The Chesnee Eagles used an offensive outburst in the first half and a stone wall defense in the second half to come away with a 35-21 win over the Blacksburg Wildcats.
"Our kids are working hard and starting to believe in what we are doing and in each other,” said Chesnee head coach Clay Lewis. ”It was an overall team effort tonight." The win stops Blacksburg's three game winning streak in the rivalry and gives Chesnee it's first win in Blacksburg since 2014. Chesnee received the opening kickoff and drove down the field converting on their first two third down attempts of the game before Blacksburg was able to force the Eagles into a fourth down play at the Blacksburg thirty-eight yard line. On the ensuing play Chesnee quarterback Jacob Kimbrell was able to find a wide open Alijah Means for a thirty-eight yard scoring strike giving the Eagles a 7-0 lead. Blacksburg would respond quickly as quarterback Zach Painter ran the ball sixty-four yards down the Blacksburg sideline to the Chesnee one yard line on the first play from scrimmage for the Wildcats. Chesnee would once again go on a long drive in response with this drive lasting nearly five minutes in length. The drive was keyed by a forty-six yard pass from Jacob Kimbrell to Jacob Aparis that helped set up a Kimbrell four yard touchdown run. Another big play through the air doubled the Eagles lead to fourteen and set off a scoring explosion when Jacob Kimbrell connected with Rodney Alexander out in the flat allowing Alexander to make a few Blacksburg defenders miss and race into the endzone from thirty-seven yards out. On the ensuing Blacksburg drive Chesnee defensive back Lorenzo Duren picked off a Blacksburg pass and then weaved his way down the field for a sixty-four yard pick six to put Chesnee up 28-7 midway through the second quarter. Blacksburg would respond with a five yard Ty Wilson touchdown run to cut Chesnee's lead at 28-14 with just under three minutes remaining in the half. With just under forty-five seconds to go until halftime Chesnee quarterback Jacob Kimbrell would get his fourth touchdown of the night this time from a yard out to put Chesnee up 35-14. The key play on the drive was a thirty-three yard Nyquille Ofair interception return to the Blacksburg one yard line to set up Kimbrell's one yard plung. Early in the third quarter the Chesnee offense made their first mistake of the night when Christian Nix picked off a Chesnee pass and returned it deep in to Eagle territory. The Chesnee defense would recover a Blacksburg fumble inside of the Eagle's one yard line. For most of the game the Eagles defense did a solid job limiting Blacksburg star Marcus Dewberry but Dewberry was able to find the endzone early in the fourth quarter as he caught a short pass and ran it in from five yards out with nine minutes left in the game to cut Chesnee's lead to 35-21. The Wildcats attempted a quick onside kick on the ensuing kickoff but Cole Hoskyns made a clean recover for the Eagles. During the second half of the fourth quarter the Chesnee offense turned to B-back Camden Burns as Burns had twenty-five yards on five carries over the Eagles final two drives and three of those runs resulted in first downs. Jacob Kimbrell had a big game over all as the senior signal caller finished four of ten overall through the air with 143 yards and two scores. He also added forty-eight yards and two more scores on the ground. Rodney Alexander also had as he finished with ninety-four total yards and a receiving score. Cole Hoskyns came up big for the Eagles along the defensive line for the Eagles as he had two tackles for loss and a pair of sacks to go along with a big blocked punt. One key difference in the game besides the impact of turnovers was the third down conversion rates. Chesnee was successful on seven of their thirteen attempts while Blacksburg failed on all nine attempts. "That's what we always talk about. Third down is the money down. You have to get off the field on third down. We have to get off the field on third down, and did an outstanding job of that tonight.". Coach Lewis said about his team's stellar defensive play on third down. Chesnee will look to pick up their first region win next week when they travel to Southside for the region opener for both teams. The Chesnee Lady Eagles picked up a big region win over the rival Chapman Lady Panthers on Thursday evening to give the Lady Eagles a perfect 4-0 region record and sole possession of first place.
