EDWARDSVILLE - Edwardsville's freshmen football team under head coach Ryan Followell and defensive coordinator Chad Lakatos recorded a perfect 9-0 mark this fall, including a 34-28 win over East St. Louis. Quinn Speaks was the offensive line and defensive line freshman coach.
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Coach Lakatos was exceptionally proud of his boys who didn't have freshman varsity star Iose Epenesa throughout the season. Coach Lakatos said he knows historically this hasn't happened often. Followell and Lakatos also coached the 2015 team to an undefeated season.
"This was definitely a great group to work with this season," Coach Lakatos said.
The Edwardsville freshmen also outscored their opponents 431-60 in the fall.
The season was even more special for Chad because his son, Clayton, a speedster, was a versatile member of the freshman squad. Clayton Lakatos shared the quarterback duties with Jack Weaver. Clayton also spent a considerable amount of time on special teams and "was on the field a lot," Chad said. He returned a punt for a touchdown against Alton, another of his highlights this season.
"It was a nice balance to have Clayton and Jack at quarterback," he said.
Clayton was almost perfect as a passer, completing 17 of 22 in the air for a 77.27 percent completion rate of 265 yards and three touchdowns, while Weaver was 14 of 25 for 180 yards and one T.D. Clayton carried the ball 57 times for 489 yards and 11 TDs. Weaver carried 39 times for 375 yards and 7 touchdowns.
Coach Lakatos praised his talented backfield that had considerable yardage and scores in carries this season.
Some of those stats were: Drew Smith carried 57 times for 465 yards and 9 TDs. Darren Wilson carried 38 times for 514 yards and 6 TDs. P. Chism had 32 carries for 408 yards and 6 TDs, and Lonzell Spells had 28 carries for 242 yards and 4 TDs. Spells had 8 catches for 122 yards; Chism had 10 catches for 69 yards. Other key plays not included were Key interceptions by Holmquist and Chism. Holquist's pick was for a TD was against O’Fallon and Chism’s was against Collinsville.
Team members were: Lonzell Spells, running back/defensive back, Clayton Lakatos, quarterback/defensive back, Darren Wilson, running back, defensive back, Jackson Weaver, quarterback, defensive back, running back/linebacker Drew Smith, Jayden Cole, wide receiver/defensive back, Gavyn Yates, tight end/linebacker, Jacob Wahl, wide receiver/defensive back, Chris Malone, wide receiver/defensive back, Noah Harper, wide receiver/defensive back, Adrian Armstead, defensive line, Tristan Lance, wide receiver/defensive back, Patrick Chism, running back/defensive back, Jeremy Lyles, running back/defensive back, Collin Schlechte, kicker/punter, Henry Collins, running back/linebacker, Will Hentz, wide receiver/linebacker, Kaysar, Revelle, tight end/defensive line, Landen Holmquist, tight end/linebacker, Will Downs, linebacker, Julian Plough, defensive line, Noah Ramirez, tight end/linebacker, Joshua Oakley, defensive line, Gunnar Schag, offensive line/defensive line, Ricky Moore, offensive line/defensive line, Jackson Ward, offensive line/defensive line, Maurion Leggette, offensive line/defensive line, Cooper Zimmer, offensive line/defensive line, Hayden Volz, offensive line/defensive line, Logan Cox, offensive line/defensive line, William Wong, offensive line/defensive line, Joshua Goebel, offensive line/defensive line, Landon Gilliland, offensive line/defensive line, Evan Maddox, offensive line/defensive line, Michael King, offensive line/defensive line, Kyle Kujawa, offensive line/defensive line, Jackson Patrick, wide receiver/defensive back, and Tristan Abraham, tight end/defensive line.
Tigers' Varsity Coach Matt Martin watched a few of the freshmen games this season and was impressed, Coach Lakatos said.
“I think the football future for Edwardsville looks bright,” Coach Lakatos said.
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