Chester scores 57 points in wild win over Lower Richland to keep football season alive
Lower Richland quarterback Robert Adams was running for his life when he chucked up a wobbly pass into the endzone with less than 10 seconds left at the end of what happened to be the biggest game of the year.
Adams’ improvisations had worked time and time again on Wednesday night in Chester, but it didn’t this time: Instead, Chester cornerback Jonathan Goldsborough came up big — rising up, trapping the ball to his chest and falling down in his own endzone.
Interception. Touchback. Victory formation. A 57-50 Chester win — one that gave Chester a berth in the 2020 3A state playoffs.
“If we lost tonight, our season was over,” head coach Victor Floyd said postgame, his voice hoarse after Chester’s wildest win of the year. “It just shows that we got heart. We dug deep. We had to have it.”
There were so many turning points in the Cyclones’ high-scoring win on Senior Night that it probably made Floyd dizzy.
The madness started early in the first quarter: Chester had its first drive go three plays for 65 yards and had it punctuated by a 26-yard touchdown run from between-the-tackles running back Darius Head. (7-0, Chester.) On the ensuing kickoff, Lower Richland fumbled the ball, Chester recovered it within 20 yards from the endzone, and Head soon after punched in another touchdown run. (14-0, Chester.) Lower Richland then ran that ensuing kickoff back for its first touchdown of the game but missed the extra point attempt. (14-6, Chester.) The next possession, Chester’s Zan Dunham threw an interception, which was returned 23 yards for another Lower Richland touchdown. (14-13, Chester still up.)
Yes — four touchdowns were scored before Lower Richland played an offensive down.
The two teams traded so many blows through the next two quarters, fans in the stands probably thought they could catch this contest on pay-per-view television: There was another Head touchdown for Chester; three unanswered touchdowns for Lower Richland, helped in part by untimely Chester turnovers; two Dunham (QB)-Goldsborough (WR) passing connections for touchdowns for Chester; a blocked punt by big-play man Jaden Simmons; and more.
Entering the fourth quarter, Lower Richland was up 38-35 — its three point lead by vice of inconsistent special teams play on extra points.
Two-point conversion for the season
In the fourth quarter, things didn’t calm down. Chester’s Simmons recovered a fumble, which led to a Dunham nine-yard punch-in go-ahead score. 42-38, Chester.
The ensuing possession, Lower Richland’s Jeremy Barney — who was a load to take down all night — took it 74 yards for a score of his own. The extra point attempt banged off the right post and fell no good. 44-42, Lower Richland up.
Then came perhaps the biggest sequence of all: After yet another Head rushing touchdown, Floyd called a timeout and dialed up the perfect two-point conversion call — a play-action pass play where Dunham found a wide-open Head for a receiving score in the flat. 50-44, Chester up.
“We kind of worked that play all week knowing it would be there,” Floyd said of the successful two-point conversion.
Lower Richland responded immediately with a 70-plus yard touchdown pass, but Chester blocked Lower Richland’s PAT attempt. The score was tied. 50-50.
Chester took the ensuing possession and took two minutes off the clock — which, in this game, felt like the length of your commute home on a Friday afternoon during rush hour — and then, with 59.8 seconds remaining in the game, quarterback Dunham took it himself for a four-yard score. 57-50, Chester.
In the game’s final meaningful drive, Lower Richland drove all the way down to the Chester 20 yard-line, spiking the ball in between 15- to 20-yard chunk plays to stop the clock.
But then came the roll out; Adams running for his life; the pass under pressure that found Chester defender Goldsborough in the right place at the right time — and the Chester win.
Chester key performers
▪ Running back Darius Head had 21 carries for 77 yards and four touchdowns.
▪ Wide receiver Jonathan Goldsborough caught three passes for 52 yards and two touchdowns. He also added an interception.
▪ Zan Dunham, who was sorely missed in Chester’s loss to Catawba Ridge last week when he was out with an injury, accumulated 130 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, 71 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns on Wednesday night.
▪ Although he had his first half marred by a lost fumble and didn’t find the endzone, Jaden Simmons was arguably Chester’s most valuable player on Wednesday night — blocking an important punt that set the team up for an easy score, recovering another fumble and rushing for 71 yards on nine carries.
Floyd on Simmons postgame: “You know, he fumbled earlier, and that really bothered him. But he just made up for it in so many different ways, man.”
This story was originally published October 28, 2020 at 11:25 PM.