GRANITE CITY - Brandon Morris had a hat trick, the team's first of the season on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, while Ben Lovell hit on a first-half penalty kick as Edwardsville took a 4-0 win at Granite City's Gene Baker Field in a Southwestern Conference match.
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It was the first game for the Warriors since being forced to forfeit five wins due to accidentally using an ineligible player during the opening month of the season. The GCHS athletic department self-reported the breach to the IHSA, who imposed the forfeits, but imposed no further penalties against the Warriors.
As for the game itself, the Tigers played very well, moving the ball around, and finished well, but felt they could have gotten more goals.
"I feel good about the win," said first-year Edwardsville head coach Josh Boyd. "I feel like we could have finished a few more chances, and finished off the game a lot sooner. I love the way we played, moved the ball, created quite a few shots, but definitely didn't finish enough of them. We'll work on that in training, and we'll have to bounce back on Tuesday."
Martin Nambo, the goalkeeper for Granite, made some big saves to help the Warriors out, but in the end, the Tigers' quality proved to be the difference.
"Their goalkeeper made some brilliant saves," Boyd said. "I also felt like we probably should have hit the back of the net on a few of those targets. Brandon with a hat trick was lovely; I think it was the first one of the season. But he probably could have had four, maybe five himself."
The Tigers will continue to build on the things they did well in preparing for Tuesday's game against Mascoutah on the road.
"We build on some of the positives today," Boyd said. "Our ball movement was great, our movement in the final third was great. We just have to work on finishing. Outside of that, we'll look to bounce back on Tuesday. Hopefully, we can score some more goals."
Things are starting to look good for Edwardsville, and Boyd is optimistic about the upcoming month of the season.
"Yeah, things are looking good," Boyd said. "We're starting to figure out players who can play in rotations, how to possess the ball and what spaces to occupy. It's been a lot better, it's been good for the most part all season. We've just had difficulties putting the ball in the back of the net, and we're starting to do that. So, hopefully, we can continue that trend. They were a solid team, we came out and we did what we had to do. So, we got out of here with a win."
The game began with Nambo making a pair of big saves to keep Edwardsville at bay, but in the 20th minute, Morris scored his first goal of the game. Morris got a clean shot on goal, where he slotted the ball into the net to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. Two minutes later, a Warrior defender pulled down a Tiger attacker in the box, and the referee didn't hesitate in giving the penalty. Lovell easily tucked the ball away inside the post to double the lead at 2-0.
Nambo made two more brilliant saves, including a diving save to parry the ball past the far post, and the Warriors had one good opportunity that went by the boards as the half ended with the Tigers ahead 2-0.
It only took until the 48th minute for Edwardsville to triple its lead as Morris fired home a point-blank shot from about 10 yards out to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead, and Morris completed his hat trick in the 54th minute, slotting the ball home to up the lead to 4-0. Granite did have a chance late, as Nambo continued to make save, but the ball was knocked away as the Tigers claimed the three points with their 4-0 win.
Edwardsville is now 6-4-1 on the season, and next plays at Mascoutah on Tuesday in a 6:30 p.m. kickoff, then travels to Rochester next Thursday, also at 6:30 p.m., then plays at CBC Sept. 26 at 11:30 a.m. The Tigers return home on Oct. 1 with a match against Belleville East.
Granite City is officially now 0-8-0 and next plays at Freeburg Saturday morning at 9 a.m., then hosts Triad Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., then plays at Waterloo Gibault Catholic Sept. 24 at 5 p.m.
