EDWARDSVILLE - A freshman trio made the fourth quarter of a Metro East Lutheran-Madison matchup against Nokomis interesting on Friday night at Metro East Lutheran.

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The three – quarterback Damian James, and receivers Jerry Watson Jr. and JV Wilson – paired up for three touchdowns in the fourth period against the Redskins to make the end of the game a crowd pleaser.

“The fourth quarter tonight was the best football we have played all year,” Metro East Lutheran-Madison head coach Matt Tschudy said. “On a positive note, we won the second half of this game.”

Tschudy said one of the struggles this season has been inexperience at skilled positions with freshman and sophomores in the key spots, but he is seeing development each game as displayed Friday night.

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“The young guys have speed that if they get in an open space they can go for a touchdown,” he said. “We have the speed and I think these players can grow into good athletes. I look forward to seeing what they can do in the future.”

Knights coach Tschudy said Nokomis was much better than its 0-4 record.

“I think Nokomis is a pretty good football team,” Tschudy said. “They are a smash-mouth team and good at running the ball, grinding down the defense. Nokomis does a good job grinding down the defense and when they had to pass the ball, they did. Their linemen and linebacker did a great job on defense.”

Nokomis raced to a 28-0 lead before Metro East-Madison showed any form of a comeback.

The Knights host East Alton-Wood River in their homecoming matchup next Friday night at Metro East Lutheran in Edwardsville.

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