Owls' Stewart makes fresh impact in return as starter

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Chester Stewart had multiple reasons to be motivated.

The Temple quarterback was playing a mile away from his old high school against Maryland, a program that didn't recruit him.

The DeMatha Catholic High graduate felt disrespected when the Terrapins refused to give the Owls their half of the field to warm up.

And he wanted to show Temple's coaches they made the right decision by starting him.

So the fifth-year senior, who has undergone a noticeable maturation process, responded with an exceptional performance in Saturday's 38-7 victory over Maryland at Byrd Stadium.

Stewart completed all nine of his passes for 140 yards in his first start of the season. He also had nine carries for 43 yards.

"I'm content with my performance," Stewart said. "It may look flawless, but I know I made some mistakes."

He admitted to messing up on some plays that could have gone for big yardage. Stewart also wouldn't take credit for completing all of his passes.

"My performance is really based on the big guys up front and the backs," he said. "The naked [bootleg] gain comes from if you have a good running game, you can have a good play-action team. That's how it worked out for me."

At the conclusion of last season, very few things appeared to be going Stewart's way. He lost his starting spot to Mike Gerardi in the eighth game of that campaign, and as a result, Stewart lacked confidence and had a poor attitude when Steve Addazio became the Owls' new head coach in December.

Stewart admits to making poor decisions in the past. Though he wouldn't go into detail, Stewart said one of those poor decisions led to him being suspended for the first game of this season.

"I really like the growth that I see in him," said Addazio, who is providing tough love to Stewart. "And having said everything, we are in Week 4, and I don't want to anoint anybody [as permanent starting quarterback].

While proud of Stewart's performance, Addazio said it was just one game.

"We got a lot of ball left to play," the coach said.