PARENT INFORMATIONAL MEETING
THURSDAY, SEPT 4th 7PM
PROFESSOR SHARP CAFETERIA
PRIOR SIGNUP NOT REQUIRED
OCTOBER 6th, 2025
PINK OUT shirt!
Cost is $15
Pay by cash or check when you pick up your shirt.
Pre-Orders Due by September 2nd
Thank you!!
Rachel Marshall Principal at the new Chester Early Childhood Center in Chester, Illinois poses for a photo in front of the new facility that will officially receive students beginning Tuesday August 26. Marshall had just finished welcoming parents and members of the Chester community at an Open House to showcase the new state of the art facility. Jim Beers Photo
Photo 2
Chester School District # 139 Superintendent of Schools, Kimberly Briggs, prepares to cut the ribbon on the brand-new Early Childhood Center in Chester Monday August 25. The ceremony took place on the front porch of the Pre-School immediately following an open house held to introduce the new facility. With Briggs is the Chester Board of Education and other dignitaries including (left to right) Chad Ebers, Board member, Nikki Malley, former Board member, Rachel Ranta, Chester Early Childhood Center Principal, Shannon Wolff, Board member, Deb Caraway, Board President, Kimberly Briggs, Superintendent, Melissa Davitz, Preventive Initiative Coordinator, Barb Coffey, Board member, Dr, James Krieg, Board member, Matt Davitz, Board Vice President, and Charles Fricke, Board Secretary. The facility will receive students Tuesday August 26. Jim Beers Photo
Photo 3
Parents tour the brand-new Chester Early Childhood Center during the official Open House Monday August 25. A good crowed attended the event and were absolutely amazed with the pre-school. The inaugural class of students to attend the school will start Tuesday August 26. A large number of students who attend the event had to literally be carried from the school once the tour was over because they loved it so much, they did not want to leave! The facility is a huge hit with children and parents alike! Jim Beers Photo
Football YellowJackets scrimmage Carbondale Terriers in final warm-up for home opener next Friday August 29
6:57 p.m. National Anthem
In order to make the game situation as normal as possible the National Anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner” was played to start the game. In the absence of the Chester High School Marching YellowJackets, the Anthem was played over the Public Address System via a recording of the band.
7:00 p.m. Scrimmage begins
The scrimmage began at 7:00 p.m. Chester came to the game with a roster of 34 Varsity Players and 30 JV Players. The Carbondale Terriers had a roster of approximately 80 players according to one of their football staff.
The plan for the scrimmage was full contact with only individual plays being run. There was no clock. No scores were kept and no penalties enforced. The schedule for the plays being executed was as follows.
12 Varsity Offensive plays
12 Varsity Defensive plays
12 Varsity Offensive plays
12 Varsity Defensive plays
10 JV Offensive plays
10 JV Defensive plays
When asked his opinions regarding the scrimmage CHS Head Coach, Bill Belton said, “I thought the night was a great success. We got to play against a really good team. Coach Lee and his coaching staff do a great job. The Terriers are so well coached!”
“I thought our boys played extremely well! Trey McCartney had a great night. He had an interception and a touchdown. I feel as if the offensive line did a great job up front. Carbondale has some nice size and speed on defense, so it was nice to see our guys have some success against that defense!”
“The offensive line is led by our senior linemen, Brayden Juenger, Trever Keeton, Morgan Miers, and Jakob Stueve. Our senior skill guys had a great night also. Quarterback Tray Peters had a great night throwing the ball. He had a touchdown pass and he connected with five different receivers.”
“Derrius Shoemate had a great catch and a great run after the catch for an explosive play! Reed Creason did a great job blocking on our outside plays. Ethan Colvis ran the ball really hard. The offense looked really good overall. We have some things we need to work on but it’s early in the week so we will get to work on Monday!”
“Defensively I loved how we ran to the ball. Our defense played really well! The boys have worked really hard on that side of the ball. It was nice to see their hard work playing off. Carbondale has great speed. It is hard to keep those guys contained!”
“The defense did a great job all night. Our defensive line including Meir, Juenger, and Stueve led the way! Our defensive ends played really well. Karim Landeros and Trey McCartney did a great job on the sweeps. Ethan Colvis and TaShawn Palacio are the leaders of that group. They have done a great job!”
“Our linebackers did an amazing job. Conder, Ryker, Jany, and Creason all played really well. The defensive backs did a good job keeping the Terriers in front of us. Caleb Coffey and Derrius Shoemate have done a great job for us all summer! Finally, Alex Blechle and Zain Eggemeyer both played great on the back end!”
