Chester rallies to top Broome, 28-21

Chester, with a homecoming crowd, came out of the gate strong Friday and then scored twice in the fourth quarter to beat Broome, 28-21.

Chester scored first on the play-making abilities of receiver Quay Strong, who took an early first-quarter hand-off 34 yards up the middle before being tackled at the 1. He was rewarded a play later with a one-yard touchdown run.

Broome didn’t enter enemy territory without a plan, and it might as well have been code-named, “Bend them until they break.”

Broome ran the ball on the first 28 of their 30 first-half plays, netting 207 yards.

Two lost fumbles early on almost derailed the plans, but Chester could not capitalize on either turnover.

At the 10:03 mark in the second quarter, full back D’Marco Jackson burst through the middle untouched and sprinted 43 yards for a Broome touchdown. Almost ten minutes later, quarterback Hunter Weber broke a 29-yard touchdown run for a 14-7 Broome halftime lead.

The second half was a different story.

Chester scored on a 7-yard run by Pha’leak Brown, the only score of the third quarter. Broome’s Weber responded with a 3-yard touchdown run of his own with 9:28 left in the fourth quarter.

With Chester in the redzone on the next drive, quarterback Malik Brown dropped back and threw the ball toward the goal line in the middle of the field. It was tipped and brought down by Broome defender Brian Lyles at the 1.

Broome couldn’t move the ball and punted. Receiving the punt for the first time all season, Williams looked to the left sideline and scampered into the end zone to tie the score.

After a Broome fumble, Williams executed the game-winning drive, concluding with a touchdown pass to Ty Good.

“Just keep pressing,” Chester coach Victor Floyd told his players during their comeback. “All year we’ve been a first-half team. I told them at half time, ‘Let’s flip the script and be a second-half team tonight.’”

Turning point

After throwing a red-zone interception with less than five minutes to play, Malik Williams lined up to receive a Broome punt and returned it up the left sideline for a touchdown. He then converted a two-point attempt with a pass to Quay Strong to tie the game.

Critical

Turnovers cost Broome a game that was well in hand. With the game tied at 21, Webers’ fumble gave Chester the opportunity to break the tie and take its first lead since early in the second quarter. An errant pass, thrown into the hands of defensive back Quay Hardin with less than a minute to go, sealed the Chester win.

Star contributions

Not only did Malik Williams pass for 120 yards and rush for 54 yards, he also overcame a late fourth-quarter interception by masterminding two subsequent touchdowns to lead his team to a come-from-behind victory.

“I just tried to keep my head up, keep my team in the game, and make sure we did the best that we could do,” Williams said of his mind frame with his team down 21-13 in the fourth quarter.

Broome 21, Chester 28

This story was originally published October 16, 2015 at 11:05 PM with the headline "Chester rallies to top Broome, 28-21."