CHESTER — The Chester football team already knew it needed to raise its level of play after escaping last week’s first round of the district playoffs with a tight win over Marple Newtown.
Nightmares of last year’s lopsided district quarterfinal provided plenty more motivation for the Clippers to be at their best heading into Saturday’s District 1 Class 5A quarterfinal clash with Garnet Valley.
“Gutwrenching,” Chester senior quarterback Jalen Harris recalled of that loss. “We never want that to happen again.”
Harris’ five total touchdowns led the way as the No. 2 Clippers played a complete game in a 38-7 win over No. 7 Garnet Valley in Saturday’s District 1-5A quarterfinal.
Chester (12-0) will play No. 3 West Chester Rustin (10-2), who was on the other side of that lopsided district quarterfinal a season ago, next week in the semifinals.
“The only message was the only team that can beat Chester is Chester,” senior running back Shadrach George said. “Simple as that. We come in there, and we’ve got high expectations for this whole playoff.”
Chester marched 60 yards in seven plays, capped by a Harris 3-yard touchdown run on its first drive of the day. After the Clippers defense forced a 3-and-out, Harris connected with Damon Fitzgerald on fourth down for a 39-yard touchdown pass to put Chester ahead 16-0 with 4:34 left in the first.
“We wanted to control the game from the coin toss,” Harris said. “We won the coin toss, wanted to get the ball and go, just control the game. Show them what’s up. We scored and went for the two-point conversion just to show them we’re here all game.”
The Jaguars (8-4) offense found some traction on their second drive. Paxton Hunt, who ran 26 times for 100 yards, punched in a nine-yard touchdown with 31 seconds left in the first quarter to make it 16-7.
But Chester answered on its next drive when Harris tossed a perfect ball to Sakai Brown-Murray for a 22-yard touchdown pass that gave Chester a 22-7 lead at half.
Harris completed 12-of-21 passes for 195 yards and four touchdowns, while also adding 66 yards and a score on the ground.
“It was just flowing on all cylinders,” Harris said.
Temple commit Daron Harris missed Saturday’s game after he was ejected from last week’s first round win over Marple Newtown.
Amongst those who stepped up were Brown-Murray, who caught four passes for 82 yards and two touchdowns, and Fitzgerald, who hauled in four passes for 80 yards and a touchdown.
Brown-Murray added a 30-yard touchdown catch with 5:24 left in the third quarter to all but put the game out of reach. Je’Quazz Vicks-Reams caught Harris’ fourth touchdown in the fourth.
“We ain’t playing with nobody,” Fitzgerald said. “We had to win this game to get our get back.”
Harris, George (12 carries, 72 yards) and Jerrell Palmer (8 carries, 59 yards) ripped off chunk runs for the Clippers to balance out the Chester offensive attack.
“Nothing makes football more fun than when everybody gets to eat,” George said. “There’s food on the table. Everybody gotta eat.”
Harris shouted out Jacoby Roman, Solomon Dodson, Zyon Santana, Eric Yates, Josiah Bynum-Smokes, Shemaj Henry. The majority of them had big days up front on the defensive line as well as the Clippers held Garnet to under 200 total yards of offense in the game (85 yards in the first half). Linebackers Palmer and Ziggy flew around the field as well.
R
ustin took down Chester 45-16 last season in the district quarterfinals. The Clippers haven’t lost a game since.
They’re excited to get another chance at the Golden Knights on their home field next week.
“We got that game circled on the calendar,” Harris said. “Ever since we lost last year up there, we wanted them, especially in the playoffs.”
“They on the clock,” Fitzgerald said.
Garnet Valley 7 0 0 0-7
Chester 16 6 8 8-38
Individual Scoring
First Quarter
C: Jalen Harris 3 run (Jerrell Palmer run) 9:30
C: Damon Fitzgerald 39 pass from Jalen Harris (Jerrell Palmer run) 4:34
GV: Paxton Hunt 9 run (Owen Zweier kick) 0:31
Second Quarter
C: Sekai Brown-Murray 22 pass from Jalen Harris (run failed) 8:26
Third Quarter
C: Sekai Brown-Murray 30 pass from Jalen Harris (Jerrell Palmer run) 5:24
Fourth Quarter
C: Je’Quazz Vicks-Reams 8 pass from Jalen Harris (Je’Quazz Vicks-Reams run) 10:04
Team Statistics
…………………….GV……………….C
1st downs………..14…………………22
rush-yds……….40-176……….42-224
comp-att-int….2-11-0…………..12-21-0
pass yds……….15………………195
total yds…………187……………….419
fumb-lost……..1-0………………3-1
pen-yds…………1-5…………..2-10
Individual Statistics
Rushing:
Garnet Valley: Paxton Hunt 26-100, TD; Billy Krause 5-44; Hadrian Krauss 6-28; Coltan Turner 1-12; Anthony Gifford 1-3; Nick DiLuzio 1-(-11).
Chester: Shadrach George 12-72; Jalen Harris 10-66, TD; Jerrell Palmer 8-59; Demir Hatchett 4-16; Je’Quazz Vicks-Reams 2-(-2); Jamar Herring 1-(-2).
Passing:
Garnet Valley: Coltan Turner 2-10, 11 yards.
Chester: Jalen Harris 12-21, 195 yards, 4 TDs.
Receiving:
Garnet Valley:
Chester: Sekai Brown-Murray 4-82; Damon Fitzgerald 4-80, TD; Je’Quazz Vicks-Reams 3-26; Shadrach George 1-7.
Interceptions: None.
Sacks: Garnet Valley: Michael Costa.