"It feels great and I think the girls feel the same way," said Chesnee head coach Katie Jolley. "There is just a huge relief off of our shoulders. They were successful this past weekend and I think that rolled over into tonight." In a matchup of two teams that were both 3-0 in region play, the Eagles jumped out to a 10-1 lead in the first set as they reeled off nine straight points forcing the Panthers to call a timeout. The Panthers would respond by winning five of the next seven points to pull within six points of the Eagles. The Eagles were able to stall the Panther's rally before they could get any closer and were able to pull out a 25-19 win in the first set to give the Eagles ten straight set wins in region play. Jessa Beach had a big block at the net to help the Eagles regain momentum. Kaitlyn Barrett and Abbey Ray came up big in the first set as each had five kills while Shelby Harris had five digs and AC Yelton added six assists. Game two started off in the Panthers favor as they jumped out to a 10-5 lead in the early portion of the set. AC Yelton and the Lady Eagles answered back with a 13-0 run with twelve of those points coming while Yelton was controlling the serve to give the Lady Eagles a 17-11 lead. The run propelled the Lady Eagles to a 25-17 win in the second set. Ray and Yelton once again led the Lady Eagles as Ray had eight kills and Yelton had seven assists while Holly Hines also came up big with four key assists in the set. The Lady Eagles once again jumped out to an early lead in the third set as they grabbed an 8-2 lead and held on to win the third set 25-7 by winning fourteen of the final seventeen points. "It always helps when facing a great team like Chapman to get ahead early," said Jolley. "We wanted to get ahead early and keep that momentum." The Lady Eagles had a huge game defensively in game three as they combined for eighteen digs as a team with Shelby Harris leading the way with six. Harris and Kaitlyn Barrett both finished with double-digit digs for the Lady Eagles as Harris finished with thirteen and Barrett had twelve digs while also adding eight kills. Abbey Ray nearly had a double-double as she had sixteen kills and nine digs to go along with three aces. AC Yelton finished with a team high eighteen assists while also adding four kills and two service aces. Holly Hines nearly had double-digit assists as she finished second on the team with nine. The win caps off a big stretch for the Eagles as they also won the Eastside Invitational this past Saturday. The Eagles will begin the second half of region play on Tuesday as they host Southside. The Chesnee volleyball team traveled to Eastside on Saturday and left with the Eastside Invitational Gold Bracket Championship.
"The whole team worked hard today and we overcame being behind against some good teams,” said Chesnee coach Katie Jolley. “The team showed great mental strength throughout the whole tournament.” Abbey Ray and AC Yelton earned All-Tournament honors while Kaitlyn Barrett and Shelby Harris also had big days for the Eagles. The Eagles finished pool play with two wins and a tie as they tied Riverside 1-1 in the opening match (25-20, 23-25). Ray and Yelton lead the way as Yelton had six kills and six assists while Ray had five kills. Shenandoah Bishop also added five digs while Holly Hines had six assists. Chesnee swept Rock Hill 2-0 in the second match (25-17, 25-17) as Shelby Harris had a big game defensively where she finished with thirteen digs and two aces. Jessa Beach and Kaitlyn Barrett each added three kills in the second match. The Eagles swept Dixie in their final match of pool play(25-13, 25-19). Holly Hines had nine assists and three aces while Kaitlyn Barrett and Abbey Ray lead the way in kills with Barrett getting seven kills and Ray adding another six kills of her own. AC Yelton helped the Eagles cause by adding seven assists in the third match. In the the Gold Bracket semifinal the Eagles downed the defending 3A state champions Powdersville 2-1 (26-24, 21-25, 15-13) as Abbey Ray and Kaitlyn Barrett each finished with thirteen kills with AC Yelton adding thirteen assists. In the Gold Bracket Championship Chesnee downed the host Eastside 2-1 (16-25, 25-22, 15-13) to capture the championship. Shelby Harris had a huge game defensively as she finished with nineteen digs and Holly Hines added eleven assists. Kaitlyn Barrett finished with nine kills to lead Chesnee with Abbey Ray right behind her with eight of her own. The Eagles add this championship to an already impressive start to their season that includes a 3-0 start in region play and they will now turn their focus to a big match on Thursday against Chapman. The Chesnee Eagles let a fourth quarter lead slip away late as the Landrum Cardinals used a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns to squeeze out a 20-13 win on Friday night.
