SPRINGFIELD, PA — It happened six months ago and Chester’s Jalen Harris cannot let it go. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Clippers’ four-year starting quarterback can only bring himself to watch a portion of the first quarter and then he reaches for the remote. He winces at the replay, anguishing still over Chester’s 34-12 loss to Springfield (Delco) in the PIAA Class 5A championship back in November.
He can’t escape it. He blames myself. Harris sent Clippers’ coach Dennis Shaw a text an hour after the game apologizing that he let his teammates down. Even as Harris played in the 48th Annual Hero Bowl Thursday night at Cardinal O’Hara, that District Title game resonated.
“It’s why I won’t look at my high school career as a success, because I never won the big one when it counted,” Harris said. “And I don’t know if anyone can convince me that my high school career was a success.”
That is a little hard to fathom, considering Harris did things no other Chester High football player ever did.
Actually, no quarterback in the history of Chester—nor Delaware County—did what Harris achieved. There is a mountain of convincing evidence that screams Harris may be the greatest football player in the long, storied history of Chester High School football.
Before he arrived, no Chester team ever won four-straight Del-Val League titles. Before he arrived, no Chester team ever won a District 1 playoff game. Before he arrived, no Chester quarterback ever threw for a career 8,135 yards and 112 touchdowns.
In his four-year career, Chester, not coincidentally, had its best four-year run, producing a 45-7 overall record, including the Clippers’ school single-season record 13-1 mark his senior year. Before he arrived, no Chester team ever reached the PIAA District 1 Class 5A championship. Harris led the Clippers to two district championship games.
Harris goes down as Delaware County’s all-time leading passer with a career-record 8,135 yards passing and 112 touchdown passes, and a single-season county record 35 touchdown passes, which he set his freshman year.
So, it’s interesting when Harris questions his success at Chester, while it is quite the opposite, he has been nothing but successful wearing the orange and black.
Harris, who is committed to Division II Lincoln University, took almost a week to return back to school after the district championship loss.
He did not consider how he put the program on his shoulders and elevated the program to heights it never reached before. He was the one who opened gates that were previously locked. Daron Harris, Jalen’s twin brother, was a game-changing, impact player, but it was Jalen who had the ball in his hands every play the last four years.
“I took this Hero Bowl like a playoff or district title game, but I had fun,” Harris said. “I never got over the district championship loss. Maybe further in my football career, I will feel better about my high school career. I try to watch a replay of the (district title) game, but I can’t past the first quarter. I did not play the way I am capable of playing.
“I think it’s why I don’t look at my high school career as a success. I’m about winning, and we didn’t win. Some of the records and winning has sunk in a little. But each time it happens, I think about the district championship game. That’s where this game helped, because it brought me back to playing with my childhood friends. I think I may appreciate the things I did at Chester in time.
“Just not now.”
For the time being, Shaw and everyone else associated with the Chester community and the Delaware County football community view Harris as a generational talent.
The Clippers’ 10-0 regular season was the first time Chester went undefeated during a regular season. This past season, there were times Shaw did not even send in plays. The staff entrusted Harris to make the right calls based on what he saw.
“Jalen is the greatest player the school has ever had, his numbers alone say that, and he did things no other Chester player ever did,” said Shaw, who is 35-5 in his three years as head coach. “He led us to four-straight Del-Val titles. No other Chester team did that. His four years produced the best four years Chester football ever had. In his time at the helm, we only lost seven games in four years and won 45. That’s pretty amazing.”
Shaw is hoping someone in the future comes close to Harris, because the Clippers coach openly questions whether or not he will have a player like Harris again. Shaw refers to Harris as a leader; as a warrior; and as a competitor.
He knew he could always count on Harris.
Jalen left the field Thursday night as the measure of future Clippers.
“As a coach, you go into certain games with questions. I was always at peace, because I knew we had Jalen,” Shaw said. “This was not easy, the last time with Jalen and this special group. Everyone on this Hero Bowl team looked to Jalen. He leaves a legacy. You hope to get a player in the future do what he did, but it is unrealistic. Jalen not only did it on the field, but he was also a leader.
“Jalen makes everyone around him better. We’re always going to be in touch. It was not easy saying goodbye to him. We have a saying if a kid plays football or are you a football player. Jalen is one of those kids who is a football player.”
Harris went out a winner, being named East Offensive MVP in leading the East team (Del-Val League) to an 18-17 victory over the West (Central League).
What terribly marred a highly competitive game were fights breaking out in the stands where law enforcement was involved. While the stands were swirling with fights, Hero Bowl officials suspended the game with 5:27 left in the third quarter.
There were over 5,000 tickets sold and it was the largest Hero Bowl gate in over a decade.
A Hero Bowl official said for the safety of everyone involved it was best to suspend the game.
Afterward, there was some talk among Hero Bowl organizers and some coaches about suspending the game permanently moving forward.