Chester football competes in first 7-on-7 of summer
DU QUOIN -- Almost two months to the day before they pack up the bus to travel to Eldorado for the season opener, the Chester football Yellow Jackets battled Du Quoin in a 7-on-7 on June 23 at Van Metre Field.
Only Chester's varsity squad made the trip, with the Yellow Jacket linemen also facing Du Quoin's in a "lineman challenge."
"We've seen some good things," said Chester coach Billy Belton. "I think our defense looked really good for the first time running against a live offense."
Offensively, the Yellow Jackets struggled a bit to get on track early in the contest, with both junior quarterback Nick Meyer and older brother Curt getting a chance behind center.
"(Du Quoin) ran a man-to-man coverage and we haven't been repping that, but all-in-all, I thought we did well," Belton said.
Belton said the contest, Chester's first of the summer after a scheduled 7-on-7 with Carbondale was cancelled, was a good measuring stick to see where is players are thus far.
"We want to see our kids compete," he said. "Going against a different color jersey is nice and I feel our kids competed the whole time.
"We watched some film on it and we know we have to be improving every week."
Belton was asked what feedback he received about the linemen.
"We've really worked on pad level and Coach (Charles) Colvis said our pad level and explosiveness was really good off the line," he said. "When you teach the kids something and you get to see what you're teaching them, that's good."
Belton also revealed the winners of the punt, pass and kick contest at the recent Chester Stingers camp and wished to thank those who attended for their participation.
Issac Jany and Dylan Kelkhoff won the Varsity competition with 103 total yards, while Colby Kelkhoff won the 10-11 division with 58 total yards.
Trevon Eggemeyer took first place in the 8-9 category with 76 total yards and Bentley Valleroy won the 5-7 age group with 60 total yards.
As for what's next, Belton said the Yellow Jackets have a workout scheduled with members of the Chester Fire Department on July 12 at 5:30 p.m.