"Our kids played their butts off tonight,” said Chesnee head coach Clay Lewis. “We made too many mistakes to win and couldn't buy a break. I told them to hold their heads up because we played hard.” Landrum got the scoring started on their second possession of the game as they used an eleven play drive that went over eighty-five yards that was capped off by a Cam Wilson nine yard touchdown run. Chesnee immediately answered back with a scoring drive of their own as they used a big fourty-four yard run by Jacob Aparis to key a six play drive that ended with a thirty-five yard Ian Harris field goal in the early portion of the second quarter. After both teams exchanged punts, Chesnee got the ball back with just under six minutes left in the half and used a twelve play sixty-four yard drive to score their first touchdown of the night with two seconds left in the half. After several big runs to start the drive Jacob Kimbrell completed his last three passes of the drive with the final pass being a seven yard scoring strike to Jaiquez Thompson to give Chesnee a 10-7 halftime lead. The Eagles added on to their lead during the opening drive of the second half as Ian Harris tied a school record with a forty-two yard field goal to give the Eagles a 13-7 lead. Harris was two for two on field goals for the Eagles. “He did what we asked him to do,” said Lewis. “You can't ask for nothing better than making all of his kicks. I wish we could have gotten him another opportunity to kick it. He did a great job for us." The Cardinals tied the game at thirteen with just under eight minutes left as Adam Sikes punched it in from seven yards out but were unable to take the lead as they missed the ensuing extra point. Chesnee got the ball with an opportunity to win the game with just over a minute left to play but the first play from scrimmage bounced out of the hands of an Eagle player into the hands of the Cardinals' Payton Atkin, who returned it fifty-five yards for a touchdown. It would prove to be the deciding score. The Chesnee defense played a solid game as they limited Landrum to 202 total yards of offense and thirteen points. The Eagles defense also held the Cardinals to ten plays of zero yards or less. "They did a good job, much better than last week,” said Lewis. “We just can't seem to get in a good rhythm with both our offense and our defense." Jacob Kimbrell was nine of sixteen with 120 yards through the air and a touchdown. He also picked up seventy-five yards on the ground on fourteen carries. Jacob Aparis finished with ninety-five yards on the ground on twelve carries and Alijah Means had five catches for forty-eight yards. The Eagles will look to bounce back next week as they travel to Blacksburg to take on the Wildcats. The Chesnee Eagles used a dominating performance to sweep the Carolina Trojans to improve to 3-0 in region play on Thursday night.
"It's big because it puts us in a good position for the playoffs,” said Chesnee volleyball head coach Katie Jolley. “It gives us a lot of confidence heading into the Chapman match." Chesnee got out to an impressive 20-1 lead in the opening set behind Anna Sullivan's seven first set aces as the Eagles would go on to win the first set 25-5. "Anna has a nice flow and she did a very nice job of placing it,” said Jolley. After both teams went back and forth early in the second set Chesnee was able to reel off sixteen straight points to finish the set with a 25-8 win. Shelby Harris served the final sixteen points of the set. "They knew they were making a lot of errors but they refocused and were able to win the set,” said Jolley. The Lady Eagles used a 7-0 run to start the third set on their way to a 25-7 win to complete the sweep. AC Yelton and Abbey Ray lead the way for the Eagles as Yelton finished with seventeen assists and Ray had thirteen kills. Anna Sullivan finished with eight service aces while Shelby Harris had four digs. Chesnee hosts a big region matchup next Thursday as they host the Chapman Panthers. The R-S Central Hilltoppers used a strong rushing attack to down the Chesnee Eagles 35-21 in the first ever matchup between the two schools on Friday night.
R-S Central received the opening kickoff and barreled down the field to score on an eight play drive to start the game. The drive was exclusively on the ground and CJ Hannon punched it in from fourteen yards out to give the Hilltoppers an early 7-0 lead. Hannon had fifty yards on three carries in the Hilltoppers opening drive. Chesnee responded by driving deep into R-S Central territory but the Eagles were unable to tie the game as they turned the ball over on downs. R-S Central once again went on a long drive in their second possession this time driving sixty-four yards on nine plays. Ken Hines III would punch it in this time for the Hilltoppers from eight yards out putting the lead at 14-0. Chesnee found a spark on the ensuing kickoff as Alijah Means returned the kick eighty-two yards for a touchdown to put the Eagles right back in the game. The Eagles caught another break on the ensuing Hilltoppers drive as Cole Hoskyns recovered a fumble to give the Eagles the ball only trailing 14-7. The Eagles followed up the turnover with a ten play drive that chewed up four minutes off the clock and ended when AJ Littlejohn punched it in from four yards out to tie the score at 14-14. The Hilltoppers answered on their next possession by connecting on their first pass of the night when Jaiden Costen found Jayden Hooper for a seventy-five yard touchdown pass to give the Hilltoppers a 21-14 lead that they would take into halftime. The Eagles got the ball to start the third quarter with a chance to tie the game but the Eagles lost a fumble on the second play and give the Hilltoppers the ball at midfield. R-S Central took advantage of the turnover as they used nine plays all on the ground to double their lead to 28-14 when CJ Hannon punched the ball in from one yard out for his second touchdown of the night. Chesnee responded back with an eight play drive that ended when Jacob Aparis punched it in from four yards out cutting the Hilltopper's lead to 28-21. After a Chesnee turnover, R-S Central’s Jaiden Costen would run it in from sixty-six yards out to give the Hilltoppers a two touchdown lead and the victory at 35-21. Chesnee will be back in action next Friday night as they travel to Landrum in a matchup of county rivals. The Chesnee Eagles used a total team effort on Wednesday evening to down the Union County Yellow Jackets in a match up of 3A foes.
