CHESTER — One week after Chester players were involved in a post-game melee at Academy Park, the Clippers wanted to set the record straight and focus not on what happened, but what they could do to make sure it never happens again.
Whether the brawl was percipitated by the actions of a Clipper or not, it was clear that first-year head coach Tony Beaty had taught his players a few lessons in the field of discipline.
“Yeah, I think we did (learn from the experience),’ quarterback Nahmir Ishmail said. “We wanted to come out and play football and we know we can’t let that happen. It’s bad that it did, but we wanted to (prepare) for this game.’
Give the Clippers credit. In a season that was spiraling out of control, they put together an honest, hard-working and incident-free performance Saturday afternoon at the Chester Athletic Complex. In their final home game of 2014, Chester came away with a well-earned, 14-13 victory.
“It was very nice to get this win,’ said Ishmail, who was 6-for-11 with 56 yards through the air. “We just had to put on for our city.’
Kquran Matthews had a pair of sacks and blocked what would have been the game-tying extra-point attempt after Chichester running back Kevin Miller ripped off a 50-yard touchdown run with five minutes to play in the fourth quarter. Matthews and a slew of Chester linemen ambushed Chichester’s extra-point protection unit and Matthews was able to get a hand on the ball.
The blocked kick proved to be a microcosm of the entire game. Chester’s defense routinely disrupted Chichester’s ball carriers and made life tough for athletic first-year quarterback Greg Mills (3-for-13, 32 yards). Chester totaled three sacks on the afternoon — D’Andre Dill had the other — and several more hurries.
The Eagles (2-6, 0-4) moved the ball well in the opening quarter, but save for Miller’s 50-yard scoring dash off-tackle, the Chester defense was able to keep it together.
“We knew we could get to them,’ said Matthews. “We felt we could get to their QB and stop them (in the backfield). We knew if we could stop him (Miller), we’d be able to win.’
Miller, who had 691 yards and six touchdowns entering the day, sprained an ankle late in the game. He finished with 91 yards on 14 carries.
While Chester’s defense limited Chichester to 167 yards of offense, the Eagles hurt themselves with 10 penalties for 105 yards. With Chester facing a third down in the fourth quarter, the Eagles were whistled for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct. They were called again for a five-yard infraction on the next play. The lack of discipline cost the Eagles 30 yards and set the Clippers up with a goal-to-go situation at the Chichester five. Two plays later, Nyeem Jones took a sweep play six yards to the end zone to put the Clippers ahead.
“We teach the word discipline (over and over),’ said two-way senior line Colin McAllister, who performed well in a losing effort. “If we play disciplined, they don’t get an extra 15 yards. That’s what comes back and hurts us. It’s the little things. We look at it like, there maybe was 150 plays total in the entire game, but every play is its own game. We’ve got to win every play. We lost more than we won and we’ve got to make that up and learn from it this week in practice.’
Ishmail found pay dirt on a quarterback keeper and converted a two-point conversion in the third quarter to put the Clipper up, 8-7. Miller got the Eagles on the board first with a 6-yard scoring scamper in the opening period.
The Clippers (3-6, 2-2) are out of the running for the Del Val League championship, but they can be a spoiler next week when they travel to the South Avenue Athletic Complex to face Interboro, which still has a chance to claim a share of the title.
“We want to be go in there and win that game,’ Ishmail said. “It’s going to be big.’
