BELLEVILLE – A three-yard run up the middle by junior quarterback Ryan Hampton with exactly one minute left in regulation gave Edwardsville a dramatic 22-16 Southwestern Conference win over Belleville East Friday night at Charlie Whitfield Field.
Hampton’s touchdown climaxed a five-play, 70-yard drive that took only 41 seconds after the Lancers had taken the lead in the previous drive. The Tigers hurt themselves with inopportune penalties but were able to fight back against a tenacious East team.
“First of all, you’ve got to give Belleville East a lot of credit,” Edwardsville head coach Matt Martin said following the game. “Their kids fought hard, played well, (head coach) Mike Harrison, coach (Tim) Funk did a great job, so a lot of our problems, the credit goes towards them. And we had a lot of penalties that hurt and were drive-killers, and we had a lot of guys banged up. We’re playing some positions, two, three guys. I’m proud of those kids for getting an opportunity to play, and executing well enough for us.”
Jacob Morrissey, normally a standout middle linebacker, came in as a running back late, and did well, getting big runs that helped keep drives going, and Hampton also came in for praise for being one of the Tigers’ leaders.
“He did,” Martin said. “But how about Ryan Hampton? You guys have seen him. When he walks into a room, there’s nothing impressive. But when you watch him compete out there, he is a competitor! And our team feeds off of it.”
Martin felt it’s important that each team has its leaders that help that team to be successful.
“You know? I just think you need leaders,” Martin said. “They don’t have to be vocal, but they say ‘follow me, follow me. Watch how I play, watch how I play,’ and try to play that way, and Hampton’s one of those guys. Morrissey’s one of those guys.”
Prior to the game, Martin compiled a checklist of things the Tigers couldn’t do against the Lancers to be successful.
“And did them all,” Martin said with a laugh. “Oh, it was ugly, it was ugly. But I think, again, am I happy with some of the mistakes? No, we need to get them fixed, but you’ve got to give Belleville East a lot of credit. They had a good game plan, they played hard. Good game by two good teams, we just happened to come out on top.”
After turning away the Lancers on the opening possession, Edwardsville went to work on its opening drive, and Justin Johnson, Jr., went to work, picking up 39 yards on the second play from scrimmage, and overall, gaining 60 yards on the first four plays. Malachi Revis then ran 18 yards with a pitchout that took the ball to the Lancer one, but on first and goal, a bad snap recovered by Johnson cost the Tigers 12 yards, and a pair of sacks took the ball back to the East 24. Hampton threw into the end zone for Ethan Young, but the ball was caught out of bounds, and East held.
After a three-and-out, the Tigers went to work again, and on the fourth play from the Edwardsville 48, Hampton ran 15 yards for a first down, and Johnson ran for 18 more on the next two plays. On third and five from the Lancer 19, Johnson took a screen pass from Hampton and ran the 19 yards into the end zone for the touchdown with 42.2 seconds left in the period, with Eric Epenesa’s convert making it 7-0 for the Tigers.
East went off on a march in the next possession, with quarterback Lucas Maue finding Yohance Plager with a 15-yard pass play, and a roughing the passer flag against Edwardsville took the ball to the Tiger 36. Three plays later, Maue hit Jaylen Ford for 15 yards that took the ball to the Edwardsville 14, but Epenesa intercepted a pass one play later and took it to his own 23 to end the drive.
The Tigers gave the ball back to the Lancers on the third play of the ensuing possession when East recovered a fumble, and Maue immediately hit Ford with a pass good for 15 yards, but the Tiger defense stiffened, and Alex Maxim hit a 34-yard field goal with four minutes left in the first half to make the score 7-3 for Edwardsville.
Johnson then took the kickoff and had a very good return, using his blockers well to take it back to the East 31, and from there, it only took the Tigers three plays to take it in, with Johnson running right, then up the middle 23 yards to the end zone for the touchdown to climax the drive that took only 54 seconds. Epenesa’s conversion extended the lead to 14-3 at halftime.
On the first play following the second-half kickoff, Hampton was intercepted by Robert Williams after the ball was deflected by another Lancer lineman, and returned to the Edwardsville 40. It took only one play for East to score, as Maue found Ford in stride for the touchdown, with Maxim’s kick making cutting the Tiger lead to 14-10.
Edwardsville then started a drive, with Revis getting some good runs, and Hampton hitting Noah Goldsmith with a pair of good passes that helped put the ball on the Lancer 40. A false start penalty backed up the Tigers five yard, but Hampton then ran 10 yards on a keeper, then hit Goldsmith again for 11, but the play was called back because of a holding penalty. The drive stalled after the flag, and an Edwardsville punt was downed at the East nine, but the Tigers were able to take off 6:35 off the clock.
The two defenses then took over, with either team not being able to sustain a drive. With 4:08 left in regulation, the Tigers took possession, but the Lancer recovered a fumble on the Edwardsville 31 with 4:01 left, and on the first play from scrimmage, the Tigers were called for a 15-yard face mask penalty that put the ball on their 17. Maue hit Jyaire Bowens for nine yards, and on the next play, went 10 yards up the middle for the touchdown that put the Lancers ahead for the first time at 16-14 with 1:50 left. Jackson Hentz blocked the convert, which would prove to be a big play.
Hentz made some important plays on defense that helped turn the tide for Edwardsville.
“Big hits out there, big plays, hustling all the time,” Martin said, “he’s one of our hardest workers in practice, and he’s one of our best special teams guys, too. He blocked the extra point, too, I believe. So, I mean, he’s our Mr. Everything.”
That block helped set the stage for the climactic drive that won the game for the Tigers. Kenyon Johnson took the kickoff back to his own 15, and a face mask flag against the Lancers put the ball on the Edwardsville 30. Hampton hit Justin Johnson on a screen for eight yards, and one play later came the key moments of the game. Hampton kept the ball to the right side, found daylight and ran 32 yards to the East 30, then on the next play, Justin Johnson went to the right side again for 27 yards to the Lancer three. Hampton then went up the middle for the final three yards for the touchdown with exactly one minute to go, then on a two-point convert try, cut left inside to the end zone to make the score 22-16, Edwardsville.
The Lancers had one final chance, and on the second play after the kickoff, a screen pass to KeVaughn Gaines gained 13 yards for a first down, but four plays later, Grant Matarelli intercepted a pass in the end zone with 10.5 seconds left to preserve the Tigers win 22-16.
Edwardsville is now 4-1 overall, 2-0 in the SWC, and are on the road again next week at East St. Louis in a very important matchup at Clyde C. Jordan Stadium, with a 7 p.m. kickoff. The Lancers fall to 0-5, 0-2 in the league, and travel across town to play Belleville West Saturday afternoon at 12 noon.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
