Edwardsville's Football Tigers Rally But Fall Short After Morgan Park Surge In Friday Night Football Game

EDWARDSVILLE — Chicago Morgan Park used an onside kick recovery and a fast start Friday at Tiger Stadium, building a 20-0 halftime lead behind quarterback Ronald Smith Jr. and running back Devontae Harvey before defeating Edwardsville 32-15 in a Week 3 football game. Led by quarterback Dean Williams, Edwardsville rallied in the second half with two scores to tighten the gap.

Smith threw for 151 yards and a touchdown, while Harvey ran for 77 yards and scored twice for the Mustangs. Edwardsville, which fell to 0-3, scored twice in the second half but could not overcome a 26-0 deficit.

“When you get to conference week, it’s just different,” Edwardsville coach Kelsey Pickering said. “That’s the fun time of the season. Yeah, we saw three really good teams. I don’t know, I feel like we’re a good team. And we’re not showing that right now. It’s frustrating, because we know how hard our kids work, we know how hard the staff’s working. But, I know I’m going to go back and start over. We need to sit down and just look at everything, top to bottom, and make sure on the coaching side, we’re doing what we need to do, number one. And then, we’ll go from there.”

Morgan Park took control on the opening possession after recovering an onside kick. The Mustangs went 40 yards in eight plays, with Ronald Smith Jr. scoring on a 2-yard run almost three minutes into the game. The conversion kick missed, leaving Morgan Park ahead 6-0.

The Mustangs extended the lead in the second quarter on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Darrell Mattison, making it 13-0. Late in the half, Harvey scored on a 15-yard run to give Morgan Park a 20-0 lead.

Edwardsville put together a promising drive near the end of the half, with quarterback Dean Williams making runs and completing key passes, but Morgan Park’s defense stopped the Tigers before halftime.

Morgan Park added to the lead after forcing Edwardsville into a three-and-out to open the second half. Kenneth Sims scored on a 20-yard run early in the third quarter to make it 26-0.

The Tigers responded later in the quarter when Williams scored on a 6-yard run with 3:37 left, cutting the margin to 26-7. Harvey answered with a 3-yard touchdown run late in the quarter, extending the Mustangs’ lead to 32-7.

Edwardsville scored again in the fourth quarter when Williams threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Killian Hoeferlin and then connected with Cohen Followell for a 2-point conversion, making it 32-15. The Tigers had one more chance to cut into the lead, but a fourth-down interception ended the drive and preserved the win for Morgan Park.

“I thought we had a little bit of momentum going,” Pickering said. “There was a lot of spark. I do think our kids finished tonight. That was a challenge to them after Weeks 1 and 2. I don’t know if we finished the games in week one or two the way a Tiger football player should.

"So, we get the opportunity to at least finish a game tonight, we made a push there at the end. Obviously, you run out of time. Morgan Park’s a good team, they are. I’ll never take away anything with our opponents, because I know they work hard. It’s just frustrating, because I feel like we could have played better. Does playing better equal a win, I don’t know. Again, we’re playing a good team. But I know we are a better team than what we continue to put on the field.”

Morgan Park improved to 2-1 and will meet Chicago Walter Payton Prep at 3 p.m. Saturday. Edwardsville opens Southwestern Conference play at 7 p.m. this upcoming Friday at Belleville East.