Wildcats claw past Monroe Central
Edison earns first win of season 14-13 after long delay
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RICHMOND -- Edison outlasted a long weather delay and visiting Monroe Central on Thursday night to earn a hard-fought first win of the season.
After the game was stopped late in the second quarter for nearly and hour and 15 minutes, the Wildcats came up with just enough plays on both sides of the ball once things resumed to edge past the previously unbeaten Seminoles, 14-13, at the Edison Unified Sports Complex.
“I’m very proud of our guys, proud of our coaches and our kids,” Edison head coach Mike Collopy said. “It was a tough game, Monroe Central is a good team. We did what needed to do on offense, coach (Jason) Fogle made some good adjustments after the break and defensively we just kept playing. We played well defensively the whole game against a good team with a really good quarterback.
“It’s never easy, but we found a way to get it done. I’m proud of these guys for not getting down and keeping on fighting.”
The Wildcats, now 1-2, trailed 7-0 with 3:01 to go in the second quarter when a heavy downpour let loose and big flashes of lightning lit up the sky and brought the action to a halt.
After a strong storm with thunder, heavy rain, lightning and at times strong winds cleared out, the action resumed over an hour later.
“The kids locked back in an came out of it ready to go,” Collopy said. “Our kids are fighters and I’m proud of the effort.”
Edison had gotten a stop to get the ball back prior to the break and turned the first drive after the delay into a game-tying score as sophomore quarterback Bryson Cunningham connected with senior tailback Brett Hellyer on a screen pass that went for 38 yards to convert a big third down, then Brant Boka capped the drive with a 12-yard scoring run to knot the score up at 7-7 with :27 before a abbreviated halftime.
Monroe Central, which had taken the early lead on a 50-yard Jett Kaiser interception return for a score in the opening quarter, answered to get the lead back after the Noles defense got a stop to start the second half.
Cooper Howell, who finished the game with 65 rush yards and 93 passing yards, capped a long Monroe Central drive with a 1-yard keeper with 4:09 to go in the third quarter.
A pivotal moment happened on the ensuing extra point, however, as Kaiser’s initial kick was good, but the play had been blown dead by an Edison offside penalty. The re-kick was blocked, leaving the score 13-7.
Edison then put together another strong drive, Cunningham completing a 20-yard pass to Kenny Farnsworth then Hellyer (89 yards on 25 carries) broke free for a 21-yard scoring run, and the Wildcats extra point was good to make it 14-13 33 seconds into the fourth quarter.
Farnsworth intercepted a pass at the 2 on the next Monroe Central drive for his second pick of the game, then the Edison got a fourth down stop to seal the deal on the Seminoles last chance with the ball to shut the door.
Farnsworth also broke up another pass and was Edison’s leading pass catcher with three grabs for 30 yards.
Defensively, Edison held the Seminoles to just 161 total yards, Hunter Reese having a tackle for loss and a fumble recovery, Boka recording two tackles for loss to go with his offensive score and Kelsey Hedrick recording a sack.
UP NEXT
Monroe Central: Hosts Caldwell next Friday.
Edison: Hosts Martins Ferry next Friday.
Edison 14, Monroe Central 13
MC 7-0-6-0 -- 13
E 0-7-0-7 -- 14
SCORING PLAYS:
First Quarter
MC: Kaiser 50 INT return (Kaiser kick) 1:05
Second Quarter
E: Boka 12 run (kick good) :27
Third Quarter
MC: Howell 1 run (kick blocked) 4:09
Fourth Quarter
E: Hellyer 21 run (kick good) 11:21
INDIVIDUAL STATS
RUSHING: Monroe Central 32-68-TD (Howell 23-65-TD; Kaiser 7-2; Lucas 2-1); Edison 37-118-2TD (Hellyer 25-89-TD; Boka 4-9-TD; Cunningham 7-13; Reese 1-7)
PASSING: Monroe Central 6-17-93-2INT (all by Howell); Edison 7-12-77-INT (all by Cunningham)
RECEIVING: Monroe Central 6-93 (Demchak 1-36; Henderson 3-56; Kaiser 2-1); Edison 7-77 (Willoughby 1-8; Kepner 1-2; Hellyer 1-38; Farnsworth 3-30; Norris 1-(-1)
TEAM STATS
TOTAL YARDS: Monroe Central 161; Edison 195
FIRST DOWNS: Monroe Central 10; Edison 9
PENALTIES-YARDS: Monroe Central 4-35; Edison 5-25
FUMBLES-LOST: Monroe Central 3-1; Edison 2-0
PUNTS-AVG: Monroe Central 3-31.7; Edison 5-31.4