Frederick Douglass Oratorical Contest and Andrew Turner Art Show

Adorable PreK winner

The fourth annual Frederick Douglass Oratorical Contest and Andrew Turner Art Show were held at STEM on Thursday, March 21, 2019. Jean Arnold who volunteers for the district organized the event. The contest was opened to all district students from PreK-12^th grades. For the oratorical contest students had to recite an excerpt from one of Frederick Douglass’ speeches. There were winners from Pre-K-3^rd grades, 4-6 grades, and 9-12 grades. There were no entries from 7-8 grades. The amazing artworks were judged in 5 separate categories and each school had winners. Khoran Grasty from STEM won top prize and will go on to compete at the national level. 

STEM and Chester High School Oratorical Winners

 Chester High School Art winners

Chester High Boys Basketball season comes to an end

Thanks for the great reports this basketball season by Terry Thomas

The Chester Clippers (21-7) season was cut short after falling 96-82 to the Coatesville (29-2) Red Raiders before a standing room only crowd at Spring-Ford High School. The Fire Marshall ordered the doors closed after reaching their capacity of 2,200 leaving several hundred fans with and without tickets on the outside. Those arriving early enough to gain entry definitely got their money's worth as the Coatesville back-court of juniors Dapree Bryant and Jhamir Brickus put on a show combining for 31 of their 32 fourth quarter points and 74 of their 96. Oh, by the way Brickus put up 52 points which is the most scored against the Clippers since I've been associated with the program dating back to the 1990-91 season.

Chester stayed close in the first quarter. With senior Michael Smith going to the bench after picking up his 2nd person foul at the 4:27 mark, senior Rahmaad DeJarnette's led the way with 5 points and the Clippers trailing only 13-17. The teams exchanged baskets to begin the second quarter except it was 3 to 2 in Coatesville's favor allowing them to pull away slowly. Smith returned in the 2nd quarter and his basket at the 1:32 mark put Chester down 10, 23-33. Coatesville ending the quarter with a 10-3 run; having scored on their each of their last four possession while Chester scored once in their last three. Chester trailed 26-43 at the intermission.

Chester began the 3rd quarter in typical Clippers fashion, pressure defense and increased offensive efficiency resulting in a 15-5 run to get within seven at the 4:08 mark, 41-48. Going scoreless on the next three possessions including two unforced turnovers enabled Coatesville to increase their lead to 41-56. The Clippers stayed with the Red Raiders the rest of the quarter not allowing them to pull further ahead. Senior Javan Graham produced 4 of his 7 points and DeJarnette added 7 of his 14 points during this stretch. The third quarter ended with Chester behind 49-64.

The Clippers fought hard in the final 8 minutes putting up 33 points but it was not enough. Senior point guard Michael Smith tried hard to bring his team back scoring 12 of his team high 25 points in his last 8 minutes as a Clipper but it was not enough. Junior Akeem Taylor Jr joined his teammate with 10 of his 17 and fellow junior Rahmee Gilbert contributed 7 of his 9 points. Junior Zahmir Caroll finished the season with 4 of his 9 points in the 4th. The Clippers strategy of fouling in the quarter to save time did not pan out as Coatesville connected on 14 of 20 free throw to secure the win.

The Clippers once again displayed team basketball with three players in double figures - Smith (25), Taylor (17) and DeJarnette (14), two players with nine points - Gilbert and Carroll and Javan Graham with seven points. Senior Christian Massena connected on 1 of 2 free throws for his final point as a Clipper. Carroll produced 10 rebounds falling just short of a double-double.

Michael Smith finishes his career with 1,065 points placing him 26th on Chester's all-time list behind Steve "Nurse" Miller (1,074). He surpassed his Coach, Keith Taylor (1, 048) and brothers Rondae (1,056) and Rahlir (1,060) Jefferson along the way. Since we've been collecting stats starting with the 1992-93 season, Michael "Man-Man" Smith's number of points (1065), assists (266), rebounds (257) and steals (106) makes him just the 5th Clipper player to produce 1000 points and triple digit numbers in the other categories while solely wearing the Chester uniform.

