The 'Battle of Chester' rarely disappoints and last night was no exception as the Knights of Thomas Dale and Skyhawks of LC Bird engaged in a battle of will to determine who had the better defense.

You must remember last week when the Skyhawks shutout James River and the Knights only allowed 8 points from the Titans. Of course the thought coming into this season was that the Knights were a young team that might be good by seasons end but the Skyhawks were the buzz team of the offseason with their additions. Buzz, however, does not win games.

The Knights offense was pedestrian... the special teams delivered as one would expect and the defense was what we have come to expect. On the flip side, the Skyhawks defense was top notch but the offense did them no favor, at one point during the game one of the Bird coaches said as much as he yelled at his guys. For everything good the Skyhawks did on offense, they did something bad whether it was a turnover or a penalty. For all that Dale did to win, Bird just as much to give it away and in the end, that is what happened.

A common theme in this contest was Bird being unable to capitalize on moments. There was no better indication of that than when the Knights fumbled the opening kick-off and Shawn Jasey was all over it and the Skyhawks were gifted excellent field position but they could not translate that into points. Faced with a 4th & 2 the Skyhawks went for it and Draylin Waller (remember that name) stopped Corey Holland for a turnover on downs.

Another problem the Skyhawks ran into were penalties which anyone that knows Bird football knows the two go hand and hand. They were flagged for holding on that first possession and a flag fell on 3rd & 11 that gave the Knights a first down at the 50. The yellow flew so many times during this contest (18 to be exact) you would have thought it were pollen season there was so much yellow falling.

Chris Whitehead and Jacqui Vaughan came away with pass disruptions that stymied the Knights drive and ultimately forced the Knights hand for a 40-yard Jon Gates field goal with 5:40 to go in the first quarter. That would be the first score of the night.

The Knights defense held the Skyhawks to a 3 & out although the case could be made the Skyhawks held themselves to a 3 & out. First there was a false start call and then on 3rd & 19 Shawn Jasey dropped a Jason Wright pass.

A defensive battle ensued in the first quarter with both holding one another to a 3 & out not without the Knights giving Jon Gates another shot at a field goal, this one from 51 yards out but it fell about 15 yards shy this time and the Skyhawks dodged a bullet and capitalized for the first and one of the few times when Jason Wright on 2nd & 5 took off along the Knights sideline on a fake for a 75-yard touchdown run.

By the second quarter the Skyhawks had the ball again but penalties set them back but that paled in comparison to when Draylin Waller snatched a Jason Wright pass out of the air, the first of two INT's for the senior linebacker.

Bird doing Bird things, they were penalized twice on the Knights possession off that turnover, the first when they were called offsides and the other for pass interference. Ethan Medley and Jaiden Hite alternated running the rock with Hite ultimately punching it in from four yards out with 8:34 to go in the half to reclaim the Knights lead.

The Knights defense held the Skyhawks to a 3 & out and the Skyhawks returned the favor although disaster nearly struck the Knights when Ethan Medley recovered a loose ball.

The Skyhawks took the lead under 2 minutes to go in the half putting together a 56-yard drive that saw LC Bird suffer their own ball handling issues when they fumbled and recovered. The Skyhawks bit by bit with a combination of Jason Wright, Sir Paul Cheeks and Corey Holland chipped yard after yard moving closer to the end zone before Corey Holland finally punched it in to wrestle the lead away from Dale, now up 14-10 with 1:49 to go in the half.

Thomas Dale was backed up at their own 19 and then their own after the play got blown up but on 2nd & 20 Ethan Medley hit Draylin Waller for a 26-yard gain and fresh set of downs. Two plays later Bird was called for pass interference and the Knights were sitting pretty at the Skyhawk 16. Daishawn Williams got to Medley for a loss of 2 yards. The defense stopped Medley in his tracks on second down. On 3rd down Bird was hit with another flag making it 3rd & 5 but the Knights could not get into the end zone. As time expired in the half, the Knights drew within a point of the Skyhawks on a 20-yard Jon Gates field goal.

Back to the narrative that Bird beat themselves as much as Dale did...

LC Bird overcame an early flag on their first possession of the second half behind a Corey Holland 27 yards run but still had to punt coming away with nothing.

Dale fumbled, Bird thought they had it but it was ruled a touchdown. Despite being called offsides the Skyhawk defensed forced a 3 & out. On the ensuing punt return Sir Paul Cheeks flew down the field for a big time touchdown but as Lee Corso says... "not so fast my friend". The touchdown was called back due to an illegal block in the pack. Cheeks followed that up with a 25 yard run... and then that was called back for holding. Three plays later Micah Gilcrest intercepted Jason Wright.

All was not lost for the Skyhawks. They got a safety against Dale and again poised to make some noise now up 16-13.

More penalties for the Skyhawks and with the Skyhawks facing 2nd & 20 Draylin Waller intercepted Jason Wright and this time he cashed in on the end zone and just like that, the Knights took the lead, 20-16.

The third quarter came to a close with Bird fumbling again but Rodkize Bolling was able to recover the loose ball and Bird would once again punt.

As much as everything that could go wrong for Bird was, everything that could go right for Dale was. Facing a 4th & 2 in the early stages of the fourth quarter, Thomas Dale converted a fake punt.

The one that could not be denied about Bird was that their defense was outstanding, both defenses stole the storylines on this night. James Bland & Chris Whitehead got to the Knights with a loss of 7 yards and followed that up breaking up a pass. The Knights would punt and the two teams exchanged possessions going 3 & out with the defenses rising to the occasion.

The Skyhawks were down just 4 points... they just needed to not make any mistakes but that was not meant to be. A hold on the punt return set them back at their own 15. Jason Wright & Jessiah Parker hooked up for 12 yards and then a screen pass to Sean Jasey saw another 11 yards. The Skyhawks offense was clicking as Corey Holland would be the next up with a 22 yard run to the Dale 40 followed by an 8 yard run to the 32.

Sir Paul Cheeks got the first, the Skyhawks had the ball at the Dale 25, a little over a minute to go in the game and the ball was fumbled! Senior defensive end Jonah Harris picked up the loose ball and rumbled, stumbled and took it to the house! With 1:06 to go the Knights took a 27-16 lead and there was nothing Bird could do... the Knights had come to Bird and silenced the buzz surrounding the Skyhawks but Bird certainly did themselves no favors.

Junior linebacker Michael Davis had 9 tackles against the Skyhawks as he looks every bit the part of the breakout player on defense Coach Tucker talked about in the preseason.

Vicente Chavarria, the sophomore defensive back had 9 tackles as well on a night where the Knights defense shined!

Draylin Waller was a stud tonight with 3 tackles, 2 INT's one of which was for a score

Thomas Dale is now 25-27-1 all-time versus LC Bird.

In the regular season the series sits at LC Bird 26-20-1 all-time.

This was Thomas Dale's third straight win at LC Bird in series.

Thomas Dale has now won 6 straight in the series.

This is Coach Matt Bland's first loss as a head coach.

Coach Kevin Tucker improves to 10-7 versus the Skyhawks.