Kahleef Best, Bajzhiir Reese help Chichester ‘take care of business’

UPPER CHICHESTER – Interboro and Chichester hooked up for an old-fashioned Del Val League throwdown on Friday night and the two traditional rivals came ready to hit. It was the Eagles, though, who were the more sharp and rugged team as Chi pulled away from the Bucs for an impressive 31-7 victory.

“We know what Interboro has. That’s a physical football team, a well-coached football team and they brought it,” said Eagles coach Chris Craig, whose team improved to 4-3 overall and 2-0 in the Del Val League. “Look at their first drive. They ran it right down our throat. Guys were caught up in Senior Night and they had to wake up and understand the goal. The scoreboard will take care of itself if you take care of business on the field.”

On its opening drive Interboro marched right down the field with a bruising rushing attack that was ultimately capped off by a scoring run from JJ Clark.

Chichester, however, had an answer as quarterback Danny Kelly used Bajzhiir Reese and Derrick Robertson to power the Eagles through the air before Kahleef Best punched it in for a touchdown to make it 7-7.

Kelly, who finished with 120 yards in the air and one rushing touchdown, played a key role in keeping the Bucs off-balance as he connected on passes to Robertson, Reese, Best, Jayon Harris, and Christian Craig over the course of the game.

Reese, though, would prove to be nearly impossible to contain for the Bucs. In the second quarter, the speedy and shifty multi-purpose back ripped off a 25-yard run to put the Eagles up 14-7.

“The challenge for the guys this week was to win two in a row,” Craig said. “We’ve won games this year, but not two in a row. In fact, I let them know that we haven’t won two games in a row in two years. That’s a bad stat to have.”

Chichester found itself with an opportunity to bury Interboro in the second quarter after Best pounced on a Bucs fumble. The Eagles drove to the 1-yard line, scuffled through a few plays, and were assessed a 15-yard penalty. That did not matter to Reese, who burst away from the Bucs defense for a third Chichester touchdown of the first half.

That kind of resilience was pleasing for Reese to see from his squad.

“We just stuck to our game plan. We knew some of Interboro’s weaknesses and we tried our best to expose them,” said Reese, who finished with 106 yards rushing. “Everybody on this side of the ball is a playmaker. Look at Kahleef Best. We share the backfield and compliment each other. This is a big step for us and it goes with our motto: ‘We are not the same Chichester.’ Everybody is starting to know that.”

For his part, Best also was a strong contributor defensively as he added an interception to his strong two-way performance.

“We were awesome defensively. We started off slow, but when we got to that second drive on defense, we were all focused,” Best said. “We knew the offense had it down pat. The offense had it goin’ on. That was our whole mindset in practice. We win upfront with the o-line.”

The Eagles defense saw several players rise to the occasion as Eren Martin and Ty Burch registered sacks, while Siddiq Oglesby had a fumble recovery.

As for Interboro, it is time to go back to the drawing board for the Bucs and at the top of the list of things to change is taking care of the ball.

“It was like how we have been playing all season with halves of football. We haven’t really put together a full game yet. It’s my job to figure this thing out,” coach Dennis Lux said of the Bucs (3-4, 0-2 Del Val). “We’re talented and when we’re not shooting ourselves in the foot, we’re good enough to win games.”