Thank you goes out to this year's senior class of Rahmaad DeJarnette, Javan Graham, Christian Massena and Michael Smith for their hard work and dedication. It was truly a pleasure spending time with these young men. I wish them smooth sailing as they journey onward.

Chester High Boys Basketball advances to Quarter-Finals

By Terry Thomas

Chester (21-6) lives to play another day after pulling away from the District-3 Champion Harrisburg Cougars, 76-65, at Reading High's Geigle Complex. The win puts the Clippers in a Quarter-Finals match-up with the Coatesville Red Raiders on Saturday, March 16th at a site and time to be determined. Tonight marks the 8th consecutive victory by the Clippers over the Harrisburg Cougars dating back top to January 20, 2007. Chester now leads the series 12-6.

The Clippers started face jumping out to a 22-11 first quarter lead. The Cougars fought back and their trey at the end of the second quarter had the game dead even at 41. Chester's defense came back to life in the third quarter restricting the Cougars to 6 points to open a 55-47 advantage at the end of the period. Chester used five players to produce their 21 fourth quarter points to secure the win.

Chester used a well balanced attack in the contest with four players in double figures led by junior Akeem Taylor Jr's 19 points tying his career high. Michael Smith and Zahmir Carroll each tallied 12 points with senior Javan Graham completing the quad by matching his career high of 10 points. Javan played a complete game by doing the dirty work of boxing out and getting on the ground for loose balls and forcing turnover with excellent traps. Rahmee Gilbert and Rahmaad DeJarnette contributed 9 points a piece and senior Christian Massena helped out with 5 first half points.

Junior Zahmir Carroll dominated inside producing a double double by hauling in a career high 14 rebounds to go along with his 12 points. He also matched his career high of 5 monster blocked shots. Lengthy Rahmaad DeJarnette made his presence felt in the paint  by matching his career high of 9 rebounds. Junior Akeem Taylor continued to give work with a sound 6 rebounds, 3 blocked shots and 2 assists. 

Chester headed to Spring-Ford H.S

The Chester Clippers (21-6) continue their quest for a State Championship with a Quarterfinals contest against District 1's 2nd seeded Coatesville (28-2) Red Raiders. The game will be played on Saturday, March 16th, at Spring-Ford High School, 350 S. Lewis Rd, Royersford, PA 19468. Tip-off is 1:00 p.m.

The team would love to see your face in the place. You can stop by the Premium Outlets in Limerick after the game.

Chester High Boys Basketball moves on to 2nd Round of States

By Terry Thomas

Clippers (20-6) put on a defensive clinic against the Parkland Trojans in route to their 55-41 victory. The win at Bethlehem Freedom H.S. puts Chester in a 2nd round matchup against the District 3 Champion Harrisburg Cougars. The game will be played on Wednesday, March 13th at a site and time to be determined.

Chester started strong in the first quarter limiting the Trojans to 6 points while four different Clippers contributed to their 15 point total. Senior Rahmaad DeJarnette set the tone with 3 steals off Trojans first four possessions and dropped in four points. Michael Smith and Akeem Taylor were recipients of the stolen merchandise in scoring 5 and 4 points respectively. Junior Zahmir Carroll's put back finalized the first quarter production.

The game pace slowed in the 2nd quarter and with only 11 possession, the Clippers unforced errors (Traveling violations) helped limit their point production to a mere 6 points. Parkland meanwhile was an outstanding 7 of 8 from the free throw line which aided in their closing the deficit before intermission. When the buzzer sounded Chester lead was not three points at 21-18.

