EDWARDSVILLE – It was an explosive night for the Edwardsville offense, as quarterback Yale Weaver and running back Brandon Houston, Jr. combined on the ground to help the Tigers pick up their badly-needed first win of the season 48-30 over Belleville West Friday night, Sept. 19, 2025, at Tiger Stadium.
It was already an explosive start to the game, with both teams needing 96 seconds to get on the board each in five combined plays. The game also featured a big kickoff return for a touchdown by the talented Nicholas Hankins of the Maroons, who also had a great game. In the end, the Tigers were able to score on almost every possession, while getting key stops of the West offense.
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“We played better, finally,” Edwardsville head coach Kelsey Pickering said in his postgame interview. Belleville West is obviously good, and so, give them all the credit, too. It was nice to be on the other side this week, getting the W, so it was nice.”
The much-needed win will be a big confidence boost for the Tigers, as they head into key conference games during the next four weeks.
“I think anytime, 0-3 needs a win, right?, Pickering said. “And so, getting that victory’s is a big deal. And now, our goal is to continue to figure out how to grow on this. We have to continue to get better, and I don’t want to take away from anything tonight. It’s awesome. We need a win, it’s great, everything we need as a program.”
The rushing game was overwhelming for the Tigers on the night, especially with both Weaver and Houston running well. Pickering also gave much credit to the Tigers’ offensive line as well.
“The offensive line, without those guys,” Pickering said. “I know they got a lot of yards after contact, too, but the offensive line did a great job, and it was just nice to see. I think we played complimentary football on offense, with the run game, the pass game. Obviously, we gave up a special teams touchdown, not fun. I always think about the team, and as a team I think we played much better than we had the first three weeks. We built on last week, really.”
The defense played well also for the Tigers, cleaning some things up during the second half, when the game threatened to become a shootout.
“We tried,” Pickering said with a laugh. “We got a few things fixed, we’ve got a few more things to get corrected. That’s the nice piece, is that when we’re not getting stops every series, at least match the score. That’s the goal. You never want to get into a boat race, but as long as we’re keeping pace, and get a stop here and there, that’s a big deal. And so, just being able to play that complimentary football – offense, defense, special teams – we believe in it.”
It only took two plays after the opening kickoff for the Maroons to score, with Hankins taking off on a 65-yard run down the far sideline for the touchdown, but the conversion kick was missed, leaving the score 6-0 for West. It only took the Tigers three plays to counter, with Weaver going off for a 71-yard run to put the ball on the West nine, where Houston took it in on the next play, the Tigers going up 7-6 after only 96 seconds.
The Maroons went on a long drive on their next possession, but the Tiger defense held after the drive stalled on a fourth down play, and on the next possession, Lucas Garman kicked a 33-yar field goal to give extend the Tiger lead to 10-6. West scored on the ensuing possession, as quarterback Caiden Cappel ran in from 111 yards, but again, the convert was missed, but West went ahead 12-10
Houston gave the Tigers the lead right back when he took off on a 23-yard jaunt to the end zone to give Edwardsville a 17-12 advantage. The Maroons needed only one play to take the lead right back, when Hankins went off for 71 yards and a touchdown, West going back out in front 18-17 when a two-point try was missed. Weaver came right back on the next possession and went in from two yard out to give the Tigers a 23-18 lead after a two-point try was no good The defenses held the rest of the way giving the Tigers the 23-18 lead at halftime.
Edwardsville came right out of the gate at the start of the second half, as Weaver threw eight yards to Eric Smith for the touchdown to make the score 29-18. Hankins then took the ensuing kickoff back 92 yards for a touchdown, showing his tremendous speed and ability, to cut the lead to 29-24 after the two-point try was missed.
Both defenses held on the next possessions, but the Tigers extended their lead to 35-24 after a two-point try was no good. Oliver Brown later scored from two yards away to make it 42-24, Isaiah Williams, who also had a good game, scored from 39 yards out to cut the Tiger edge to 42-30, and late in the game, Weaver scored the final touchdown on an 18-yard run to run to make the final 48-30.
The Tigers are now 1-3 on the year, and play at Belleville East next Friday, while the Maroons go to 2-2 and play at East St. Louis in week five, The kickoff time for both games is set for 7 p.m.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