Belton said, “Overall I am very happy where we are right now! We have a ton of stuff to work on, but we have the players who will work. I am excited to get back to work on Monday.”
“Defense Coach Danny Roth has done an amazing job with the defense. The defense gets better every practice. Our JV and Freshmen played extremely well. Matt Colvis has done a great job with the younger guys. We all played well overall!”
Some of the key plays of the scrimmage included Peters completing a pass to Palacio very early in the game; Colvis breaking away for a great run around the left side; Peters completing a long pass to Blechle for yardage; Peters completing a pass to Trey McCartney and McCartney running an excellent sprint for the first touchdown of the evening; and finally, Karim Landeros kicking his first extra point of the season after McCartney’s touchdown.
The YellowJackets open the season this Friday August 29 when East Alton-Wood River comes to town to challenge the Jackets. Kickoff is 7:00 p.m. at CHS W.O. Smith Field.
Jacket fans get to “Meet the Fall Athletes” (3 of 4)
Football YellowJackets scrimmage Carbondale Terriers in final warm-up for home opener next Friday August 29
YellowJacket Golf
The Chester High School Golf Program has a total of 19 golfers, 9 girls and 10 boys. The girls feature an unusual four seniors, two juniors, one sophomore, and two freshmen. The boys have six juniors, two sophomores and two freshmen. There are no seniors on this year’s team.
2025 Lady Jacket Girls’ Team: The Lady Jackets feature seniors Macy Bert, Addison Gottschammer, Riley Lochhead, and Rylie Myers. Juniors include Monica Anaya and Macy VanZandt. The lone sophomore is Mallorie Homan. The two freshmen are Ashlynn Young and Natalie Venus.
Girls’ Golf Staff:
Head Coach: Robin Barton
Assistant Coach: Tony Lochhead
2025 YellowJacket Boys’ Golf Team: The Boys’ Team features juniors Trevin Eggemeyer, Logan Brace, Tallen James, Kross Jany, Logan McDonald, and Aidan McKinney. The two sophomores are Alden Davitz and Logan Springston. The two freshmen are Preston Liefer and Jack Luthy.
Boys’ Golf Staff:
Head Coach: Clayton Andrews
CHS Dance Team
The 2025-26 Dance Team consists of 12 young ladies including four seniors, three juniors, three sophomores, and two freshmen. The team has been practicing all summer and is now ready to begin performances at CHS Football games.
Seniors include Annah Helvey-Ahring, Hayden Cartwright, Megan Zimmer, and Southern LaChance. Juniors include Aubrey Petrowske, Macy VanZandt, and Katie Werner. Sophomores include Jaden Bert, Grace Irose, and Justice Mattingly. Freshmen include Peyton Moll and Kennedy Nortin.
Dance Team Staff:
Head Coach: Adrianne Kern
Assistant Coach: Bailey Misuraca
Assistant Coach: Emily Roth
2025 CHS Cheerleaders
There are 13 Cheerleaders on the 2025-26 CHS Cheerleading roster including one senior, four juniors, four sophomores, and four freshmen. This group was selected last spring at Cheer tryouts and are now ready to lead Jacket fans in supporting CHS sports teams to victory this school year!
The lone senior cheerleader is Callie Davis. She is joined by juniors Brooke Howie, Olivia Sellers, Vacey Shields, and Mackenzie Studt. Sophomores include Ashlynn Addison, Vanessa Greene, Addy Jany, and Kaylin Jany. Freshmen include Emma Bogard, Bailey Cross, Lauren Hayer, and Katelynn Vallett.
Cheerleading Staff:
Head Coach: Paige Gendron
6:00 - 6:45 p.m. Teams warmed up
The YellowJackets took the field for 45-minutes and warmed up for the upcoming scrimmage with Carbondale. The Terriers arrived during that time and began warming up as players were available.
6:45 p.m. CHS Cheerleaders and Dance Team Performance
At 6:45 p.m. the Chester High School Cheerleaders and the CHS Dance Team joined forces to perform a routine to the CHS Loyalty School Song. The combined units did a wonderful job and brought the audience to their feet.
6:55 p.m. Introduction of the officials
At 6:55 p.m. the game officials were introduced. The following five registered officials were on hand to call the game and give the players a taste of what they will face beginning next week at the start of the 2025 IHSA Football season. Officials included:
Brian Belcher
John Powell
Bernie Page
Derek Flatt
Wayne Taylor
Jacket fans get to “Meet the Fall Athletes” (2 of 4)
Football YellowJackets scrimmage Carbondale Terriers in final warm-up for home opener next Friday August 29
BY JIM BEERS
Volleyball
The 2025 Lady Jacket Volleyball Team features 21 young ladies including six freshmen, eight sophomores, four juniors, and three seniors. The 21 players are mixed to form three separate teams including a Freshman/Sophomore Team, a Junior Varsity Team and a Varsity Team.
