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EDWARDSVILLE – When it comes to the postseason in high school sport, the old saying about “expect the unexpected” can certainly ring true.
While, on the surface, Aurora Waubonsie Valley, at least record-wise, didn't seem to stand out that much, Edwardsville football coach Matt Martin had been saying that the Warriors were a much better team than their record indicated.
And they were. The two teams traded blow after blow, touchdown after touchdown, big play after big play, all throughout their IHSA Class 8A Football Championship first-round game at Tiger Stadium Saturday afternoon.
In the end, however, a play kept alive by the Warriors' Tanner Westwood proved to be EHS' undoing when Westwood found Mike French in the end zone on a second-down play in overtime to eliminate the Tigers 20-17.
“He found somebody open and, well, ball game,” said Tiger coach Matt Martin. “He did a good job; you've got to give him credit; in that situation, a lot of kids would have thrown that ball, even though we had it covered, and he didn't. He scrambled and found somebody open.”
Westwood was being chased by Tiger defensive standout A.J. Epenesa on the play, and Westwood knew enough to say away from Epenesa. “I think he was the one on my back,” Westwood said. “He kind of got a little bit of me, I think; I had to get on a hand to keep myself up.”
Westwood had fumbled a snap that the Tigers recovered earlier in the game and prompted Waubonsie coach Paul Murphy to take him out of the game for a time. “I fumbled a snap; I pulled my hands out too early. That one's on me,” Westwood said. “There's always another play.”
“I felt so bad for him (Westwood),” Murphy said. “We were going to play him at quarterback in the second half until he fumbled and he was hanging his head, but he's a great kid and we knew he wouldn't hang his head. If there's one guy on our team that's going to make a play ad-lib, it's him.
“He does it all the time in out JV games, so we knew we had to have an answer when they tried to take away (Max) Ihry. We had to have someone to make a play and he did today.”
Ihry had some some damage already; he had 22 carries for 130 yards and two touchdowns, a 17-yard first-quarter run to put Waubonsie ahead early, and then a 53-yard run right before three-quarter time that gave Waubonsie a 14-7 lead at the final change. “I was disappointed,” Martin said, referring to Ihry's day. “We put our defense into some bad field positions with our turnovers (the Tigers lost four fumbles on the day), but he busted a couple of long ones and we knew that we couldn't let that happen.”
The Tigers themselves had some big plays; Jackson Morrissey tied the game in the opening term when he took a handoff from Brenden Dickmann, picked up a couple of blocks, made a couple of moves and found himself off to the races for a 83-yard touchdown run, then Kendell Davis forged another tie in the final term with a 13-yard touchdown run and seemingly put the Tigers in the lead for the first time when he ripped off a 53-yard run, only to be forced out at the 1. Two plays after that, Edwardsville fumbled the ball away again and Waubonsie recovered to end the threat.
In overtime, Morrissey opened with a seven-yard run to put the Tigers knocking on the door immediately, but stiff Warrior defense kept them out ot the end zone and Riley Patterson came on to kick a 20-yard field goal to put EHS on top for the first time, leading to the Westwood-to-French play that stunned the Tigers and their supporters.
Morrissey wound up with 16 carries for 148 yards and Davis 19 carries for 136 yards for the Tigers. Dickmann was 4-of-11 for 43 yards passing on the day.
Edwardsville ended the season with a 9-1 mark; the Warriors moved on at 6-4.
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