Shaw Local

News   •   Sports   •   Obituaries   •   eNewspaper   •   The Scene
News

St. Charles East digs early hole at Edwardsville, can't recover

Tigers beat Saints 44-17, advance to face top seed Minooka

“The first two possessions, we had them third and long and they converted. I thought that was a big momentum shift,” Saints coach Bryce Farquhar said. “I give our kids a lot of credit for staying in it in the first half, but we made too many mistakes overall to be able to hang with a team as good as Edwardsville.” Edwardsville (8-2) advances to take on top seed Minooka, a winner over Joliet West, in next week’s second round. The Tigers advanced to the quarterfinals last season.

By GREG UPTAIN

“The first two possessions, we had them third and long and they converted. I thought that was a big momentum shift,” Saints coach Bryce Farquhar said. “I give our kids a lot of credit for staying in it in the first half, but we made too many mistakes overall to be able to hang with a team as good as Edwardsville.” Edwardsville (8-2) advances to take on top seed Minooka, a winner over Joliet West, in next week’s second round. The Tigers advanced to the quarterfinals last season.

“I just told our kids that we beat a very good football team that is well-coached,” Edwardsville coach Matt Martin said. “We’ve won a lot here and sometimes you take it for granted. It doesn’t come easy. You have to beat good programs and we’ve been able to do that.” The Tigers took the opening kick and marched 71 yards in five plays to take a 7-0 lead just 2:20 into the game on a 37-yard run by Justin Johnson Jr. After an interception, Johnson capped another five-play drive with a 1-yard dive over the pile. He picked up a third TD before the first quarter was over when he scampered in from eight yards out as the Tigers built a 20-0 lead.

“I felt like they forced us to do what we really weren’t good at it in running the box,” Farquhar said. “Kudos to them for being able to force us into really one of our weaknesses and that’s the inside run game.” St. Charles East finally dented the scoreboard when Cole Conn ran in from one yard out to cut it 20-7 after one quarter. Edwardsville quickly responded as Ryan Hampton scored on a 1-yard quarterback keeper to give the Tigers a 20-point lead again early in the second quarter.

The Saints rattled off 10 straight points by scoring on back-to-back possessions to start the quarter. Nathan Hull hauled in a 47-yard bomb from QB Nathan Hayes just four minutes and then Jack Erminio booted a 37-yard field goal to trim the deficit to 27-17 with 1:30 left before halftime.

But, Mason Ahlers took a pitch from Johnson and turned it into a 69-yard TD with 48.3 seconds left to give the Tigers a 34-17 advantage at the intermission. The Saints pieced together a nice drive to open the second half, but Erminio’s 23-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right. Edwardsville’s Chase Parker would convert a field goal at the other end nearly four minutes later. Johnson closed the scoring with his fourth TD of the night, a 32-yarder with 3:01 left in the third quarter.