Langley, Chester run away from Sun Valley
ASTON — Here’s a free bit of advice to special teams coaches whose teams will face Chester this year.
See a No. 1 back there, ready to receive a punt or kick? Kick it literally anywhere else than at him. Kick it out of bounds. Kick it into the end zone. Whatever you do, do not kick to Malik Langley.
Sun Valley found out what Langley can do with the ball in his hands in Chester’s 44-0 nonleague win Friday night. The senior speedster, who only saw one ball thrown his way in the first half because he was constantly double-teamed, took the second half’s opening kickoff and weaved his way through the Vanguards before sprinting to paydirt for an 80-yard touchdown.
Two Sun Valley possessions later, Langley fielded a punt and cut up the left sideline, sauntering in from 75 yards out.
So, yeah, kick that thing to anyone, anywhere, besides Langley.
“I just know that whenever they double-team me, I have to find another way to make a play on something else,” Langley said. “If it’s special teams, defense, my interception, it doesn’t matter. I’m just trying to do whatever to make my team win.”
The kick return pushed Chester’s lead to 24-0 and delivered the knockout blow to Sun Valley’s comeback hopes.
“I just saw my running back (Anton Sterling) lay out a block on the sideline and I know with my speed, once I get to the sideline, I don’t see anybody catching me, so I just use that to my ability,” Langley said. “I run a 4.57 40, but I never really stretch, so I know I can run faster than that.”
He was also just trying to catch up to his twin brother, Malachi. The faster of the Langleys — confirmed by Malik — gave the Clippers some breathing room when they only led 8-0 as the Vanguards’ defense stifled Chester’s offense early. Sun Valley, though, opted to single cover Malachi Langley on a go route, which yielded suboptimal results for the Vanguards when quarterback Dymiere Stevenson dropped an absolutely perfect pass into Langley’s hands for a 71-yard catch-and-run touchdown.
Sterling finished the game with 145 yards and three touchdowns on just 11 carries, including all 91 yards in the Clippers’ final possession of the game.
The bigger story, though, was the stifling Clippers defense. Chester (2-0) blanked its opponent for the second straight game, only ceding 135 total yards of offense, with Andrew Kmett leading Sun Valley (0-2) with 44 rushing yards on 10 carries. The Vanguards tallied 98 yards on 46 carries.
Malik Langley, freshman cornerback Staring Reaves and linebacker Darron Miller each recorded interceptions, the latter of which came on the game’s first play from scrimmage. Rafiqe Hilliard gobbled up a toss play on 4th-and-goal from the 1-yard line to keep the goose egg intact. With a Week 1 win over West Philadelphia, Chester has outscored its opponents this season 94-0.
“That (interception) was big,” Miller said. “That was my first pick. I’m going to hear it a lot from our running backs coach, Dennis Shaw, for not taking it back. He’s always calling me slow.”
It was a tough night for the Vanguards after a blowout loss to Bayard Rustin last week, and the schedule doesn’t get any easier. Despite that, coach Bubba Bernhardt accentuated the positives, and quarterback Johnny Eskridge echoed those thoughts.
“We did play well for the first two quarters, and some in three and four,” Eskridge said. “They’re a better team, but we just have to forget it. We have an even tougher team next week.”
