EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville junior running back Justin Johnson, Jr., had one of his best games rushing for the Tigers on Friday night, with 31 carries for 194 yards and all four touchdowns in Edwardsville’s 44-27 loss to CBC at Tiger Stadium Sept. 6.
And although the Tigers lost, there was absolutely no quit in the team, as Edwardsville kept battling and plugging away for the entire game.
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Edwardsville bounced back Friday night with a 44-27 win at DeKalb, as Johnson ran for 179 yards on 24 carries and three more touchdowns, increasing his total to eight for the season after three weeks.
“Oh, yeah, I’m very, very happy with the way we played tonight,” Johnson said during an interview that followed the CBC game. “I can’t hold my head down. Last week, we got cheated out of a game, so basically, this is our first game, and I’m very proud of the boys for the way we performed tonight.”
Johnson was referring to the season opener at McCluer North on Aug. 30, where the Tigers won 7-6 after the game was called with 1:53 left in the first quarter because of storms that came through the St. Louis area. Against the Cadets, CBC scored 30 unanswered points after Edwardsville took an early 7-0 lead, using their speed to make a difference. But the Tigers kept playing hard and never gave up.
“I just had to keep pushing,” Johnson said. “I couldn’t give up, I wasn’t going to give up, I wasn’t planning on giving up. I had to keep pushing, and give it 125 percent out there. And I’d like to say they didn’t beat us, we beat ourselves. Too many mistakes, and they just capitalized on our mistakes.”
The Tigers did make many mistakes, and the Cadets were able to take advantage and convert them into points.
“They’re a good team; we just have to limit the mistakes,” Johnson said. “We can’t have mistakes like that if we plan on beating good teams like that.”
Despite the fact the Tigers didn’t get a full game in the season opener, Johnson knows that the team will continue to work hard and keep on going, no matter what.
“We just want to keep plugging along,” Johnson said. “You know, last week was a disappointment; we got cheated out of a game. So that’s one less game for us, so we’ll just have to keep pushing.”
And the main goal for Edwardsville is to get back to the playoffs once again, and possibly go further along as well.
“Yes, sir,” Johnson said. “So we’ll make it to the playoffs, and get far in the playoffs, but as of right now, we’ve got to take it game by game. So, we’ll take it one game at a time, one game at a time.”
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