EDWARDSVILLE – The Edwardsville High School football team will be facing its biggest challenge of the season on Saturday evening when they go on the road to face Frankfort Lincoln-Way East in the quarterfinals of the IHSA Class 8A playoffs. The game kicks off at 6 p.m.
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The Tigers, 8-3 going into the matchup, will be facing an 11-0 Griffins team that are the defending champions, having beaten Wilmette Loyola Academy 23-14 in last year’s final. East won over Glen Ellyn Glenbard West 45-0 in last week’s second-round game, while Edwardsville eliminated West Aurora 45-16 at home.
“They look like the defending Class 8A champions,” Tigers coach Matt Martin said in an interview. “They’re the best all-around team we’ve seen this season. We’re going to need to play our best to win.”
In the win over the Blackhawks last week, sophomore running back Justin Johnson, Jr. ran for a career-high 224 yards and a touchdown, while senior quarterback Kendall Abdur-Rahman threw for three touchdowns and scored two others. The Tigers’ defense had three more takeaways, two interceptions, and a fumble recovery, to take their postseason total to eight.
The Griffins present a big challenge for Edwardsville.
“Their defensive line plays physical, their linebackers and defensive backs are flying, their great tacklers and their ballhawks,” Martin said. “Their offensive line is huge, they’re well-coached and run good schemes, and their wide receivers and running backs all have the ability to make big plays.”
The Tigers have their punishing ground game, led by Abdur-Rahman, Johnson and Dionte Rodgers, with each of them being able to execute big plays. Abdur-Rahman, who committed last month to Notre Dame, ran for 806 yards in the regular season, while Johnson had 728 yards rushing and Rodgers 216.
The passing game gives the Tigers an extra dimension to work with. Abdur-Rahman threw for 515 yards and 11 touchdowns in the regular season, with Rodgers the leading receiver out of the backfield during the regular season, has 19 receptions for 298 yards and three touchdowns.
“It makes us a little more balanced offensively,” Martin said. “We really executed well.”
Defensively, Jacob Morrissey and Ryan Strohmeier lead the team up front, with Morrissey being among the team’s leading tacklers, and Strohmeier coming up with takeaways in key spots. Strohmeier recovered a fumble that helped lead to a Tiger score in last Saturday’s game, while the secondary, led by Rodgers, Ethan Young, and Jalen Cooper, has come up big themselves in the postseason. Cooper had two interception returns for touchdowns in the Tigers first-round win over Evanston, while Young had a key interception last week against West Aurora.
The Tigers will follow their regular route to have a chance against East: execute, win the turnover battle and play well in all three phases of the game.
“We definitely have to win the turnover battle,” Martin said. “They get on people pretty quick when you turn the ball over.”
And special teams will also play a key role in the outcome of the game.
“We have to play well in all three phases of the game,” Martin said. “We have to play well on special teams as well.”
The winner will advance to the semifinals next week, where they’ll play the winner of Loyola and Park Ridge Maine South for a berth in the Class 8A final. The final will be played on Nov. 24 at the University of Illinois’ Memorial Stadium in Champaign-Urbana.Chris Rhodes also contributed to this story.
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