The third quarter was classic Clippers basketball. Press - Score - Press - Score. Chester scored on 11 of their 14 possessions. Back-to-back and-1's from senior Javan Graham stretched the Clippers lead to 12 points and it was all over from there. Steals by DeJarnette and Taylor led to easy transition buckets and Carroll strength on the boards allowed for buckets in the paint. Adding in two three-pointers from Smith and the Trojans attempt to sit back in a zone was proven to be fruitless. The end result was a 25-5 quarter for the Clippers and a 46-23 lead into the final 8 minutes.

The Clippers decided to milk the clock during the final 8 minutes and thereby limit the number of possessions for the Trojans and secure the win.

Michael Smith led the Clippers with 17 points followed by Akeem Tayor's 16 points which establishes a new Clipper high for him. Taylor displayed a complete game combining 4 steals, 6 rebounds and 3 blocked shots to his stat sheet. Rahmaad DeJarnette chimed in with 8 points, 4 steals, 5 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Zahmir Carroll (7), Javan Graham (5) and Fareed Burton Jr's two free throws completed the team's scoring.

The team stepped up big time with their double-double machine, sophomore Karell Watkins, unavailable due to a violation of team rules.

The Chester Clippers (20-6) continue their quest for a State Championship with a second round contest against the District-3 Champion Harrisburg Cougars (20-6). The game will be played on Wednesday evening, March 13th, at the Geigle Complex, Reading High School, 801 N. 13th St, Reading, PA 19604. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. following the William Allen (District 11 Champion) vs LaSalle (District 12 - 4th Seed) game that tips off at 6:00 p.m.

Chester High Boys Basketball finishes as 6th seed

By Terry Thomas

The Chester Clippers (19-6) finishes the District Tournament in 6th place after falling to the Norristown Eagles 67-60 at Norristown. After trailing by 15 entering the final 8 minutes, the Clippers continued to work hard and closed the gap to 65-60 with 21.9 seconds remaining. After forcing a turnover, the Clippers missed their next shot and the Eagles responded by knocking down two free throws for the final margin.

The Clippers could not find the wind to move their sails in the first half. Tonight's contest was just the opposite of their last game. In that game they had zero turnovers in the first half however in this contest they committed 10 first half turnovers allowing the Eagles to take a 38-23 lead into intermission. Additionally their free throw shooting was a mirror image of their turnovers. On Tuesday they were connected on 17 of 18 but tonight they were 10 of 16, while the Eagles, conversely went 11 of 12.

Norristown opened the third quarter with an 8-2 run and their lead ballooned to 21 points, 46-25, at the 4:40 mark. Four possessions later and trailing by 23 points, senior Michael Smith scored on a layup at 3:10 bringing the score to 48-27. The basket was his 10th point which allow him to join the exclusive 1000 point club. He becomes just the 31st Clipper to achieve this distinguished goal. He finished the night with a game high 21 points giving him a career total to date of 1,011. This places him in 29th place on the list just above Micah Covert (1,010). Each team totaled 14 points in the quarter.

The Clippers finally decided to take care of the ball in the fourth quarter and with on two turnovers were able to put pressure on the Eagles. Sophomore Karell Watkins produced 8 of his 12 points, senior Javan Graham work hard for 6 of his 10. Smith added 5, senior Rahmaad DeJarnette helped with 3 of his 5 and junior Rahmee Gilbert hit 1 of 2 free throws. He'd finish with 3 points. Chester outscored Norristown 23-15 in the final eight minutes but it was not enough.

Akeem Taylor Jr added 7 first half points and sophomore Fareed Burton Jr put in 2 third quarter points to complete the team's scoring.

Side Note:  Tonight's loss is the second for Chester in the District Tournament when the host team used a classroom on the second floor next to the restroom as the Clippers locker room. At least Lower Merion had the decency to leave the restroom unlocked.

The Clippers now move on to the State Tournament which opens on Saturday, March 9th. Their opponent will be decided on Saturday, March 2nd as they get the runner-up of the District 11 Championship between William Allen and Parkland. The site and time of the contest is to be determined.