Edwardsville hitting the road again for second-round game

EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville's football team are becoming quite the road warriors this postseason.

The Tigers will be heading up to Chicagoland again this weekend as the Tigers take on Palatine of the Mid-Suburban West in suburban Chicago for a second-round game of the IHSA Class 8A Football Championship; kickoff is set for 3 p.m. Saturday, with the winner slated to meet the winner between Minooka and Barrington in the quarterfinals; the Minooka-Barrington game kicks off at 7 p.m. tonight.

Both teams enter the game at 7-3, Edwardsville coming from behind to eliminate Huntley 42-38 last week while the Pirates got past South Elgin 24-3 in their opening-round contest last week.

“They're a very good team,” said Tiger coach Matt Martin. “They're very hard to stop on offense; they play a smash-mouth style of football and they're an athletic type of team. They pass to keep defenses honest and they're really good up front.

“It's always tough when you get to this time of the year, so it's going to be hard; we're going to have to tackle better and value every possession we get because we may not have many chances.”

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Weather could be a factor in Saturday's game; the forecast is calling for a 70 percent chance of rain Saturday afternoon with highs in the mid-40s and easterly winds at 5-10 miles per hour.

Palatine is led by quarterback D.J. Angelaccio, who has thrown for 1,378 yards this year with 10 touchdowns and six interceptions; he has also run for 401 yards with nine TDs on the season; the Pirates' leading rusher is Marcus Stoudemeier, who has 406 yards rushing this year with four touchdowns and also features Jake Moertl (381 yards and seven TDs) and Jack Orlando (326 yards and one touchdown). Angelaccio's favorite target on the year has been Johnny O'Shea, who leads the Pirates with 41 receptions for 598 yards and six TDs; he's followed by Jason Rivera (24 receptions for 282 yards and three scores) and Orlando (17 catches for 134 yards and a score).

On defense, the Pirates' leading tackler is Bryant Smith, who has 75 tackles on the year with seven tackles for loss; he's followed by Luke Stoffel with 64 tackles with three tackles for loss, Cortez Hogans with 57 tackles, six for loss, and Moertl with 56 tackles, three for loss. Smith also leads the Pirates with four sacks, followed by Jesus Salinas and Josh Danielson with two sacks each.

Kendall Abdur-Rahman is the Tiger quarterback, having thrown for 303 yards with two TDs and one interception on the year; he's rushed for 803 yards on the year with 11 scores; against the Red Raiders last week, Abdur-Rahman scored from 10 yards out in the late going after a Huntley turnover to give the Tigers the win.

Should the Tigers win, they will host next weekend's quarterfinal game regardless of the Minooka-Barrington game.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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