The Herald's 10-best 2017 HS football games: Chester at Lancaster
A last-second field goal gave Chester a win over Lancaster in 2016, the biggest win in Victor Floyd’s two-year second stint back in charge of the Cyclones. The Sept. 8 non-region rematch should be a dandy and is the next game up in The Herald’s 2017 Showdown Countdown.
Chester
Beating Lancaster was a watershed moment for Chester last year, something the Cyclones realized as evinced by their slightly stronger than usual postgame celebration. A win this September would have more of a confirming feel, since Lancaster is still a pretty strong program despite heavy losses to graduation.
Chester lost stud QB Malik Williams to college football but has a few candidates that should be able to do enough of a job to keep the Cyclones moving, plus they’ve got future college football players in Quay Hardin, Pha’Leak Brown, Leon Goldsborough, Wyatt Tunall and a few others.
Floyd’s program is accruing positive momentum and the number of players is way up from the same time last year. An early non-region win over Lancaster would really underscore the belief that the Cyclones can inflict some damage on 3A football this fall.
Check out highlights from last year’s thrilling Lancaster-Chester matchup:
Lancaster
Farrika Grier ran for over 200 yards and three touchdowns against Chester last season, which makes you wonder: who will do anything like that this year for Lancaster? Not only is Grier gone, but his powerful backfield partner Ant Foster is too, both to college football.
Bobby Collins’ Bruins have plenty of talent returning, though, including four of last year’s five offensive line starters. Man, they’re big, too.
Lancaster also has one of the most dynamic defensive players in the area, maybe the state, in lightning bolt Markees Watts, and a college-offered wide receiver in Desmond Stowers. If the Bruins can establish a focal point offensively, they should be very competitive this year, especially in early September against their rivals from about 30 miles down SC-9.
Series
SCFootballHistory.com has Chester-Lancaster game scores dating back to 1951, but it’s likely these two towns played each other in high school football well before that. From 1957 to 1974, Lancaster won 17 out of 18 games against the Cyclones. Lancaster’s 42-0 win over the Cyclones in 1987 is the most lopsided game in the series history, and the two teams didn’t play from 1993 to 2010.
Since the series revived, Chester has won three of the past five.
Showdown Countdown so far
Editor’s note: The Herald is counting down to the 2017 high school football season by revealing the 10 most interesting games in York, Chester and Lancaster counties this coming fall. Games will be organized by date and revealed in Monday, Wednesday and Friday newspapers.
This story was originally published July 11, 2017 at 2:10 PM with the headline "The Herald's 10-best 2017 HS football games: Chester at Lancaster."