Turman for a 15-yard pass completion. Three plays later, junior running back Cole Foster scored on a 3-yard run up the middle.

Chester came right back with a 12-play, 73-yard touchdown drive. Freeman made a couple of big third down plays on this drive; hitting senior wide receiver Kylie Harper for a 19-yard completion on 3rd-and-13 at the Chester 34-yard line, and running 17 yards for a first down on 3rd-and-14 from midfield.

The Clippers’ first drive culminated with a 6-yard TD run up the middle by junior running back Noble Thompson, cutting Henderson’s lead to 7-6.

A face mask penalty on Chester on the ensuing kickoff, and a good kick return by Henderson, put the ball at midfield. A 25-yard run by Smink gave the Warriors a first down at the Chester 25-yard line, but the drive ended there, as Henderson incurred a holding penalty and went three-and-out.

From its own 20-yard line, Chester put together a 6-play, 80-yard drive capped by a 49-yard touchdown pass from Freeman to a wide-open Cymeer Brown.

“That was a tremendous play call by our offensive coordinator Lamar Shaw,” said Bell. “He’s done a tremendous job with the play-calling this year.”

Henderson went three-and-out, then Chester put together a short drive that ended at the Warriors’ 30-yard line. The half ended with Chester leading, 14-7.

The Clippers took the second half opening kickoff and marched 67 yards in 10 plays for a touchdown to make it 21-7. Freeman hit Charles Thompson, Dorian Miller and William wop Smith for mid-sized pass completions, and a 13-yard run by Jabree Davis put the ball at the Henderson 1 yard line. Freeman plunged over from the 1 for the touchdown.

After a long Henderson drive ended at the Clippers’ 23 yard line, Chester came back with a 62-yard touchdown pass from Freeman to Smith. Smith caught the ball on the left sideline around the Henderson 30-yard line, and eluded two defenders for the touchdown.

“William Smith is very elusive, he’s very talented, and that was a great throw by our quarterback,” said Bell.

Henderson then drove 60 yards in 5 plays for a touchdown, thanks to three pass completions by Smink, the last one a 26-yard TD pass on 4th-and-3 to senior Casey Killoran, who grabbed it one the left sideline and ran in for the score.

On the following drive, Chester faced a 4th-and-1 at the Henderson 42, and Freeman ran left, eluding several tacklers to score on a 42-yard touchdown run to make the score 35-14.

Then Henderson senior Terrance Turman took the ensuing kickoff, found an opening up the middle, and outraced several defenders down the left side for an 86-yard touchdown.

Two plays later, a Chester fumble gave Henderson the ball at the Clippers’ 15-yard line, and on the following play Smink hit senior wide receiver Logan Krapf for a touchdown to cut the visitors’ lead to 35-27 with 6:33 left.

When Henderson failed to get a first down on 4th-and-26 from the Chester 45 yard line, the Clippers took over with 2:22 left. The visitors picked up a vital first down when Jabree Davis rumbled for a 25-yard gain to the Warriors’ 35 yard line; then on 3rd-and-8 at the Henderson 33, Freeman took off for a 33-yard touchdown run to make it 42-27 with 1:51 left.

“Isaiah has great field vision; he saw a lot of things out there tonight,” said Bell. “This young man is a leader, and he showed his talents tonight against Henderson.

“Our defense played well tonight; we had some letups and we’ve got to stay focused. At some point, I think we tend to [let up], and we can’t do that; we’ve got to keep our foot down on the pedal.

“We need to keep working on our discipline. As we move forward in this season, we’ve got to remain disciplined. If we remain disciplined in our execution, we’ll have a tremendous season.”

For West Chester Henderson, Smink threw two TD passes in the fourth quarter, and his running and passing kept the Warriors’ hopes alive in the fourth quarter.

Henderson head coach John Lunardi said, “I was certainly proud of the way we played in the fourth quarter; we’ve just got to play like that all the time. You can’t play two quarters of football [the first and fourth quarters] and expect to win.

“We were able to establish some stuff offensively toward the end of the game, which is good, but it’s disappointing because you’ve got to do it for four quarters, and we didn’t. We’ve got to play every quarter with the effort that we played in the fourth quarter.”