O'FALLON – Edwardsville overcame a slow start and won its fourth game of the season Friday night in O'Fallon.
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The Tigers had to come off the deck; they found themselves out of the gates slowly and trailed 10-0 at quarter time before they fought back to forge a tie at the halftime break, then got a 34-yard touchdown reception from Chrys Colley and a 8-yard touchdown run from Jackson Morrissey in the third term to come out 24-10 winners.
The win put the Tigers at 4-0 overall, 2-0 in the Southwestern Conference; the Panthers fell to 0-4 overall, 0-2 in the league. It's the first time in 15 years a Panther team started out 0-4.
Tiger coach Matt Martin was happy with the win, but thought the Tigers could have played a lot better. “We had a better second quarter,” Martin said. “I think the wind played a big factor in this game; good things happened to the team who had the wind.”
The Panthers took advantage of a slow start by the Tigers, who also were battling penalty problems all night; they grabbed the lead with 5:22 left in the opening quarter when Tucker McCann connected on a 52-yard field goal with 5:44 left in the period for a 3-0 O'Fallon lead. OTHS extended it late in the term when Kentrail Moran scored from five yards out to go up 10-0 after the conversion.
Edwardsville responded late in the first half when Morrissey capped off a drive with a six-yard dash into the end zone to cut the lead to 10-7, then tied it when Riley Patterson hit a 30-yard field goal with two seconds left to send both teams into the long break tied at 10.
Edwardsville finally broke on top on their first possession of the second half when Colley made a fine catch on a 42-yard reception to put the Tigers in business deep in Panther territory, then put Edwardsville ahead for the first time when he connected on a 34-yard pass from Riley Jones with 6:16 left in the third.
Morrissey added to the lead with 2:30 to go when he scored for the second time, this time pounding the ball in from eight yards out to extend the lead to 24-10. Edwardsville's defense took over from there, with A.J. Epenesa getting a hand on a 57-yard field-goal try from McCan at the start of the final quarter and Colley and Jourdyn Jones getting key interceptions to snuff out Panther drives down the stretch.
Undefeated Edwardsville hosts Belleville East in a Week 5 clash; kickoff at Tiger Stadium is set for 7 p.m.
