BELLEVILLE – Edwardsville High junior quarterback Ryan Hampton came up big in a clutch drive in the final minutes of the game last Friday at Belleville East, running 32 yards for a key first down, then finishing the drive with a three-yard touchdown run with exactly one minute to go in regulation. The touchdown pushed the Tigers to a 22-16 win over the Lancers at Charlie Whitford Field.
Hampton’s winning drive came on the heels of a Belleville East touchdown drive that had given the Lancers a 16-14 lead with 1:50 to play, with Edwardsville need all of 41 seconds to drive the length of the field to score the winning touchdown. And Hampton was a happy person following the game.
“You know? Happy as heck right now,” Hampton said last Friday in a postgame interview. “That last drive was really something else. I wish the rest of the game was like that, but at least it came out the way we wanted it to.”
The winning drive was created by great blocking by Hampton’s offensive line, and good running by Hampton himself.
“The first one, the long run, that one, we ran two other times during the game,” Hampton said, “and the linebacker would go inside, and I’d cut it outside, but this time, he recognized it, and he went outside, so I cut it inside, put it all the way backside, and our line did a great job. Our line did a great job all game, pretty much, and they blocked that play to perfection, and I just tried to get out of bounds to stop the clock.”
The recipe for the touchdown run was more of the same: Great blocking and a nice run equaled the winning touchdown.
“The touchdown run, that was the same play, just the other side of the ball,” Hampton said. “Same thing. I’ve got to give credit to my line on that one, I mean, all I had to do was catch the ball, and follow them, dive into the end zone, that’s all I had to do. The line did a great job.”
And in the end, the Tiger defense came up big as well, coming up with a Grant Matarelli interception in the end zone on the Lancers’ final play to seal the win, as the Tigers overcame much adversity to get the win and go to 4-1 on the season.
“All props to the defense; they played a heck of a game,” Hampton said. “Our offense definitely should have executed a little more, but our defense played a heck of a game. Gotta give credits to Grant Matarelli over here. That pick to steal the thing, yeah.”
The Tigers now will put this win behind them and start preparing for a very important matchup Friday night at East St. Louis, currently 5-0 on the year. Hampton knows that his team will be ready.
“It’s going to be a good game,” Hampton said.