2025 Freshman/Sophomore Team (11 players): This squad includes: Freshmen (six) Kinly Davitz, Kaylee Luckhaupt, Peyton Moll, Brystol Stellhorn, Hadlie Cushman, and Morgan Nanney; and Sophomores (five) including: Ashley Garcia, Jaden Bert, Maddie Hurst-Roy, Vanessa Greene, and Maci Ahring.
2025 Junior Varsity Team (14 players): This squad includes: Freshmen (six) Kinly Davitz, Kaylee Luckhaupt, Peyton Moll, Brystol Stellhorn, Hadlie Cushman, and Morgan Nanney; and eight sophomores ) including Marlie Caby, Ashley Garcia, Hannah Crow, Jaden Bert, Maddie Hurst-Roy, Vanessa Greene, Maci Ahring, and Taylor Korando.
2025 Varsity Team (10 players): The CHS Varsity Volleyball Team features 10 players. There is one freshman: Peyton Moll; There are two sophomores: Marlie Caby and Hannah Crow; Juniors include Aleah Eggemeyer, Aubrey Colvis, Joella Eggemeyer, and Avery Hasemeyer; and there are three seniors, including Camryn Wolff, Erin Liefer, and Maggie Caby.
Volleyball Staff:
Head Coach: Colleen Runge
Assistant Coach: Reese Chandler
Assistant Coach: Shannon Wolff
Cross Country
The 2025 Cross Country Team features seven runners, four boys and three girls. The boys include one sophomore, one junior, and two seniors. The girl’s team features one freshman and two sophomores.
2025 Boys’ Cross Country: The Boys’ squad includes Jaden Ramirez (sophomore), Victor Fuentes (junior), Ivan Hobbs (senior) and Gabe Coffman (senior).
2025 Girls’ Cross Country: The Girls’ Squad includes Katelyn Vallett (freshman), Jaimy Duran (sophomore) and Caitlyn Hargis (sophomore).
Cross Country Staff:
Head Coach: Chris Kern
Jacket fans get to “Meet the Fall Athletes” (1 of 4)
Football YellowJackets scrimmage Carbondale Terriers in final warm-up for home opener next Friday August 29
BY JIM BEERS
Friday August 22 Chester High School held its annual “Meet the Fall Athletes” event at CHS W.O. Smith Field. Admission to the gala was only one bottle of Gatorade or a can of food. The Gatorade will be used by the athletes throughout the fall seasons and the food will be donated to the local Chester Area Christian Food Pantry.
Meet the Fall Athletes
At 5:00 p.m. Jacket fans were allowed to come down to W.O. Smith Football Field to “meet and greet” the fall athletes “up close and personal”. Players and members of all six fall programs were on the field. Fans took a wide variety of photos, visited, and got to know those athletes who would compete in fall sports.
This portion of the evening lasted for precisely 45-minutes. At 5:45 p.m. fans were asked to take their seats in the bleachers and all fall athletes were introduced by stadium announcer Luke Lochhead.
Introduction of Fall Athletes
Next on the program was the official introduction of all fall athletes. All six groups of fall athletes came to the field and were introduced as their names were called. Introductions were in the following order including Football, Volleyball, Cross Country, Golf, Dance Team, and Cheerleading.
Football YellowJackets
The 2025 YellowJacket Football Team was featured first, in order to allow them to prepare for the upcoming scrimmage with Carbondale. CHS has only 16 freshmen out for football this season, therefore the freshmen will not have a schedule of their own at this time. The JV Jackets will consist of both freshmen and sophomore players. There are 14 sophomore players on the JV squad for a total of 30 JV players.
2025 JV Football Team: Freshmen include Cannon Wolf, Reed Petrowske, Duncan Bargman, Ty Tindall, Cole McDonald, Danny Santay, Austin Davitz, Owen Sharer, Isaiah Lyons, Triston Pruess, Keegan Stauffer, Pedro Hernandez, Austin Partin, Adam Essman, Kingston Turner, & Ryland Welge. Sophomores include Gage Lynn, Reagan Sims, Brandon Korando, Rhett Creason, Anthony Keeton, Donnie Sabo, Jaden Ramirez, Adden Hecht, Eagan McClelland, Bentley Valleroy, Hayden Haslett, Paxton Beam, Avery Wittenborn, & Brock Fuller.
