ALTON – Kendall Abdur-Rahman was certainly a difference-maker for Edwardsville's football team Friday night.
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The junior quarterback had two rushing touchdowns, including a 47-yard sprint to the end zone in the early stages of the third quarter that gave the Tigers a 20-17 lead on Alton at Alton's Public School Stadium.
That touchdown proved to be the game-winner for EHS, taking their record to 2-3 on the year and 2-1 in the Southwestern Conference going into this Friday's home game against O'Fallon.
“We knew it wasn't going to be a blowout (against the Redbirds,” Abdur-Rahman said. “We knew it was going to be a fight; the coaches told us all week, and we prepared and worked hard all week. Every win's not going to be a big win, but we'll take any win the way it comes.”
The Tigers' slow start out of the gate certainly did get the attention of other teams, Abdur-Rahman said. “We know what kind of competition we've faced in our first few games, and we knew what we had to do to get better and we're doing it. Everyone's out for the Tigers; everyone's talking about the Tigers – we've just got to work hard. We have to keep our heads up and everyone's got to work.”
The Tigers found ways to run out the clock down the stretch when they needed to. “We knew we had to move the ball,” Abdur-Rahman said. “We had to win the turnover battle – we scored four times that got called back and we turned the ball over, but we kept our heads up; we had to keep fighting. We knew it wasn't over.”
After Friday night's game against the Panthers, the Tigers close out the season Oct. 7 against Belleville East, travel to Belleville West Oct. 14 and host Collinsville Oct. 21.
