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EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville concluded the summer seven-on-seven passing scrimmages on Monday night at Edwardsville High on a high note as preparations for the 2018 season continued.
The Tigers and Explorers joined the Edwardsville junior varsity, Cahokia, Madison and Gateway STEM of St. Louis in the final evening of the drills. And both teams had some good performances.
“I thought Kendall (Abdur-Rahman) threw the ball as well as he ever has,” said Edwardsville coach Matt Martin. “You know, he missed some throws, but I thought he did a pretty darn good job.”
Martin also singled out Chase Moore, a senior transfer from Triad, as a standout on offense. Moore caught five passes during the drills after missing last Monday’s scrimmages due to injury.
“He’s a good route runner, he’s been catching the ball great,’ Martin said. “He’s going to have to work on his stock blocking; he knows that.
“I just thought Kendall did a good job spreading the ball around,” Martin also said. “A lot of kids made catches, made plays.”
Defensively, Martin thought Norman Harris and Jacob Morrissey stood out for the Tigers as well.
“I thought Norman Harris did a good job,” Martin said. “He made a couple of good plays out there. I thought Morrissey did as well. So, it was good.”
Martin thought his team had a successful summer season as well, and feels that the Tigers have improved.
“I think we’ve gotten better, that I can say,” Martin said. “Ultimately, it comes down to do we win games? I think the kids are working hard, trying to prepare themselves the best they can. So hopefully, it translates into wins.”
And Martin believes that the Tigers’ experience in their 2017 Class 8A playoff run, helped his team mature.
“This team has probably a greater maturity level,” Martin said. “One, because they’re older. They’re more experienced, they know what it takes. They really grew up in the playoffs, and they’ve carried that maturity that you saw from the playoffs into the summer.”
Meanwhile, the Tigers open at home on the same day against McCluer North of Florissant, Mo. Martin is concentrating on his team before beginning preparations for the season opener, evaluating who his starters will be, but is looking forward to getting the season underway.
“Yeah, at some point, you can only practice against yourselves so much; it gets boring,” Martin said. “You start to get diminishing returns. You need to compete against other people.”
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