”It's big because we saw them last year in the playoffs,” said Chesnee head coach Katie Jolley on her team’s win. “We told the team before it started that this was a big match because it shows who you might play in the playoffs." Chesnee jumped out to an early 10-5 lead in the first set forcing Union County to call a timeout. The Yellow Jackets would claw back and tie the game at thirteen forcing the Lady Eagles to call a timeout of their own. Chesnee responded with a 12-2 run to end the set to give the Lady Eagles a 25-15 win in the first set. The Eagles came out firing in the second set as they scored thirteen of the first fifteen points in the set. They closed the set pretty strong as well as they went on a 9-2 run to take the second set 25-7. Union County fought back early in the third set as the Yellow Jackets were able to lead on six different occasions and forced six ties in the early portion of the set. After Union County took a 7-6 lead Chesnee responded with an 11-3 run to take a 17-10 lead and the Eagles didn't look back as they took game three 25-15 to sweep the match. "We just refocused and cleaned up our passing,” said Jolley. “When we are passing we are a great team because our hitters can put it away." Abbey Ray had a big game as she had sixteen of the Eagles forty-seven kills. "She hit very well tonight,” said Jolley. “It was nice for her to get that and really be successful." Holly Hines and AC Yelton did an excellent job setting up the Eagles as they each had twenty-one assists while Yelton also added nine kills and seven digs. The Eagles had a total team effort on defense as they combined for forty-seven digs with Shelby Harris leading the way with seventeen. "They have been playing great defense,” said Jolley. “They’ve been scrappy and hustling after balls. They have really committed to playing hard defense." Anna Sullivan also had a nice night as she had four aces and two blocks at the net for the Eagles. Chesnee will be back in action on Thursday at Southside to open region play. The Blue Ridge Tigers edged the Chesnee Eagles in overtime after Grayson Loftis hit Braeden Enloe for the game winning two-point conversion to give the Tigers a 22-21 win.
"Bottom line is we made too many mistakes to get a win tonight, we didn't make enough plays," said Chesnee head coach Clay Lewis. "Our kids played hard and we did some good things, but the bottom line is they played better than we did tonight." Chesnee got the scoring started with a fifty-five yard Camden Burns interception return for touchdown to put Chesnee up 7-0 before the Eagles offense even saw the field. It was Burns' second straight week with a return for a touchdown. After another interception by the Eagle defense, this time by Corey Seay, the Chesnee offense went on a long eleven play drive that ended in a eleven yard touchdown run by Jacob Kimbrell to put the Eagles up two scores. On the ensuing possession Chesnee forced a three and out with a big stop on third down stopping Blue Ridge running back Rod Robinson for a two yard loss. The Tigers defense stiffened and the Eagle offense ran into a string of mishaps as the Eagles fumbled the ball on four of the next five possessions and the Eagles had a missed field goal on the other. They would get back into it when Grayson Loftis hit Peyton Diggins for a forty yard scoring strike with just over four minutes left in the half to cut Chesnee's lead to 14-7. Blue Ridge had a huge eleven play drive that ate up over four minutes of clock that went seventy-one yards with fifty of those yards coming on the ground including an eighteen yard touchdown run by Rod Robinson to tie it at fourteen. The drive left just over ten minutes on the clock. Both teams would trade field position for the remainder of the regulation. Blue Ridge won the coin toss and chose to play defense first in overtime. Chesnee would only need two plays to score as Rodney Alexander took a handoff off the left side to the end zone to give the Eagles a six point lead. After a penalty against the Eagles, Chesnee kicker Ian Harris nailed a thirty-five yard extra point to extend the Eagle lead to seven. On the Tigers third play from scrimmage in overtime, Grayson Loftis hit Braeden Enloe for a touchdown from eight yards out. Loftis again hit Enloe on the two point try to give the Tigers a one point win. The Eagles defense had a solid night as they had to overcome four turnovers by the Eagles offense. "Defense played well, but turnovers killed us," said Lewis. "We have to get that corrected." Chesnee will look to bounce back in the final game of a three game home stretch as they take on R-S Central next Friday at 7:30pm. |
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