Edwardsville takes advantage of five first half turnovers in 52-7 football win over Granite City

Colin Feeney, Contributing Sports Writer

Sep 16, 2017 6:47 AM

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EDWARDSVILLE — It was the kind of night where everything went Edwardsville’s way.

The Tigers recovered two Granite City fumbles in the opening 92 seconds, scoring two touchdowns in a total of 10 seconds from Antonio Thigpen, Jr., and never looked back as Edwardsville defeated the Warriors 52-7 in a Southwestern Conference football game Friday night at Tiger Stadium.

“Is that what it was?” Edwardsville head coach Matt Martin said with a laugh. “That’s crazy.”

The Warriors lost four fumbles and also had a pass intercepted in the first half; each turnover led to an Edwardsville score as the Tigers built a 31-0 first quarter lead, and a 45-7 halftime advantage.

“It’s crazy how it changes the game,” Martin said. “And they’ve got some players, they dress out well. I guess it was our night. And we got a lot of turnovers, and it changed the game.”

The Tigers also were looking to play a complete, four-quarter game. There were a few flaws, but for the most part, Edwardsville did.

“Yeah, I wasn’t happy with our offensive drive coming out in the second half,” Martin said. “But other than that, I think they had a nice screen pass. (Granite’s Jerry Watson) is a good football player. A good screen pass, and they punched it in there. But for the most part, we played a good game.

“I thought the O-line did good blocking all night; so, did our receivers,” Martin said, “and Thigpen had a nose for the end zone.”

The Warriors did give up the two fumbles early on that lead to scores, and had another fumble returned for a touchdown in that fateful first term.

“When you fumble four times in the first half, it’s not very productive,” said Warrior coach Carl Luehmann. “We’re moving the ball, and we fumble the ball. So, no. Got to do a better job, got to come to practice, work hard, and get better this week. Be coachable.”

Despite the lopsided score, Luehmann did feel most of his team kept playing hard.

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“Some kids played hard, yeah,” Luehmann said. “But we’re in a position where we’ve got to have 11 on defense, 11 on offense playing hard the whole time.”

The first two possessions for Granite lasted a total of three plays, losing the two fumbles. The Tigers cashed in on both, getting touchdown runs of 27 and three yards each from Thigpen to take a 14-0 lead after only 93 seconds. The Warriors did get a good drive of their own on their third possession, getting good runs from Watson and quarterback Austin Bonvicino, sitting in for Freddy Edwards. But the Tigers recovered another fumble at their own 35. Quarterback Kendall Abdur-Rahman completed a 45-yard pass to get the Tigers rolling, and the drive ended with Devan Parker kicking a 36-yard field goal to give Edwardsville a 17-0 lead.

After a Warrior punt, Edwardsville took only five more plays to score, as Abdur-Rahman ran up the middle for a 40-yard touchdown run with 24.1 second left in the first quarter, making it 24-0. And on the first play after the kickoff, Rodney Smith recovered a Granite fumble and took in 19 yards for another touchdown, raising the Tiger lead to 31-0.

“It’s huge,” Martin said. “We always feel like that we’re going to get everyone’s best game, so you got to come out and set the tone. You want to jump on teams early.

“We need turnovers,” Martin also said. “You know, every coach will tell you that — you’ve got to win the turnover battle, and we did that. And that usually puts you in a good position to win the game. So, we did that.”

The Warriors did get a good drive on the next possession, going 80 yards in eight plays for their only score. The key play was a 72-yard screen pass from Bonvicino to Watson that took the ball to the Tiger 5, where Richard Graham scored from three yards out two plays later to cut the Edwardsville cushion to 31-7.

The Tigers, undaunted, scored on their next two possessions, sandwiched by a Jalen Cooper interception. Thigpen ran up the middle 27 yards for one score, then after the interception at their own six, the Tigers went 12 plays and 94 yards in 4:22. Thigpen, subbing for Dionte Rodgers, carried most of the way, and an Abdur-Rahman pass to Joe King went 27 yards for the touchdown, making the score 45-7 Tigers at halftime.

The only score of the second half was the climax of an eight play, 46-yard march by the Tigers, as Thigpen went up the middle three yards for his fourth touchdown on the evening, making the final score 52-7.

Martin did give credit to his defense and special teams.

“They did a lot of good things,” Martin said. “They did great. The special teams, I think they did have one good kickoff return, but for the most part, our punt returns were good all night, our kickoffs were good all night. So, I thought our special teams played well, too.”

The Warriors play at Belleville West next week, and Luehmann will have his team ready against the Maroons.

“The regroup will come Monday,” Luehmann said. “I’ve got the best coaches around, they’re going to coach their butts off like they do every day. It takes effort, though, out of some of the players; that’s all it takes. Don’t take a whole lot for effort. So, we’ll be here Monday, and ready to go.”

“I think that they’re a better football team than they showed,” Martin said of the Warriors. “You know, just things went our way tonight.”

Edwardsville also goes on the road next Friday, traveling to Alton to face the Redbirds. Kickoff times for both games will be 7 p.m.