2025 Varsity Team:
The Varsity Team consists of 34 players including 14 sophomores, 10 juniors, and 10 seniors. Seniors include Derrius Shoemate, Isaac Sims, Tray Peters, Reed Creason, Ethan Colvis, Brayden Juenger, Trevor Keeton, Morgan Miers, Jakob Stueve, and Caleb Coffey. Juniors include Alex Blechle, Zane Eggemeyer, TaShawn Palacio, Kanon Jany, Landen Conder, Ryker Hoffman, Karim Landeros, Jackie Bess, Michael Montroy, and Trey McCartney. Sophomores include Gage Lynn, Reagan Sims, Brandon Korando, Rhett Creason, Anthony Keeton, Donnie Sabo, Jaden Ramirez, Adden Hecht, Eagan McClelland, Bentley Valleroy, Hayden Haslett, Paxton Beam, Avery Wittenborn, and Brock Fuller.
Football Staff:
Head Coach/Program Coordinator: Billy Belton.
Offensive Coordinator: Bill Belton
JV/Freshman Head Coach: Matt Colvis
Defensive Coordinator: Danny Roth.
Special Teams Coordinator: Charles Colvis
JV Offensive Coordinator: Daigen Hunter
JV Defensive Coordinator: Logan Doll
Wide Receiver and Defensive Backs Coach: Caleb Strauss
Running Backs Coach: Steven Roth
Offensive Line and Defensive Line Coach: Tim Mueller
JV Offensive Line and Defensive Line Coach: Freddie Welge
JV Quarterback Coach: Wyatt Rueling
This is for Pre-K and EC immediate family members only. Thank you
Weekly “Special Teams” player of the week sponsored by Korando Heating and Cooling, and “Practice Player of the Week” sponsored by Nighthawk Coal.
BY JIM BEERS
Chester High School Head Football Coach, Billy Belton, has announced that starting this 2025 CHS Football season his program will start a new award program. This program will be weekly and sponsored by Korando Heating and Cooling of Chester, and Nighthawk Coal.
Each week Belton and his staff will select two players to be recognized and honored. The first award will recognize the best “Special Teams” player of the week and the second award will recognize the best “Practice Player” of the week.
Belton is proud to announce the first two award winners of the 2025 YellowJacket Football season.
Korando Heating and Cooling “Special Teams” Player of the Week: Karim Landeros
Coach Belton said, “Karim has been coming in on Sundays and kicking by himself. Working out in the very hot and humid weather we have had lately is to be recognized. Karim s a hard worker! He is going to be a great weapon for us this year!”
Nighthawk Coal “Practice Player” of the Week: Isaac Sims
Coach Belton said, “Isaac is a first year player for the YellowJackets. He has done an amazing job for us! He is all hustle and never takes a play off. He is always making his teammates better!”
Each of the two weekly award winners will receive a special T-shirt provided by the two sponsors. Korando Heating and Cooling and Nighthawk Coal have stepped up to be the 2025 sponsors of the “Special Teams” and “Practice Player” of the Week Awards for Chester Football.
Coach Belton stated, “I would like to give a special THANK YOU to Korando Heating and Cooling and Nighthawk Coal for sponsoring our “Special Teams Player of the Week” program and our “Practice Player of the Week” program.
PHOTOS by JIM BEERS & ICONIK
CUSD 139 would like to introduce our employees to the community. There are many new faces as well as returning veteran staff. We are looking forward to the start of a great 2025-2026 school year and step forward with students first and the community we serve.
See attached graphic.
Week of August 25th
See attached graphic.
CHS MEET THE PLAYERS OF FALL
Friday, August 22nd, 2025
Be sure to come out tonight to SUPPORT all of your YELLOWJACKETS!
Introducing the Football, Volleyball, Cheer, Dance, Golf and Cross Country teams.
Pictures to start at 5:00pm at W.O. Smith Field
Bring a canned food or a bottle of Gatorade for entry.
Scrimmage vs. Carbondale High School to start at 7:00pm
The Chester Early Childhood Center and Chester Grade School Iconik School Picture Days are coming up Tuesday, September 2nd. Details on the graphic attached.
Board of Education Meeting Relocation
The August meeting of the CUSD 139 Board of Education, anticipated to be located in the Boardroom of the new
Chester Early Childhood Center (CECC),
has been relocated back to CHS Juergens Gym at 7:00pm, due to construction delays. Please enter through the main entrance #2.
CUSD 139 would like to introduce our employees to the community. There are many new faces as well as returning veteran staff. We are looking forward to the start of a great 2025-2026 school year and step forward with students first and the community we serve.
Week of August 18th
See attached graphic.
The Chester Early Childhood Center has rescheduled Open House to Monday, August 25th, 6:00-7:00pm.