What We Saw: Daniel 49, Chester 20

Brandon Stockdale November 17, 2023 @ 11:36 PM

CENTRAL | Daniel came out in Friday night's third round playoff game against Chester with the intention to air it out. They did that with [player_tooltip player_id='1055627' first='Kolton' last='Chapman'] (pictured middle), while having a nice mix of the run game with [player_tooltip player_id='997148' first='Ja'kari' last='Bennett'] (pictured right), who scored two touchdowns as the Lions defeated the Cyclones 49-20 to advance to next week's 4A Upper State championship against Belton Honea Path next Friday night.   “Proud of this team. Proud of the work that they're doing. Proud of how hard they fight for each other and I don't think enough gets said about when kids create these goals in their heads and they don't tell you about them, they just go out and try to achieve them and I think that's what we saw here tonight,” Daniel coach Jeff Fruster said.   The first drive was a precursor of things to come as Chapman connected with Graydon Nix on an out route, before connecting with Sam Earle on a 46-yard completion for the first points of the night to put Daniel up 7-0 with 9:28 to play in the opening quarter.   But Chester would recover a fumble on a sack a few drives later. Cue [player_tooltip player_id='771067' first='Antonio' last='Hopkins']. After converting a 4th and 2, he punched it in on a short run to get Chester on the board at 7-6 with 4:16 in the first quarter. The two-point try was no good.   Earle was fun to watch in the quick passing game, like when he took a completion and got up field quickly for a huge pickup. They were able to take a lot of short passes and turn them into big gains, leading to quick scores, like when Tory Shaw scored from 3 yards out to increase the lead to 14-6 with 9:53 to play before the half.   “We definitely had to take advantage of what they were giving us. You know, they're a very fast defense. They stacked the box, they have the ability to play man, so we had to take advantage of the short routes because we knew hitting them over the top was probably going to be a task tonight so we just took what was available,” Fruster said.   Chester had a quick answer of their own as Coleman ran hard throughout the night as he had several bursts. One of those led to a 4-yard [player_tooltip player_id='457973' first='Trooper' last='Floyd'] touchdown run with 6:37 to play in the second quarter to cut into Daniel's lead at 14-12.   But for every Chester drive, Daniel responded quickly and went right down the field. Chapman hit Jason Bush on a 15-yard shallow for a touchdown with 3:55 left before the half, taking a 21-12 to the halftime locker room.   The third quarter was all Lions. Jason Bush picked up a first down to the Chester 46 before Kari Bennett showed a great burst on a run, to increase the Lions' lead to 28-12 with 7:14 to play in the third quarter.   [player_tooltip player_id='1254198' first='Tristyn' last='Carrington'] picked up a sack and later, the Lions defense forced a turnover on downs with an incompletion with under 5 minutes to play in the third quarter. Tory Shaw punched it in for a short touchdown with 2:09 left in the third quarter.   Daniel added two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to close the scoring.

CENTRAL | Daniel came out in Friday night's third round playoff game against Chester with the intention to air it out. They did that with Kolton Chapman Kolton Chapman 6'2" | 200 lbs | QB Daniel | 2024 State SC (pictured middle), while having a nice mix of the run game with Ja’kari Bennett Ja’kari Bennett 5'6" | 160 lbs | RB Daniel | 2024 State SC (pictured right), who scored two touchdowns as the Lions defeated the Cyclones 49-20 to advance to next week's 4A Upper State championship against Belton Honea Path next Friday night.