CHS Frosh score first TD, drop home opener
<p dir="ltr"><span>A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The Chester Frosh scored their first touchdown of the season, but it came too little, too late as the Yellow Jackets fell to Freeburg, 46-6, in their home opener on Sept. 22.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Chester (0-3, 0-1 Black Diamond Conference) gave up 22 second quarter points and was held to less than 50 yards of total offense for the third time this season.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Ethan Bert was a bright spot once again for the Yellow Jackets, finishing with 37 yards rushing on 12 carries. He also caused two Freeburg fumbles that Chester recovered.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Ethen Eggemeyer was also a star of Chester defense, finishing with 10 tackles and one for loss. Eggemeyer (19), Bert (11) and Rayburn (10) are the Yellow Jackets' leading tacklers through three games.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>But falling behind early has unfortunately been a theme this season for the CHS Frosh and it was no different against Freeburg.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Dylan Webb hauled in a pass from Midgets quarterback Dylan Huschle and took it 23 yards for the touchdown with 7:44 left in the first quarter.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Touchdown runs from Brock Browning (25 yards) and Brady Schmitz (37 yards) 25 seconds apart midway through the second quarter stirred Freeburg's offensive barrage and gave the Midgets (2-0) a 22-0 lead with 9:10 to go before halftime.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Huschle found Levi Ball on a 40-yard pass play with 5:07 left in the first half to give the Midgets a 30-0 halftime lead.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Chester's touchdown came as the last score of the game. Freeburg's Payton Benkendorf had just picked off a Chett Andrews pass and returned it 63 yards for the touchdown with 9:04 remaining in the game.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Taking the kickoff at his own 39, Rayburn weaved his way through the heart of the Freeburg defense, spinning twice in the middle of the field to avoid would-be tacklers.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The 5-foot-4, 130-pound running back then outran his pursuers to the end zone. It was the second touchdown of his CHS career after scoring a TD for the Yellow Jacket JV against Vienna-Goreville.</span>
<p dir="ltr">Chester Team Stats
<p dir="ltr"><span>First Downs: 5</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Rushes-Yds: 29-46</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Pass Yds: 0</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Total Yds: 46</span>
<p dir="ltr">Chester Individual Stats
<p dir="ltr"><span>Rushing -Bert 12-37, Eggemeyer 9-23, Rayburn 6-(-6), James 1-0, Andrews 1-(-8)</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Passing - Andrews 0-5-2 0</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Receiving - None</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Tackle leaders - Eggemeyer (10), Rayburn (5), Brendan Murphy (3)</span>
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