EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville's Dionte Rodgers gets plenty of attention from a lot of people.
He got quite a bit of attention from Granite City going into Friday's Southwestern Conference regular-season ending game at Tiger Stadium.
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Rodgers still got five touchdowns to extend his single-season team touchdown record to 24 and ran for 166 yards as the Tigers made their case for a good playoff seed with a 49-12 win over the Warriors to go to 8-1 on the season, 6-1 in the SWC. Granite, who went into the game still harboring playoff hopes, fell to 4-5 overall, 3-4 in the league.
“They're a very good team,” said Warrior coach Carl Luehmann. “They're 8-1 for a reason, they're going to the playoffs, they're a conference team, so good luck to them in the playoffs.
“I'm proud of what my guys have done this year; they finished 4-5, which is something they can be proud of. A game here or there, we had a shot to make the playoffs. No one believed in these kids, no one gave them a shot; I'm proud of my coaching staff and what they've done with them, I'm proud of the kids. They showed a lot of heart.”
“I was really surprised,” Tiger coach Matt Martin admitted. “They worried me; they particularly give defenses issues, but we played very well. We executed pretty much almost flawlessly except for a tipped pass that led to an interception.
“Freddy (Edwards, the Warriors' freshman who gained plenty of attention for his performances) does a good job scrambling; he's hard to tackle and he's a tremendous athlete and he buys time. It'll break down a defense if you're not disciplined and he'll find somebody open. He's a good player.”
Edwardsville's offensive line and tight ends did got the job done to spring Rodgers, Martin felt. “I thought our o-line and right ends did a great job up front and when he gets to that second and third level, he's making people miss and bouncing off tackles.”
Rodgers scored on runs of 2, 64, 17, 3 and 24 yards in the first half to pace Edwardsville to a 49-6 lead on the Warriors, with Dayleon Harris scoring from 17 yards out in the opening term and Kendall Abdur-Rahman bursting through for a 37-yard run in the second term to break the game open. Granite City's only touchdowns came fon an 34-yard pass from Edwards to Torrey Deal and a 3-yard pass from Williba to Kyle Thompson midway through the final quarter, which was played under a running clock once the Tiger lead had gotten to 49-6 late in the first half.
For Edwardsville, it's now a wait-and-see game they're playing until the IHSA announces the first-round pairings for the 43rd IHSA Football Championship Saturday night; the announcements begin at 8 p.m. and will be live-streamed at www.ihsa.tv and www.csnchicago.com.
“It's not going to be an easy road,” Martin said. “I told the kids I think we can play with anybody, but I think it's going to be hard-fought. It's going to come down to four or five plays; there's a lot of good teams in (Class) 8A this year if that's where we end up.”
The dates and times of the first-round games will be announced by the IHSA at 3 p.m. Monday.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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