Tigers get five turnovers, blocked punt for touchdown in 57-10 romp over O'Fallon

Colin Feeney, Contributing Sports Writer

Sep 29, 2018 5:54 AM Sep 30, 2018 9:15 AM

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O’FALLON – It was quite the first half for the Edwardsville High School football team, as Ethan Young scored on an interception return, Justin Johnson, Jr. scored twice, and the defense blocked a punt and recovered the ball in the end zone as part of a 50-point first half as the Tigers defeated O’Fallon 57-10 in a Southwestern Conference football game played Friday night at the OTHS Sports Complex.

In all, the Tigers had five takeaways during the game, with four interceptions and a fumble recovery. Edwardsville also scored 36 unanswered points after the Panthers had pulled to within 14-10 in the first quarter.

“The turnovers, one fumble, four interceptions, something like that,” Edwardsville coach Matt Martin said, “and a blocked punt. That’s huge, that’s going to make you look like a pretty good football team when you do that.”

O’Fallon had some big plays when the Panthers pulled to within four.

“They have playmakers, they practice, too,” Martin said. “You let somebody get behind you, make a big play, and the quarterback throws a nice ball, big linemen protects well, it’s tough to get to them.”

The Tigers immediately turned the tables, scoring the 36 straight points to come away with the win.

“I just think, we turned the ball over, didn’t we?,” Martin said. “That got them some momentum, and then, we started executing a little bit better, and that blocked punt was huge.”

And that Edwardsville had the edge in turnovers was another big factor. It’s something Martin always emphasizes: Win the turnover battle.

“We started winning the turnover battle,” Martin said. “I know I sound like a broken record, but it’s just so important.”

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It didn’t take the Tigers long to score the opening touchdown, taking just 60 seconds to go drive 80 yards after the opening kickoff. Luke Oglesby found Lavontas Hairston for a 30-yard completion on the opening play, then connected with Dionte Rodgers for 15 more. Two O’Fallon penalties and another completion put the ball on the Panther six, where Oglesby took it in himself to give Edwardsville a 7-0 lead after Brendan Latham’s convert.

On the second play of the Panthers’ first possession, Young picked off a Christian Curtis pass and made a nice return 47 yards for the touchdown, making the score 14-0 after only 1:43 had been played. On the ensuing O’Fallon possession, good runs by Will Osuna and C.J. Lovell helped bring the ball to the Edwardsville five, where Brooks Hackney connected on a 25-yard field goal to cut the Edwardsville lead to 14-3.

The interception return was one of three takeaways on the night for Young.

“Good for him, right?” Martin said. “That’s huge for him. I’m proud of him.”

On the next Tiger possession, Oglesby had a pass intercepted by Connor Sheehan, and it took the Panthers just two plays to score. Curtis hit Chris Smith with a 75-yard pass completion, then Osuna ran the final three yards for the touchdown that made it 14-10 following the convert. The Tigers were able to take advantage of a fumble recovery on the next O’Fallon possession, as Johnson had some good runs and Oglesby hit Hairston for a 22-yard reception. During the drive, however, Oglesby was injured after a run and had to come out. Kendall Abdur-Rahman, playing for the first time since being injured against Aurora Waubonsie Valley two weeks ago, came into the game and took the Tigers the rest of the way, with Johnson scoring from two yards out to extend the Edwardsville lead to 21-10.

Oglesby had played well before coming out with the injury.

“Luke did a lot of good things for us," Coach Martin said. "Hopefully, he’ll be alright, we’ll see.”

The Tigers all but put things away on the next two possessions at the start of the second quarter. Johnson ran up the middle for 54 yards and the touchdown at the start to make it 28-10, then with the ball at the Panther 33 on fourth down, the defense blocked the punt and eventually fell on the ball in the end zone for another touchdown to extend the lead to 35-10.

Later in the quarter, an Abdur-Rahman to Rodgers pass netted 54 yards, and Abdur-Rahman took it in from seven yards out to make the score 42-10. On the next O’Fallon possession, Rodgers intercepted a Curtis pass, and on the very next play, Abdur-Rahman hit Chase Moore on the sideline for 57 yards and a touchdown. Abdur-Rahman then threw to Rodgers in the end zone for a two-point conversion to make the halftime score 50-10 and force a second-half running clock.

The reserves on both teams got some playing time in the second half, but the only score came in the final quarter. Malachi Revis made some great runs as a part of the drive, and quarterback Jordan Lewis went 14 yards for the touchdown that made the final score 57-10 in favor of Edwardsville.

The Tigers, now 3-3 on the season and 2-1 in the conference, go on the road next week to Belleville East in a 7 p.m. kickoff. Martin hopes that the Tigers are building momentum.

“I hope so,” Martin said. “You know, film tells us a lot. What we tell the kids is that we don’t want to be repeating ourselves, like making the same mistakes week in and week out. We want to improve on those. So, film will tell.”