The first full week of the 2019-2020 school year at Chester High School was rounded out Friday night with the annual Gatorade/Soup Game and Media Night, featuring the popular Yellow Jacket football scrimmage.
Admission to W.O. Smith Field was a can of soup or bottle Gatorade. For that low, low price Yellow Jacket fans got a sneak peek at the football team and all the other fall sports squads.
They also were allowed on the field to meet the athletes and take pictures up close.
Stadium announcer Luke Lochhead started the evening by introducing the athletes of the cheerleading squad, the dance team, the volleyball squad, the cross country team and golf teams.
Cheerleaders
The squad has three seniors who are the leaders, Captain Ashtyn Jany and co-captains Amira Al-Jassim and Jessica Handel. The other members are juniors Kennedy Herrell and Lauren Soellner; sophomore Alex Hennrich and freshmen Emma Eggemeyer, Savanna Guebert and Reese McCormick. The squad is coached by head coach Alisa Herrell and assistant coach Amanda Middendorf.
"The girls are very enthusiastic and have put in a lot of hard work over the summer to prepare for the season," Herrell said.
Dance Team
Members of the team are seniors Kayla Bert, Maddie Hasemeyer, Jocelyn Landeros, Avery Runge, Mallary Vasquez and Lauryn Vasquez; juniors Juliette Abernathy, Taylor Cartwright and Alison Venus; sophomores Hannah Blechle, Ashlyn Colvis, Kylie Fortner and Maria Nickle and freshman Paige Vasquez. The Dance Team is coached by Adrianne Kern, assisted by Haley Williams.
Volleyball Lady Jackets
Members of the varsity team are Juliette Abernathy, Reese Chandler, Peyton Clendenin, Audrey Hopper, Ashtyn Jany, Josie Kattenbraker, Katie Shinabarger, Grace Stec, Kendall Williams, Lauryn Vasquez and Paige Vasquez.
The JV volleyball team is Juliette Abernathy, Kailyn Absher, Hannah Blechle, Anna Childs, Peyton Clendenin, Ashlyn Colvis, Hannah Colvis, Emma Eggemeyer, Kylie Fortner, Madison Kribs, Camille Schroeder, Alyssa Seymour, Katie Shinabarger and Paige Vasquez.
The 10 members of the freshman volleyball team are Maleia Absher, Sydney Collins, Kaitlyn Compton, Emma Eggemeyer, Savanna Guebert, Ashlyn Lemanski, Briley Miles, Reese McCormick, Paige Thomas and Paige Vasquez.
The Lady Jackets are coached by Sarah Norman and assisted by Sophia Durbin.
Cross Country
Coached by Chris Kern, this year's team has six girls and four boys. The Lady Jackets are seniors Addie Blechle, Avery Runge and Ryn Petrowske, juniors Amelia Schemonic and Melody Colonel and sophomore Kristen Seyler.
The boys team has seniors Trent Bierman and Chris Schwier, junior Jordan Hughes and sophomore Blake Huffman.
Golf teams
Seventeen golfers represent Chester on the links this fall, coached by Chris Toledo and assisted by Lavern Misselhorn and volunteer assistant coach Paul Zemlyn.
The Lady Jacket golfers are Alyssa Place, Kayla Bert, Maddie Hasemeyer, Samantha Eggemeyer, Emma Hathaway, Maria Nickle and Maddie Young.
The boys team has Chett Andrews, Jarrett James, Jaden Mott, Ryan Whitley, Kaden Freytag, Luke Miller, Brock Vasquez, Reed Welborn, Chance Mott and Clayton Andrews.
CHS football
After the other fall sport athletes were introduced, the football team was done warming up and the scrimmage portion of the event began. Each of the three CHS teams, freshmen, JV and varsity, ran 15 offensive plays.
Defense was held to one quick whistle to conserve the delicate W.O. Smith Field which has just been renovated. Recent rains left the field rather wet for the scrimmage and coaches wanted to protect the grass as much as possible for Friday's opening game.
The Freshmen Football Team has 20 players: Josh Benton, Scott Bernachi, Shane Bicket, Aiden Blechle, Conner Cowan, Carson Dunn, Trace Fricke, Jacob Handel, Gage Hasemeyer, Matthew James, Koby Jany, Jorge Jardines, Koda Mueller, Andrew Partin, Will Schuwerk, Cullen Sonnier, Aaron Welton, Branden Whitley, Clayton Gramer and Jacob Powell. The freshmen are coached by Jake Cowan, assisted by Travis McCormick.
The 2019 JV Football Team has 16 sophomores along with the 20 freshmen. JV is coached by Trevor Kelkhoff, assisted by Curt Eggemeyer, Charles Colvis, Jake Cowan and Travis McCormick.
The sophomore players are Freddie Alvarez, Brendan Baughman, Jerald Copple II, Jacob Cowell, Cooper Eggemeyer, Isaac Jany, Aiden Jany, Dylan Kelkhoff, Aiden Kennon, Jared Landeros, Isaac Maue, Jordan Merideth, Marcus Murphy, Nathan Snider, Ethan Stumpe and Gavin Young.
The 2019 Varsity Yellow Jackets have 40 players -- nine seniors, 15 juniors and the 16 sophomores. Head Coach is Billy Belton, assisted by Curt Eggemeyer, Trevor Kelkhoff, Charles Colvis, Jake Cowan and Travis McCormick.
Seniors are Ethan Bert, Gage Bollmann, Ethen Eggemeyer, Marisellis Malone, Jacob Miller, Brendon Murphy, Ian Reith, and Danny Clendenin.
Juniors are Devon Adams, Justin Clendenin, Nathan Fricke, Haydan Gendron, Alex Gruenewald, Dylan Hamilton, Shane Hayman, Nate Heffernan, Tyler Holm, Eli Hughes, Daigen Hunter, Caleb Parker, Lucas Rader, Bradley Ruch, and William Sorto.
"I was really happy with the scrimmages tonight," Belton said after the evening concluded. "We just did 15 plays per team, but the boys did well and demonstrated their skills.
"I was also very proud of our fans for donating three, 50-gallon barrels of Gatorade and canned soups. We will certainly use the Gatorade and the soups will be donated to the Chester Area Christian Food Pantry."
Belton said the team is ready for Friday's opener against Edwards County, who will bring a good quarterback and several good running backs and receivers in W.O. Smith Field. "They will be a challenge!"
Kickoff is 7 p.m.
